Matt Schley
November 4, 2024 
Pompo: The Cinephile director Takayuki Hirao and his creative team are back. In 2023, we heard the team was working on a new film tentatively titled Wasted Chef. Now we’ve got our first look at the film via some teaser art.
The art shows an old-school American-style diner called The Day, which is ostensibly where the wasted chef of the title works. It was revealed by the director at the New Chitose Airport International Animation Film Festival, which took place from November 1 to 5. That festival also featured a screening of Pompo: The Cinephile on 35mm film (!!).
Here’s who we know is working on Wasted Chef:
Director: Takayuki Hirao (Pompo)
Character designer: Shingo Adachi (Sword Art Online)
Music: Kenta Matsukuma (Pompo, Kamen Rider Black Sun)
Animation: CLAP (Pompo, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes)
Here’s how Gkids describes Pompo: The Cinephile:
Pompo is a talented and gutsy producer in “Nyallywood,” the movie-making capital of the world. Although she’s known for B-movies, one day Pompo tells her movie-loving but apprehensive assistant Gene that he will direct her next script: a delicate drama about a tormented artistic genius, starring the legendary and Brando-esque actor Martin Braddock, and a young actress seeking her first break. But when the production heads towards chaos, can Gene rise to Pompo’s challenge, and succeed as a first-time director?
Directed by veteran animator Takayuki Hirao and produced by brand-new animation studio CLAP, Pompo the Cinephile is a rollicking, exuberant ode to the power of the movies, and the joys and heartbreak of the creative process, as a new director and his team devote their lives to the pursuit of a “masterpiece.”
Source: ANN
