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by Jean-Marc Thérouanne

The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema salutes fraternally the great Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whose film «un simple accident» won the prestigious Palme d’or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. This well-deserved award crowns a humanist thriller that poses the serious question of the possibility of the pardon of the oppressed towards his executioner to achieve national reconciliation, on condition of repentance of the latter.

Jafar Panahi is a giant of the world cinema, multi-award-winning author of eleven feature films and seven shorts. He was president of the jury at the 10th Fica Vesoul 2004.

“Simple accident” also wins the citizenship award.

With Shu Qi, main actress in « Résurrection » by Bi Gan (Crédit photo J-m Thérouanne)

The Vesoul Iff Asian Cinema also extends its warm congratulations to Chinese director Bi Gan for the Special Prize of the Cannes 2025 jury, awarded to his film «Résurrection». After...

The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has now concluded, with Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident taking home the Palme d’Or (see all jury winners here). While our coverage will continue with a few more reviews this week––and far beyond as we provide updates on the journey of these selections––we’ve asked our contributors on the ground to share favorites.

See their picks below, and explore all of our coverage here.

Leonardo Goi (@LeonardoGoi)

1. Sirat (Oliver Laxe)

2. Sound of Falling (Mascha Schilinski)

3. The Last One For The Road (Francesco Sossai)

4. The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho)

5. Resurrection (Bi Gan)

6. It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)

7. Heads or Tails (Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis)

8. Lucky Lu (Lloyd Lee Choi)

9. Two Prosecutors (Sergei Loznitsa)

10. Mirrors No. 3 (Christian Petzold)

Read all of Leonardo’s reviews here.

Luke Hicks (@lou_hicks)

1. Sirat (Oliver Laxe...

The 2nd edition of the Prix Luciole was held during the 78th Cannes Film Festival, reaffirming its unique position as the first independent award dedicated to the art of film posters during the festival. Held on May 22, the ceremony brought together filmmakers, designers, and visual artists for a focused and thoughtful celebration of cinematic imagery and graphic design in film.

The ceremony took place at the MO11 Art Gallery, just steps from the Palais des Festivals, where the festival’s official poster Un homme et une femme hung in plain view. This visual was designed by the acclaimed French studio Hartland Villa, founded by Lionel Avignon and Stefan de Vivies, who have shaped Cannes’ visual language since 2021 with a minimalist and lyrical approach that defines the festival’s unique visual identity.

Lionel and Stefan returned this year as jury members of the Prix Luciole, joined by renowned film distributor and industry consultant Thomas Pibarot,...

A commuter’s footsteps echo beneath stark fluorescent tubes as he presses forward into a corridor that repeats itself with clockwork precision. In Exit 8, Genki Kawamura transposes a cult 2023 indie game’s “spot-the-difference” premise into a tense psychological thriller. The film’s opening long take casts us in the shoes of “The Lost Man” (Kazunari Ninomiya), whose ordinary subway commute fractures into a looping passageway where each turn holds a silent test. He must spot anomalies—minor shifts in signage, a vent cover ajar, the silent figure of the “Walking Man”—to advance or be thrust back to square one.

Ninomiya’s commuter is tethered to real-world stakes: a voicemail from an ex-girlfriend reveals her pregnancy, and his unease about fatherhood underlies every repeated step. The corridor’s white-tiled expanse, bathed in clinical light, doubles as a stage for mounting tension, its sterile uniformity amplifying each slight variation. Kawamura...

I’ve long been fascinated by what I call No Exit Horror, a term I’ve coined for a sub-genre rooted in existential dread, where characters are trapped in singular, oppressive spaces they cannot escape. Think of such liminal space thrillers as Cube, Dead End, Pontypool, or even The Shining. I took the name from French writer/philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, of course, and like his play No Exit, these films trap their characters not just in rooms but in loops of self-denial, regret, or moral indecision.

Genki Kawamura’s masterful Exit 8, which just had its eerie and unforgettable premiere in the Cannes Midnight Screenings section, uses this trope so effectively that it might just be the most exceptional video game adaptation ever made.

Adapted from a cult Japanese video game, Exit 8 follows “The Lost Man,” played with raw and adorable restraint by Kazunari Ninomiya. On a tedious underground...

Ask anyone — it’s easy to get lost in the Tokyo subway. The city’s underground boasts ample signposting to guide commuters and tourists — but there’s so much of it, the passageways and stairways all look alike, and oh, we’re right back where we started.

