Actress Manami Konishi has been chosen as the star of Akira Ogata's new film "Nonchan Noriben." The film marks her first time playing the role of a mother.

The movie is based on the manga of the same name by Kiwa Irie, which was published in the latter half of the 1990s and became the basis of a TBS afternoon drama that ran for two seasons.

In the film, Konishi plays the heroine Komaki Nagai, a woman in her early thirties who finally gets fed up with her husband, who has no job because of his desire to become a writer. She divorces him and moves to the Kyojima area of Tokyo, taking their young daughter Non-chan with her. Unsuccessfully struggling to make ends meet, she suddenly decides to try opening her own bento shop.

Filming is already under way. Theatrical release is scheduled for 2009.