With no fewer than 12 films in the official selection, Japan is at the heart of this year's Cannes Festival. Its cinema industry continues to do well with moviegoers as well as critics, making it a notable success story amid the rise of streaming.
Issued on: 23/05/2026 - RFI
Japanese cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa on the shoot of the film "To the Ends of the Earth" (2019), directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. © Uzbekkino
02:03
By: Ollia Horton
It's hard to miss the number of people wearing kimonos in the streets of Cannes.
That's because Japan has pride of place this year, with three films by Japanese directors in the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival and nine more across other categories.
Long associated with animation and horror, Japan has a distinctive storytelling tradition that is winning over broader audiences worldwide, with a growing number of films screened at international festivals.
Filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi – who shared the award for best screenplay at Cannes in 2021 for Drive My Car, which he also directed – is back with the touching All of a Sudden, filmed in a nursing home in France. It’s the story of a woman hoping to bring relief to patients thanks to the techniques of a young Japanese woman suffering from cancer.
Known for his intriguing family dramas, Hirokazu Kore-eda – who won the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018 – is in the running for the main prize again with Sheep in the Box, set in the not-so-distant future. It focuses on a couple who adopts a humanoid robot built to replicate their late child.
Critic favourites
With a long and storied history of filmmaking, Japan boasts cinema veterans whose technical skill makes them a favourite with critics.
With more than 70 films to her name, cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa is a legend in her homeland. Her pioneering work stands out for its exceptional mastery of natural light and painterly use of colour palettes.
She is the winner of this year's Pierre Angénieux Tribute, a prize awarded by the French camera lens company of the same name for excellence in cinematography.
New generation
Despite the rise of streaming platforms, Japan's film industry remains robust, producing around 1,200 films annually and drawing over 150 million cinemagoers.
In a sign of a growing market, Japan is country of honour at the Marché du Film – the business wing in Cannes that brings together distributors, producers and buyers from around the world.
Japanese industry participation at the festival has shot up by 40 percent this year compared to 2025, according to organisers.
Kaori Ikeda, managing director for international promotion with UniJapan – the national body sponsoring the Japanese Pavilion in Cannes – points proudly to walls covered with posters of all the films showing at Cannes.
"It’s a great year for us, especially for the new generation," she says. "Young creators are using a new financing model and are looking out for international co-productions, increasing their potential."
The Japanese government has stepped up its financial support of creative content industries considerably in recent years, Ikeda says. They also offer incentives for overseas projects looking to use Japanese locations.
"There’s a lot of interest from foreign film producers and directors to shoot in Japan, as well as form partnerships with Japanese creative firms."
Whichever way you look in Cannes, the sun is shining on Japanese cinema.
02:03
By: Ollia Horton
It's hard to miss the number of people wearing kimonos in the streets of Cannes.
That's because Japan has pride of place this year, with three films by Japanese directors in the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival and nine more across other categories.
Long associated with animation and horror, Japan has a distinctive storytelling tradition that is winning over broader audiences worldwide, with a growing number of films screened at international festivals.
Filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi – who shared the award for best screenplay at Cannes in 2021 for Drive My Car, which he also directed – is back with the touching All of a Sudden, filmed in a nursing home in France. It’s the story of a woman hoping to bring relief to patients thanks to the techniques of a young Japanese woman suffering from cancer.
Known for his intriguing family dramas, Hirokazu Kore-eda – who won the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018 – is in the running for the main prize again with Sheep in the Box, set in the not-so-distant future. It focuses on a couple who adopts a humanoid robot built to replicate their late child.
A woman wearing a Japanese kimono at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. © RFI / Ollia Horton
‘We are all foreigners’: Japanese director casts dandelion seeds in migration tale
‘We are all foreigners’: Japanese director casts dandelion seeds in migration tale
Critic favourites
With a long and storied history of filmmaking, Japan boasts cinema veterans whose technical skill makes them a favourite with critics.
With more than 70 films to her name, cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa is a legend in her homeland. Her pioneering work stands out for its exceptional mastery of natural light and painterly use of colour palettes.
She is the winner of this year's Pierre Angénieux Tribute, a prize awarded by the French camera lens company of the same name for excellence in cinematography.