Genki Kawamura’s delightful blockbuster provocation “Exit 8” understands and exploits these frustrations, transforming these claustrophobic corridors into a site of psychological exploration, personal choice, and national anxieties.

Quite possibly the first video game adaptation to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, “Exit 8” is adapted from the virally successful 2023 independent game of the same name, which has now hit over 1.5 million downloads worldwide and has further internet cache on YouTube and Twitch (the most popular video has 6.2 million views at the time of writing). Ostensibly a first-person walking simulator, “Exit 8” the game is “Spot the Difference” by way of “The Stanley Parable,...

Buyers are finally wise to the fact that Cannes is driving the Oscar race and even the specialized box office. Everyone wants to find the next “Anora,” “The Substance,” “Emilia Perez,” or “Anatomy of a Fall.” And more buyers like Mubi, Metrograph, Sideshow, and other upstarts have emerged to take on the likes of Neon and A24, who come to Cannes armed with several titles already set to debut.

Below, we’ve identified 13 movies looking for homes that could be the next awards breakout, including new films from Lynne Ramsay and Richard Linklater and the debuts of Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson.

All titles presented alphabetically.

“The Chronology of Water” (Un Certain Regard)

Director: Kristen Stewart

Stars: Imogen Poots, Thora Birch, Jim Belushi, Tom Sturridge

Buzz: Even if it’s in a sidebar for a first-time director, Kristen Stewart’s debut should be a hot ticket with a lot of...

The Cannes Film Festival has released the official selection for its 78th edition, featuring a mix of returning auteurs and first-time filmmakers. Scheduled to run from May 13 to 24, this year’s lineup includes world premieres from directors such as Wes Anderson, Julia Ducournau, Ari Aster, and Richard Linklater.

Announced by festival delegate general Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch during a press conference in Paris, the lineup spans the main competition, Un Certain Regard, and various sidebars. French actor and Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche will serve as jury president. The rest of the jury remains unannounced.

Among the films selected for competition is Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, debuting shortly before its theatrical release. Ari Aster returns with Eddington, a Western-inflected film distributed by A24. Linklater brings Nouvelle Vague, focused on the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Ducournau’s Alpha is set in the 1980s and centers on...

Ahead of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, taking place May 13 to 24, the lineup has now been unveiled. Iris Knobloch, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, have revealed the slate this morning.

Highlights include Ari Aster’s Eddington, Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Joachim Trier’s Sentimal Value, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, Carla Simon’s Romeria, and more. In other sections we have Rebecca Zlotowski’s Vie Privée, the directorial debuts of Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson, Michael Angelo Covino’s Splitsville, Sebastián Lelio’s The Wave, Sylvain Chomet’s The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, and more.

See below.

In Competition

After (Oliver Laxe)

Alpha (Julia Ducournau)

The Eagles of the Republic (Tarik Saleh)

Eddington (Ari Aster)

Dossier 137 (Dominik Moll...

Horror films are increasingly popular nowadays, so there is an abundance of news to keep tabs on every week. Whether it's casting news, release dates, or updates on upcoming films, there's plenty to juggle. It's an exciting time to be a horror fan, but it can certainly be overwhelming to try to keep up with everything.

That's why we've compiled some of this week's most notable horror genre updates all in one place so you can get all the news in one convenient place.

Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in Nosferatu | Focus Features Robert Eggers teases his next film Werwulf

Many of us are still riding the high of Nosferatu, but filmmaker Robert Eggers is already looking ahead to his next movie, a project about werewolves set in 13th-century England, complete with period-accurate dialogue.

During a recent press panel, the director discussed what fans can expect from Werwulf, neglecting...

Kotake Create’s 2023 walking simulator, The Exit 8, traps players in an infinite underground loop, mining psychological scares from liminal spaces. A live-action film adaptation is on the way from Toho Co., Ltd.

Watch the eerie announcement video below, which teases the endless loops and promises a 2025 release in Japan and looks almost identical to the game.

Exit 8 follows “A man trapped in an endless sterile subway passageway on a frustrating mission to get out.”

The video game’s synopsis gives only slightly more details: “You are trapped in an endless underground passageway. Observe your surroundings carefully to reach ‘The Exit 8’. Don’t overlook any anomalies. If you find anomalies, turn back immediately. If you don’t find anomalies, do not turn back. To go out from Exit 8.”

Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura writes, produces, and directs Exit 8.

Toho shared an official statement from Kotake Create about the upcoming adaptation: “‘Exit 8’ will...

