Entertainment news website Variety reported on Thursday that the 79th Cannes International Film Festival will showcase five Japanese works-in-progress films as part of the “Tokyo International Film Festival’s Goes to Cannes” event on May 15. These films will include Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s live-action film adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto‘s “Look Back” one-shot manga, as well as the anime film adaptation of Kaori Mado‘s Kimi to Hanabi to Yakusoku to (You, Fireworks, and the Promise or Kimi-Hana for short) novel series (under the working title You, Fireworks, and Our Promise).

The “Goes to Cannes” series is organized by the Marché du Film, the marketplace held during Cannes, and is a series of seven showcases of works in progress from festivals and markets all over the world. This year the “Goes to Cannes” series will offer two rewards.

The other three films as part of the showcase are: director Ko Kanai’s The Gate of Murder, Takahisa Zeze‘s All That Exists (working title), and Syoutarou Kobayashi’s Lives at Right Angles.

Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters, Our Little Sister, Air Doll) is directing and editing the Look Back film, and is also writing the screenplay. Yūta Bandō (BELLE, Kaiju No. 8, also known as Taku Matsushiba) is composing the music.

GKIDS has acquired distribution rights for the film for the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Ireland. The company plans to release the film in theaters.

The film is currently in post-production and will open in Japan in 2026.

Kei Suzuki (City Hunter The Movie: Angel Dust assistant director, Tower of God: Return of the Prince) is directing the Kimi to Hanabi to Yakusoku to film at Synergy SP and The Answer Studio, and Kōhei Mori is penning the screenplay. Yūji Watanabe (Flag guest character designer, animation director) is designing characters, and Michihiko Umezawa (The Dangers in My Heart, A Couple of Cuckoos) is planning and producing the project with Shinei Animation.

The coming-of-age romance is set during the Nagaoka Festival Grand Fireworks Show, one of Japan’s three major fireworks shows that draws several hundred thousand visitors to Niigata Prefecture every year. What connects Makoto (a Tokyo high school boy without social skills or self-confidence) and Aki (a popular high school girl and class president with beauty and talent) is a drawing of a fireworks display. At the mercy of the drawing’s mystery and fate itself, the two have to make a choice in a limited amount of time.

Japan is the 2026 Country of Honor at the Marché du Film. Cannes Animation will host several workshops and panels focused on Japanese animation.

The Annecy Animation Showcase at this year’s festival will feature five animated works-in-progress from around the world, including dwarf studios‘ HIDARI stop-motion samurai film and director Takayuki Hirao‘s (Magical Sisters Yoyo & Nene) anime project tentatively codenamed Wasted Chef.

Source: Variety (Naman Ramachandran)