Cinematographers Akiko Ashizawa of Japan and Linh Dan Nguyen Phan of Vietnam, winners of the Pierre Angénieux Tribute and Encouragement awards, in Cannes on 19 May 2026. © RFI / Ollia Horton
Starting out in the 1970s, Ashizawa worked in advertising before breaking into feature films, where she was one of only a few women in a profession still dominated by men.
She has collaborated with numerous well-known Japanese directors, notably Koji Fukada – whose film Harmonium won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category in 2016, and who is competing again this year with Nagi Notes.
Ashizawa also made several prize-winning films with horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose latest feature, The Samurai and the Prisoner, premiered at this year's festival.
Although most of Ashizawa's work has been in Japan, she has collaborated with other directors in Asia, notably from the Philippines and Indonesia, two of the region's burgeoning film industries.
"The directors are all very young, in their twenties. They have so much energy and it rubs off on me and I enjoy working with them," she tells RFI.
Asked what advice she would give, she says: "I think it’s important for young people to learn from other areas outside the film industry, from other parts of the world. The world is full of uncertainty at the moment, so I hope film can light the way for people."
Starting out in the 1970s, Ashizawa worked in advertising before breaking into feature films, where she was one of only a few women in a profession still dominated by men.
She has collaborated with numerous well-known Japanese directors, notably Koji Fukada – whose film Harmonium won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category in 2016, and who is competing again this year with Nagi Notes.
Ashizawa also made several prize-winning films with horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose latest feature, The Samurai and the Prisoner, premiered at this year's festival.
Although most of Ashizawa's work has been in Japan, she has collaborated with other directors in Asia, notably from the Philippines and Indonesia, two of the region's burgeoning film industries.
"The directors are all very young, in their twenties. They have so much energy and it rubs off on me and I enjoy working with them," she tells RFI.
Asked what advice she would give, she says: "I think it’s important for young people to learn from other areas outside the film industry, from other parts of the world. The world is full of uncertainty at the moment, so I hope film can light the way for people."
New generation
Despite the rise of streaming platforms, Japan's film industry remains robust, producing around 1,200 films annually and drawing over 150 million cinemagoers.
In a sign of a growing market, Japan is country of honour at the Marché du Film – the business wing in Cannes that brings together distributors, producers and buyers from around the world.
Japanese industry participation at the festival has shot up by 40 percent this year compared to 2025, according to organisers.
Kaori Ikeda, managing director for international promotion with UniJapan – the national body sponsoring the Japanese Pavilion in Cannes – points proudly to walls covered with posters of all the films showing at Cannes.
"It’s a great year for us, especially for the new generation," she says. "Young creators are using a new financing model and are looking out for international co-productions, increasing their potential."
The Japanese government has stepped up its financial support of creative content industries considerably in recent years, Ikeda says. They also offer incentives for overseas projects looking to use Japanese locations.
"There’s a lot of interest from foreign film producers and directors to shoot in Japan, as well as form partnerships with Japanese creative firms."
Whichever way you look in Cannes, the sun is shining on Japanese cinema.
INTERVIEW
‘Forgiveness has to be lived out’: says Rwanda's Cannes laureat Dusabejambot
Rwandan director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambot has become the country's first filmmaker to win the Camera d’Or for best first feature at the Cannes film festival, with Ben’Imana. The Kigali-based director talks to RFI about exploring how survivors and perpetrators continued living side by side in the year’s following the 1994 genocide and the difficult but necessary path towards reconciliation and healing.
Issued on: 25/05/2026 - RFI
Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambot, lauréate de la Caméra d’or du Festival de Cannes pour « Ben’Imana ». © Siegfried Forster / RFI
Dusabejambo spent more than a decade making the film, which premiered in the festival's Un Certain Regard section and won the top prize for a debut feature.
Set against the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, during which 800,000 people, most of them from the Tutsi ethnic group, were massacred by Hutu militias, Ben’Imana follows a survivor working toward reconciliation and healing within her community while confronting her own painful memories.
“I wanted to pay tribute to the women of my country,” Dusabejambo said during Saturday’s awards ceremony. “To those mothers who found the strength to remain standing with dignity, to forgive, to move forward – however imperfectly, however painfully.”
She spoke to RFI's Siegfried Forster.
RFI: Your film opens on a forest, rolling hills and then a community gathering where a woman stands up and says “I forgive". In your film, is forgiveness the force that sets everything in motion?
Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambot: The beginning of the film is both a beginning and an ending. It marks the start of a new chapter for the characters. Something happened to all of them – they were all victims in different ways – but each person understands those events differently depending on which side they were on.
When genocide takes place between neighbours, within families, where do you stand afterwards? The film begins in a world of justice where your neighbour may be your witness – or your accuser.
It becomes a question of choice. Is forgiveness a choice? Or, even if you want to forgive, do you then have to prove it? I’m not sure the film gives clear answers to those questions. In a society trying to rebuild itself through justice, should we even speak about forgiveness? Or should we speak about truth? About healing? What can actually repair things?
When everything collapses, what do you turn to? My main character has turned towards forgiveness. She then has to prove that forgiveness through her actions in life; she must live it out. She has spoken the words, but she must live it out.
Dusabejambo spent more than a decade making the film, which premiered in the festival's Un Certain Regard section and won the top prize for a debut feature.
Set against the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, during which 800,000 people, most of them from the Tutsi ethnic group, were massacred by Hutu militias, Ben’Imana follows a survivor working toward reconciliation and healing within her community while confronting her own painful memories.
“I wanted to pay tribute to the women of my country,” Dusabejambo said during Saturday’s awards ceremony. “To those mothers who found the strength to remain standing with dignity, to forgive, to move forward – however imperfectly, however painfully.”
She spoke to RFI's Siegfried Forster.
RFI: Your film opens on a forest, rolling hills and then a community gathering where a woman stands up and says “I forgive". In your film, is forgiveness the force that sets everything in motion?
Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambot: The beginning of the film is both a beginning and an ending. It marks the start of a new chapter for the characters. Something happened to all of them – they were all victims in different ways – but each person understands those events differently depending on which side they were on.
When genocide takes place between neighbours, within families, where do you stand afterwards? The film begins in a world of justice where your neighbour may be your witness – or your accuser.
It becomes a question of choice. Is forgiveness a choice? Or, even if you want to forgive, do you then have to prove it? I’m not sure the film gives clear answers to those questions. In a society trying to rebuild itself through justice, should we even speak about forgiveness? Or should we speak about truth? About healing? What can actually repair things?
When everything collapses, what do you turn to? My main character has turned towards forgiveness. She then has to prove that forgiveness through her actions in life; she must live it out. She has spoken the words, but she must live it out.
A photo from Dusabejambo's Ben'imana, which won the Un Certain Regard prize for best first feature at the Cannes film festival. © Mostafa El Kashef
Nurturing new African film talent
RFI: The gathering depicted in the film is part of the gacaca courts – Rwanda’s community tribunals established after the genocide against the Tutsi. Was this form of justice imposed from above by the government, or did it emerge from victims themselves?
MCD: Although this is a work of fiction, it is rooted in real events. After the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, there were huge numbers of perpetrators in prison, and the country had just emerged from an immense tragedy. People had to be tried. Everything had to be rebuilt.
The authorities turned to methods that already existed in Rwandan society – where respected elders would settle disputes, and where neighbours and communities would come together to resolve conflicts between families. Except that after the genocide, the conflict between neighbours and families was genocide itself. That was the challenge.
The film is about that period – a moment when one generation said: "this happened, this bloodshed happened." During my research, I felt there needed to be a point where future generations could say there was at least an attempt at justice, however difficult and imperfect it may have been.
People had to come together again. Rwandans had to speak to one another. They needed to be able to speak out.
'Speaking helps us heal' says Rwandan survivor on genocide anniversary
RFI: The film is set in 2012. It took you more than 10 years to make it. Since then, what has changed in terms of reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi?
MCD: Decisions were taken after the genocide because the country had to rebuild itself and rethink its politics. One of the first measures was to remove ethnic identities from national identity cards.
In Rwanda, we share one language and one culture. Unlike in some other African countries, a person’s name does not indicate their ethnic background. We don't have that. So after the genocide, those labels gradually lost much of their importance.
It was clear: this was a genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi. But my generation does not define itself through ethnicity – we define ourselves as Rwandans. I think that distance made it possible for me to make a film like this.
RFI: In the film, many of the victims – especially women – recount the crimes committed against them. Their stories emerge and are heard. Yet the film is also deeply concerned with silence, taboos and what remains unspoken.