Exclusive: Goodfellas has unveiled one of its biggest European Film Market slates ever featuring upcoming films by Cristian Mungiu, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Saeed Roustaee, Claire Denis, Mario Martone and Raoul Peck.

The company is also handling a trio of Berlin Film Festival titles: Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Golden Bear contender The Ice Tower with Marion Cotillard; Burhan Qurbani’s No Beast. So Fierce. in Berlinale Special; and a fresh acquisition, Bálint Dániel Sós’ Growing Down.

The latter film, which premieres in the new competitive Perspectives section aimed at first films, revolves around a widowed father of two who is tested by fate when he becomes the only witness of a serious accident involving his stepdaughter caused by his youngest son.

Goodfellas will begin pre-sales on Romanian director Mungiu’s first English-language picture Fjord, with Oscar nominee Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) and Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World...

Hayao Miyazaki’s movies have always managed to capture its target audience of young children despite having darker undertones. A great example is Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli’s highest-grossing film which portrays consumerism and environmentalism under the facade of a fantasy movie.

Many people consider that if Hayao Miyazaki has one competitor, it would be Makoto Shinkai. Shinkai’s movies have captured the hearts of audiences across all age groups, and their themes of romance have tugged at heartstrings.

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away Box Office Record was Beaten by One Makoto Shinkai Movie Spirited Away (2001) | Credits: Studio Ghibli

If you look at the list of highest-earning movies in Japan, it is peppered with Shinkai and Ghibli movies. Spirited Away premiered in 2001 and grossed around $395 million at the worldwide box office. It instantly became the highest-earning movie in Japanese history. It held its record till 2016 when Makoto Shinkai released Your Name,...

Japan’s Nikkatsu has secured key sales of Cloud, the upcoming suspense thriller by acclaimed auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa, ahead of its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

The feature has been acquired for France (Art House Films), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Italy (Minerva Pictures) and Taiwan (Sky Digi Entertainment).

Cloud will play out of competition at Venice, which runs from August 28-September 7 and revealed its line-up today (July 23).

It will mark a return to the Lido for Kurosawa, who won the Silver Lion for best director at Venice in 2020 with Wife Of A Spy.

The story, written by Kurosawa, centres...

Film licensors Gkids, Anime Ltd. and Charades have now revealed the international release window for The Colors Within (Kiminoiro), animated by Science Saru and helmed by the acclaimed A Silent Voice anime director Naoko Yamada.

In Winter 2024, Gkids will distribute The Colors Within in North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, with Anime Ltd. acquiring the film for the United Kingdom, Ireland and all of Europe. Plaion Pictures will handle Italian and German-speaking territories. Meanwhile, Gkids and Anime Ltd have engaged Charades to manage the sales for the rest of Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. The film debuts in Japan on Aug. 30, 2024, and will have its world premiere at the 2024 Annecy International Animated Film Festival from June 9-15. Readers can check out the movie trailer below.

Related Crunchyroll Drops Haikyu Movie's First Subbed Trailer Ahead of U.S. Spring Release Crunchyroll unveils the first official English teaser...

Gkids and European animation distributor Anime Ltd. have acquired global rights to Naoko Yamada’s new film “The Colors Within.” Gkids has acquired the film for North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, while Anime Ltd. has acquired the film for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and all of Europe.

“We have long admired Naoko Yamada and her ability to create dazzling, emotional stories out of the everyday concerns of teenagers,” said Gkids president David Jesteadt. “’The Colors Within’ is her most beautiful film yet, and we are proud to partner with our friends at Anime Ltd. on another soon to be classic from Science Saru and Story inc., who are responsible for some of the best anime productions of this new century.”

According to an official logline, “The Colors Within” follows “a high school student with the ability to see the ‘colors’ of others. Colors of bliss, excitement and serenity,...

Gkids, the Academy Award-winning producer and distributor announced a multi-territory acquisition of The Colors Within (Japanese title: Kiminoiro) which is directed by Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice), with production from studio Science Saru (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off).

The film will have its world premiere in competition at the 2024 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Gkids and Anime Ltd. will theatrically release the film in both its original Japanese language and a new English-dubbed version this winter, and Gkids will qualify the film for 2024-25 awards consideration. The film will be domestically released in Japan on August 30th.

The Colors Within follows Totsuko, a high school student with the ability to see the ‘colors’ of others. Colors of bliss, excitement, and serenity, plus a color she treasures as her favorite. Kimi, a classmate at her school, gives off the most beautiful color of all. Although she doesn’t play an instrument, Totsuko...

