It’s been a very good year for Japanese cinema, and Cannes is where the country came to prove it.
In the main competition, there was buzz around three former Cannes champions in Japan. Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Koreda (Thieves2018) returns with Sheep in the box; Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – 2021 Best Screenplay Winner for Driving my car — presents its French co-production suddenly; and Koji Fukada, who received the 2016 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize for his film Organcompeting with Naji’s memoirs. All three films explore issues of family and friendship.
Japan is also looking forward. On May 15, the Japan Goes to Cannes evening at the Marché du Film will present five projects in production that speak to the power and diversity of contemporary Japanese cinema.
Among them is the upcoming Kore-eda movie, Look back – Currently in post-production – which follows the 13-year friendship between two girls bonded by a love of manga. This will be the director’s first manga adaptation, and the story of how he got there says it all about the appeal of the project.
“He picked it up on impulse and read the entire manga in one sitting that night,” says producer Daigo Koide. THR. “Although manga and films are two different mediums, he felt a raw, urgent sense of resolve from working as a creator. He told me that he could sense, almost painfully, that the author, Tatsuki Fujimoto, must have felt that he could not move forward without creating this piece.”
Given the popularity of the source material — and the fact that the anime version took in an estimated $13 million at the Japanese box office — expectations are high, especially when it comes to the casting of the two much-loved central characters. Fans are hoping that the casting will be announced in Cannes.
“One of the most difficult tasks was finding the right children to play the two leads, Fujino and Kyomoto,” Koide says. “Before the auditions started, I was really worried, wondering if kids who could embody such captivating characters existed in the real world. However, director Kore-eda was sitting next to me, smiling. As it turned out, the two we found through the auditions were truly exceptional.”
As it is served Murder Gatea thriller from Ko Kanai – known for popular TV dramas including Naomi and Kanako (2016). Produced by Yoshikazu Tsubaki and Kadokawa Company, the film follows a man who is haunted by a childhood acquaintance, who blames him for all of his misfortunes, and begins plotting the man’s death.
The upside is justified. At home, the world’s third-largest film market saw annual revenues rise 32% to $1.79 billion in 2025, surpassing the pre-pandemic record of $1.70 billion in 2019. Production numbers also reached an all-time high, with 694 Japanese films released in 2025, surpassing the previous record of 689 films (2019), while 685 films in 2024.
Local titles played a big role in the box office: The Anime Monster Hit Demon Slayer: Infinity Fortress – Part 1 It topped the list with $255 million, followed by the Kabuki epic Cocoho ($127 million) – Highest-grossing domestic live-action film of all time – with Detective Conan: Flashback with one eye ($95.8 million) and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc ($67.8 million) also performed strongly.
The Goes to Cannes lineup reflects this momentum. You and the fireworks and our promise (Working Title), an animated film from Shin-Ei Animation and SynergySP, directed by Suzuki Kei and produced by Michihiko Umezawa, follows a high school boy who discovers a drawing of a firework bearing his name and a future date – only for the girl holding it to disappear, replaced by her seemingly identical grandmother from the past.
“What has always been important to us is the idea that even the smallest moments can carry a sense of warmth, humor, and sometimes a quiet sense of wonder,” says Umezawa. “You and the fireworks and our promise It is part of that ongoing journey. While the story begins with something very local, the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, the film speaks to universal ideas about memory, time, and the way emotions can be shared across generations. At its core, it’s also a coming-of-age love story. I think one of the strengths of anime is that it allows the mundane and the fantastical to naturally exist side by side.
Shin-Ei Animation has previously developed a global fan base for productions, such as its long-running anime series Doraemon and Shinshan coloring. The producer says that this animation is rooted in everyday life, something common to much of Japanese anime content, allowing “natural existence and imagination to coexist naturally.”
“We’ve always been interested in how vivid ordinary everyday life can be when you look at it from a slightly different perspective,” he says. “A simple, fleeting moment between family members or friends can sometimes stay with you for a lifetime. Anime gives us the freedom to express those feelings in a more direct and sometimes more poetic way. We don’t need to rely solely on realism to feel the authenticity of life. For this reason, anime stories can travel across cultures while still feeling authentic and personal. This sense of emotional recognition across different cultures and backgrounds is one of the reasons anime resonates with global audiences.”
Veteran director Takahisa Zeise (64: Part One, 64: Part Two) brings mysterious drama Everything that exists (Working title), produced by Takahashi Naoya with sales through Toei Corporation. A journalist haunted by a twin kidnapping case is drawn into the mystery again 30 years later, after the death of the detective who worked on it, and into the orbit of a strange realist painter.
Rounding out the lineup is Live at right anglesfrom Syotaro Kobayashi (The life of my mother Kasan), produced by Sato Gen through Toei Video Company with Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures handling sales. The film follows Daiki, a janitor who manages his life with autism spectrum disorder with the help of his sister – until she decides to get married, leaving him facing an uncertain future alone.
For all involved, this opportunity carries real weight. “Not just in terms of exposure, but also in terms of how we connect with the international film community,” Umezawa says — speaking, it’s fair to say, to everyone in the lineup.