US outfit Gkids has partnered with the UK’s Anime Ltd. to secure international rights to The Colors Within, the highly anticipated anime feature directed by Naoko Yamada.

It was revealed today that the upcoming feature will receive its world premiere in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (June 9-15).

The two companies secured the rights – which exclude Asia, the Middle East and North Africa – from Japan’s Story Inc. and have appointed Paris-based Charades to handle sales for select territories.

Gkids has rights for North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. Anime Ltd. has rights for the UK,...

Critically acclaimed anime director Naoko Yamada, whose filmography includes the Sound! Euphonium series, Clannad, and K-On!, has us excited for her next work, which is set to come out this year. Kimi no Iro (Your Color) was initially set to be released in 2023, but the title has been delayed to 2024. Now, with the release of the film’s first trailer, we have also confirmed the premiere date for the movie, which is going to be August 30, 2024.

Kimi no Iro‘s fall 2023-to-summer 2024 delay upset some fans, but the movie is now on track to release in several months’ time, so fans can rejoice. The movie will follow high school student Totsuko, who has the ability to perceive the emotions of other people as colors. Because of this ability, she has to tread very lightly and tell white lies to other people to avoid darkening their colors, which is important to her.

Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who won best director at Venice in 2020 with Wife Of A Spy, is working on a new suspense thriller titled Cloud, which will be introduced to buyers at the EFM by Japanese studio Nikkatsu Corporation.

The feature is in post-production with a Japanese release set for September 2024. A first look at the film can be seen above.

Written by Kurosawa, the story centres on Ryosuke Yoshii, an enigmatic young man who tries to make money by reselling shrewdly obtained goods on the internet under the pseudonym ‘Ratel’.

The film stars Masaki Suda, who won best actor...

After a short tease over a week ago , the full music video for Ado’s newest song, a collaboration with South Korean confectionery manufacturer Lotte for their 60th anniversary, “Chocolat Cadabra” was released tonight, showcasing the full might of a Yoh Yoshinari-directed, Studio Trigger-produced music video. The story takes place in a chocolate factory late at night when a girl wanders in from the real world and meets another girl who lives in a magical world and a girl who lives in a scientific world with delicious chocolates being made one after another. "Chocolat Cadabra" is a magic melody that makes chocolate delicious. Chocolat Cadabra key visual Related: Japanese Musician Ado’s First World Tour Heads to the United States and Europe Yoshinari also designed the characters of the music video with Chiho Kiyota as the sub-director and sub-character designer and Naoko Tsutsumi as the animation producer at studio Trigger.

Lotte, a a confectionery manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo, will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its chocolate business on February 1, 2024, and as part of the 60th anniversary promotion project, an anime TV commercial animated by Trigger will begin airing in Japan on January 22. The clip is planned and produced by Genki Kawamura, known for his producing works for the anime films by Makoto Shinkai, such as Your Name. and Suzume , while Yo Yoshinari ( Little Witch Academia ) served as character designer and director. Additionally, singer Ado provided a new song "Chocolat Cadabra" for the commercial. The story takes place in a chocolate factory late at night. A girl wanders into the factory from the real world and meets a girl who lives in the magical world and a girl who lives in the scientific world, and and delicious chocolates are being made one after another. "Chocolat Cadabra," a magic spell that makes chocolate delicious,...

The winners of the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) were announced at the annual ceremony at Old Billingsgate with BIFA patron Ray Winstone kicking off the celebration of independent film.

The award for Best British Independent Film, presented by Fiona Shaw, went to Andrew Haigh’s ‘All of Us Strangers’, a beautifully unsettling tale of a writer revisiting his past, starring Andrew Scott. Haigh, who was previously BIFA nominated for 2015’s 45 Years and 2018’s Lean on Pete, also came away with the coveted awards for Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema and Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films.

There were two winners announced for Best Supporting Performance from a field of ten nominees and Paul Mescal took one of those trophies for his role in the film. All of Us Strangers won four awards on the night.

Best Lead Performance went to Mia McKenna-Bruce in Molly Manning Walker...

Once more we celebrate another remarkable year for British talent, as the 2023 British Independent Film Awards rolled out their red carpet this evening. We were there once again on the carpet to talk with the nominees and presenters, all to champion a fierce and fulsome chorus of new cinematic voices.

A full list of winners follows the interviews. Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

The 2023 BIFAs Red Carpet Interviews

The full list of winners is below.

Best British Independent Film All Of Us Strangers – Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey Femme – Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping, Myles Payne, Sam Ritzenberg How To Have Sex – Molly Manning Walker, Ivana MacKinnon, Emily Leo, Konstantinos Kontovrakis Rye Lane – Raine Allen-Miller, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones Scrapper – Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough Best Joint Lead Performance David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah – Rye Lane Nathan Stewart-Jarrett,...

The British Independent Film Award nominations have been unveiled, with “Rye Lane” leading the honors.

The BIFA ceremony will take place Sunday, December 3. “Rye Lane” tops the nominations with 16 nods, followed by 14 nominations for both “All of Us Strangers” and “Scrapper.” “How to Have Sex” follows with 13 nominations, plus 11 nods for “Femme.”

In total, 26 British feature films were recognized. Hosts Susan Wokoma and Morfydd Clark announced the 2023 nominations from One Hundred Shoreditch, London on November 2. Previous BIFA nominees like Tilda Swinton, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Amir El-Masry are recognized this year, with Andrew Scott being the sole male nominee for Best Lead Performance.

Raine Allen-Miller’s romantic comedy “Rye Lane” is dually nominated for Best Director and the Best Debut Director (The Douglas Hickox Award), as well as Best Screenplay, Best Debut Screenwriter, and leads Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson for Best Joint Lead Performance. Oparah is additionally recognized in the Breakthrough Performance category.

Raine Allen-Miller’s debut feature Rye Lane leads this year’s British Independent Film Award nominations with 16 nods, including Best Director and Best British Independent Film.

Allen-Miller’s Peckham-set feature also has nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Debut Screenwriter for writing duo Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, as well as a nod for Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo for Breakthrough Producer. The film’s leads Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson scored a Best Joint Lead Performance nomination. Oparah is also nominated in Breakthrough Performance.

Rye Lane is trailed by Scrapper and All Of Us Strangers, which both clocked 14 nominations. Scrapper received four nominations for debut feature filmmaker Charlotte Regan, including Best Director and Best Screenplay. All Of Us Strangers clocked Best Director. In the performance categories, Andrew Scott picked up a Best Lead Performance nomination, and Jamie Bell, Claire Foy, and Paul Mescal grabbed a Best Supporting Performance nod each. Seven...

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) nominations were unveiled Thursday morninh by star hosts Susan Wokoma and Morfydd Clark at One Hundred Shoreditch, London.

“Casting a spotlight on the incredible talent working in the British film industry, this year’s list once again includes exceptional debuts from the U.K.’s brightest new talent alongside previous BIFA nominees, such as Tilda Swinton, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Amir El-Masr,” the organization said.

Leading the nominations with 16 is Rye Lane, Raine Allen-Miller’s London-set romantic comedy following a pair of semi-reluctant lovers on an impromptu tour of Peckham. Among others, it scores nominations for Allen-Miller for best director and best debut director, best screenplay debut screenwriter for writing duo Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, as well as a best joint lead performance nom for stars Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson. Oparah is also nominated in the breakthrough performance category. Rye Lane...

Films set in London dominate the nominations.

Raine Allen-Miller’s London-set romantic comedy Rye Lane leads the nominations for the 2023 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), followed closely by Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper and Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers.

Rye Lane has scored 16 nominations, including best British independent film, director and debut director for Allen-Miller; plus best screenplay and debut screenwriter for Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia. Vivian Oparah is nominated for breakthrough performance, as well as for best joint lead performance alongside David Jonsson.

Scroll down for the full list of nominations

Scrapper, another London-set first film, received 14 nominations,...

Exclusive: There’s been much celebratory talk here at the Tokyo Film Festival about a new dawn of internationally-minded Japanese artists led by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Makoto Shinkai, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

One of the key creative voices often mentioned amongst this new Japanese set is Genki Kawamura, known internationally by audiences as the writer of If Cats Disappeared from the World, one of Japanese literature’s most successful contemporary novels, and the filmmaker who brought that book and titles such as Suzume, Weathering with You, and, most recently, Kore-eda’s Cannes prize-winning Monster to the big screen.

Born in Yokohama in 1979, Kawamura began his career at entertainment juggernaut Toho, where he was identified early as a promising talent. He cut his teeth on pics like Tetsuya Nakashima’s 2010 feature Confessions, which was shortlisted for the Best International Feature Oscar, and Mamoru Hosoda’s The Boy and the Beast.

Final five nominations to be announced on November 2.

Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall and Todd Haynes’ May December are among the titles on the latest British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) longlists, for Best Feature Documentary and Best International Independent Film.

15 films are on the documentary longlist, with five of them by first-time directors; with 17 films on the international list.

Scroll down for the longlists

Alongside McQueen’s film combining analysis of Amsterdam during the Second World War with the present day, documentary titles include Kevin MacDonald’s High & Low: John Galliano about the...

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film.

Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.

Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...

Nyaff unveils first wave of features from China, Hong Kong, Japan and beyond.

The New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) has unveiled the first wave of features for its 22nd edition and announced that Japanese actor Ryohei Suzuki will receive the Screen International Rising Star award.

Nyaff will run from July 14-30 at the city’s Film at Lincoln Center, with a programme of more than 60 titles, and Suzuki will be presented with the award recognising emerging talent from East Asia on July 15.

Suzuki has been acting on screen for more than 15 years, with a string of roles in Japanese...

Japan’s Gaga Corporation is handling sales in Asia, while Paris-based Goodfellas has the rest of the world.

Picturehouse Entertainment has picked up the UK and Ireland rights to Japanese Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Cannes competition title Monster, from French sales outfit Goodfellas.

Japan’s Gaga Corporation is handling sales in Asia, while Goodfellas has the rest of the world.

A mother feels something is wrong with her son as he begins acting strangely. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. Gradually, the truth starts to emerge.

Cannes Film Festival head honcho Thierry Frémaux often likes to speak of the “Cannes family,” meaning the extended stable of international auteurs whom the festival helped discover, nurtured and has made regulars on the famed red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. Today’s standard-bearer for Japan’s great tradition of humanist filmmaking in Cannes is undoubtedly Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose features have been included in the festival’s official selection seven times, a record for his home country. Incidentally, the leitmotif of Kore-eda’s work is also family — families broken, families in turmoil and families found. His most celebrated films at Cannes have all centered on the theme, albeit in various and inventive ways.

Like Father, Like Son, winner of the 2013 Cannes jury prize, told the story of two boys mistakenly switched at birth, the discovery of which — years later — confronts the parents with the agonizing decision of whether to...

Hirokazu Kore-Eda is back in Cannes Competition after winning the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018 and last year presenting Korean-language Broker, which won best actor for Song Kang-ho. His new title, Monster, reteams him with Shoplifters actress Sakura Ando and is the last film to be scored by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died in March at 71 following a battle with cancer.

Scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (We Made a Beautiful Bouquet), Monster revolves around a single mother (Ando) who suspects there is something wrong at her son’s school when he starts behaving strangely. She storms into the school and accuses a teacher of bullying her son, only to have the teacher claim the boy is bullying another pupil, an eccentric child who appears to be having problems at home.

The cast also includes Eita Nagayama (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) as the teacher and veteran actress Yuko Tanaka...

Dementia seems to be the name of the game in cinema over the course of recent years. After Richard Glatzer’s and Wash Westmoreland’s effort “Still Alice” (2014) that took Julianne Moore to her first and so far only Oscar for playing the titular character, an academic who has to deal with the illness that will rapidly take her greatest asset, and even more impressive Florian Zeller’s stage play adaptation “The Father” (2020) that brought Anthony Hopkins his second Academy Award for the role, the Japanese novelist and producer Genki Kawamura took his own novel on the same topic as a source for his feature-length directorial debut. After the premiere at San Sebastian and the tour of festivals in East and Southeast Asia, “A Hundred Flowers” was screened at Belgrade International Film Festival.

On New Year’s Eve, and just before her birthday, retired piano teacher Yuriko Kasai (Mieko Harada...

Upcoming feature is tipped for Cannes selection.

Japan’s Gaga Corporation has teamed with Paris-based Wild Bunch International to handle sales of Monster, the upcoming film by Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Wbi will handle worldwide sales excluding Asia, which will be handled by Gaga.

A promo will be shown to buyers at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM), which runs February 16-22 alongside the Berlinale. Gaga and Wbi began collaborating on Kore-eda’s titles in 2011 with I Wish, which played Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals.

As previously announced, Monster will be released in Japan on June 2, suggesting a possible return to Cannes for Kore-eda,...

Wild Bunch International (Wbi) and Japan’s Gaga Corporation have announced that the two companies will again collaborate on international sales on Monster, directed by award-winning filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Gaga will handle sales for Asian territories, while Wbi will handle worldwide territories excluding Asia. A promo will be available for buyers at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) at Berlin film festival. The film has been widely tipped for selection at this year’s Cannes.

Wild Bunch and Gaga have teamed up for sales on several of Kore-eda’s titles, starting in 2011 with I Wish, which played at the Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals, and more recently Shoplifters, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018.

Monster is scheduled for release in Japan through Toho and Gaga on June 2, 2023. Scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (We Made A Beautiful Bouquet) and with with music by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, the...

Hirokazu Kore-eda infuses the world of the Japanese geisha with his signature gentle humanism in The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, his first drama series for Netflix, launching worldwide this week.

Based on a best-selling manga by Aiko Koyama, the nine-episode series is set in the traditional Geiko district of Kyoto, depicting the inner sanctum of aspiring maiko courtesans. The story follows two 16-year-old girls, Kiyo (Mori Nana) and Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi), who move from rural Aomori with dreams of becoming geisha. But while Sumire is instantly identified as a natural talent in the traditional arts — dance, elaborate costume and delicate music-making — Kiyo proves an awkward fit. Instead, she finds her place as a makanai, the traditional cook who prepares the meals within the yakata house where all of the geiko live together.

Kore-eda, who won Cannes’ Palme d’Or in 2018 with his family drama Shoplifters, acts as the show’s producer,...

Cannes Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first series for Netflix, The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House, is based on a best-selling manga about two young girls who move to Kyoto to start their training as ‘maiko’ or apprentice geisha.

One of them turns out to be a star maiko, but the other is not so talented in the geisha arts, which mostly comprise traditional song and dance, and ends up cooking for the household where the girls are being trained, an activity in which she excels. Neither the manga, created by Aiko Koyama, or the series are set in the Edo period, the golden era of geisha culture, but in contemporary Japan, where the profession still exists and is respected, but is also regarded as a dying art.

Scheduled to start streaming tomorrow (January 12), the series is produced by Kore-eda and Genki Kawamura, a leading producer behind hits such as Confessions,...

Upcoming feature by the Palme d’Or-winning director set for release in June 2023.

Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shoplifters star Ando Sakura have joined Monster, the upcoming feature from Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda.

It marks the first collaboration between Sakamoto, known for scoring Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, The Revenant and The Last Emperor, and Kore-eda, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018 with Shoplifters.

Monster also reunites the Japanese director with his Shoplifters star Sakura, who is also known for roles in Sion Son’s Love Exposure and Kei Ishikawa’s A Man, which played at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

Legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has signed on to write the music for Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s forthcoming feature film Monster (Kaibutsu), Tokyo-based production company Gaga Corporation revealed Thursday.

Sakamoto will provide newly written compositions as well as some of his pre-existing music for the film, producers say. A musical polymath, Sakamoto made his film debut with the iconic score for Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), starring David Bowie. He later won an Oscar with his music for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) and a Golden Globe nomination for his compositions for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant (2015). The partnership with Kore-eda marks his first work on a high-profile Japanese title in some time.

Monster is also Kore-eda’s first Japanese film since he won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2018 with Shoplifters. It follows the director’s French film The Truth, which opened...

Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and Sakura Ando have boarded Monster, the new film from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-Eda.

Produced by Genki Kawamura and Kenji Yamada, the film is in post-production and being lined up for theatrical release in Japan on June 2, 2023. Production partners include Toho, Gaga Films, Fuji Television Network, Aoi Pro and Bun-Buku.

The film also stars Nagayama Eita, Takahata Mitsuki, Kakuta Akihiro, Nakamura Shido and Tanaka Yuko. Gaga said that child actors Soya Kurokawa and Hinataare Hiiragi also were cast following auditions.

Monster is scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (We Made a Beautiful Bouquet), but the story of the film is being kept tightly under wraps.

Sakamoto’s credits include composing the music for films including Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), The Sheltering Sky (1990) and The Revenant (2015). He was the first Japanese winner of Best Original Score at the Oscars with The Last Emperor in 1987.

Monster will mark the first...

Mystery feature to be jointly distributed by Gaga and Toho.

Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with Shoplifters in 2018, is working on a new feature titled Monster ahead of a planned release in 2023.

Japan’s Gaga Corporation revealed that the film is in post-production and is set for a theatrical release in Japan on June 2, 2023, co-distributed with Toho.

It marks Kore-eda’s first film to be made in Japan since Shoplifters, having directed 2019 French feature The Truth and 2022 Korean film Broker in the interim.

The cast and story for Monster remains under wraps but was scripted by Yuji Sakamoto,...

Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-Eda looks set for a return to the international festival circuit in 2023 following the announcement that he has been quietly working on a new film titled Monster, which is now in post-production.

The director’s long-time distributor Gaga Corporation announced the film on Friday, saying it would be co-distributing the work with Toho.

The new film is based on a screenplay by Yuji Sakamoto, the prolific TV writer whose popular shows include Mother, The Best Divorce and A Woman as well as the 2021 hit feature I Fell in Love Like a Flower Bouquet.

“The two, who share the mutual respect to each other, work for the first time together,” said Gaga of the new collaboration.

It’s the first time, Kore-Eda has directed from another writer’s screenplay since his 1995 feature directorial debut Maborosi.

Details of the storyline and the cast were kept under wraps.

Veteran producer Genki Kawamura,...

Back in 2018, Hirokazu Koreeda won the Palme d’Or with his film “Shoplifters’ and the film world was excited to see what the Japanese auteur did next. Not one to rest on his laurels, Koreeda always is up for a challenge and he went on to make French and Korean features straight after, with his latest “Broker” winning Song Kang-ho the Best Actor at Cannes this year. Less than six months since the Korean production’s debut at Cannes, news has broken that Koreeda’s latest film “Monster” has already wrapped up shooting and is readying for a release in 2023.

Noting is known about the cast or the synopsis yet, but this will be Koreeda’s first Japanese feature film since “Shoplifters”. Interestingly, this will be the first feature Koreeda directs that has not been written by himself. Instead, he has worked off a script by Yuji Sakamoto,...

Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Palme d'Or-winning director of "Shoplifters," has already shot his next Japanese-language film in secret, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The title is "Monster," and while plot details are scarce at the moment, the film is currently in post-production and has set a release date for next summer in Japan.

Kore-eda is known as a writer-director, but for "Monster," he'll be handing off the screenwriting duties for the first time to Yuji Sakamoto, who has a background mainly in television. In addition, the movie pairs Kore-eda with producer Genki Kawamura, who has helped finance a number of anime hits, such as Mamoru Hosada's "The Boy and the Beast," "Mirai," and "Belle," and Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name," "Weathering with You," and "Suzume no Tojimari," the latter of which is currently playing in theaters in Japan. 

Kawamura also produced the live-action adaptation of Shûichi Yoshida's novel "Villain," and he...

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Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda has been keeping busy. After competing in Cannes this year with his acclaimed Korean feature Broker and recently wrapping his first series for Netflix, The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko Housei, the director revealed in Tokyo Friday that he’s already shot his next Japanese film, titled Monster.

Currently in post-production, Monster will release in Japan on June 2, 2023. The release date sets the film up for a potential world premiere in May at Cannes, where Kore-eda is a regular.

Monster will be the first movie directed by Kore-eda that he didn’t also write himself. Monster (titled Kaibutsu in Japanese) is scripted by Yuji Sakamoto, the writer of such Japanese series hits, Mother, Woman and Matrimonial Chaos.

The movie also is Kore-eda’s first Japanese film since he won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2018 with Shoplifters. It follows...

Another beloved Japanese animation film is getting a live-action adaptation. Makoto Shinkai's breathtaking 2016 sci-fi anime film "Your Name" is getting the live-action treatment, with Paramount enlisting Academy Award-nominated filmmaker of "Raya and the Last Dragon," Carlos López Estrada, to helm it. The film is currently in development, with Estrada writing the script, following an initial draft from "Bird Box" writer Eric Heisserer.

"Your Name" is considered a modern classic in Japan and was a significant hit in the country, grossing over 230 million at the time of its release. The film is a love story for the ages, plus, it combines the concepts of magic, time travel, and the beauty of friendship all in one. Its animation style is visceral, making the idea of a live-action remake seem less than ideal, but with Estrada attached, we can expect good things.

Here's everything we know about the adaptation so far!

What...

Titles acquired include ‘Club Zero’, ‘Hyakka’ and ‘Blue Jean’.

Leading Benelux indie distributors have revealed their latest acquisitions, including Pim Hermeling’s September Film Distribution which has added several films to its release slate.

Among them are Jessica Hausner’s latest Club Zero, starring Mia Wasikowska and sold by Coproduction Office. The film recently finished shooting in the UK. September has also picked up Saim Sadiq’s Joyland, which screened in Un Certain Regard in Cannes and is handled internationally by Film Constellation.

Also new on the September slate is Genki Kawamura’s San Sebastián best director winner Hyakka, sold...