MCD: A great deal went into creating that atmosphere. There are the actresses and their relationship to the story and to their own emotions. They gave everything, even their bodies. During casting, I was looking for people whose faces and bodies could express something even before they spoke.
There is also the Rwandan landscape itself. I noticed how the hills intertwine, and the stories of my characters overlap in the same way. I wanted the film to feel unmistakably Rwandan, because that's how we tell stories.
There is always a sense of community that conveys the emotion of what the hills and this landscape have witnessed.
France has 'responsibility' to break glass ceiling for women in film
RFI: In one key scene, Veneranda [played by Clémentine U. Nyirinkindi], who preaches forgiveness, realises that her daughter has become pregnant by a boy from the other ethnic group. At first, she cannot bring herself to accept the situation, but then she begins to wash her daughter’s feet.
MCD: Those are the contradictions of being a mother. You love, but you are who you are. I wanted to show the complexity of the relationship between mother and daughter.
At one point, I realised I was really searching for the heart of a mother. That's where something new begins. That's why she spoke about wanting to forgive in the first place. But forgiveness also had to become something visible and real.
RFI: In the closing credits, you thank the German director Volker Schlöndorff, who has often explored Germany’s own history in his work. Did you ever discuss with him the fact that Rwanda embarked on a direct reconciliation process after the genocide, something Germany never truly achieved after the Holocaust?
MCD: While I was working on the project, Volker Schlöndorff recommended me for a three-month programme at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. It gave me the opportunity to rework the screenplay quietly in Berlin.
But it was during Covid, so we never actually met in person.
Why is African cinema out of the picture at the Cannes Film Festival?
This interview was adapted from the original in French by Siegfried Forster and has been lightly edited for clarity.
Nurturing new African film talent
RFI: The gathering depicted in the film is part of the gacaca courts – Rwanda’s community tribunals established after the genocide against the Tutsi. Was this form of justice imposed from above by the government, or did it emerge from victims themselves?
MCD: Although this is a work of fiction, it is rooted in real events. After the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, there were huge numbers of perpetrators in prison, and the country had just emerged from an immense tragedy. People had to be tried. Everything had to be rebuilt.
The authorities turned to methods that already existed in Rwandan society – where respected elders would settle disputes, and where neighbours and communities would come together to resolve conflicts between families. Except that after the genocide, the conflict between neighbours and families was genocide itself. That was the challenge.
The film is about that period – a moment when one generation said: "this happened, this bloodshed happened." During my research, I felt there needed to be a point where future generations could say there was at least an attempt at justice, however difficult and imperfect it may have been.
People had to come together again. Rwandans had to speak to one another. They needed to be able to speak out.
'Speaking helps us heal' says Rwandan survivor on genocide anniversary
RFI: The film is set in 2012. It took you more than 10 years to make it. Since then, what has changed in terms of reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi?
MCD: Decisions were taken after the genocide because the country had to rebuild itself and rethink its politics. One of the first measures was to remove ethnic identities from national identity cards.
In Rwanda, we share one language and one culture. Unlike in some other African countries, a person’s name does not indicate their ethnic background. We don't have that. So after the genocide, those labels gradually lost much of their importance.
It was clear: this was a genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi. But my generation does not define itself through ethnicity – we define ourselves as Rwandans. I think that distance made it possible for me to make a film like this.
RFI: In the film, many of the victims – especially women – recount the crimes committed against them. Their stories emerge and are heard. Yet the film is also deeply concerned with silence, taboos and what remains unspoken.
MCD: A great deal went into creating that atmosphere. There are the actresses and their relationship to the story and to their own emotions. They gave everything, even their bodies. During casting, I was looking for people whose faces and bodies could express something even before they spoke.
There is also the Rwandan landscape itself. I noticed how the hills intertwine, and the stories of my characters overlap in the same way. I wanted the film to feel unmistakably Rwandan, because that's how we tell stories.
There is always a sense of community that conveys the emotion of what the hills and this landscape have witnessed.
France has 'responsibility' to break glass ceiling for women in film
RFI: In one key scene, Veneranda [played by Clémentine U. Nyirinkindi], who preaches forgiveness, realises that her daughter has become pregnant by a boy from the other ethnic group. At first, she cannot bring herself to accept the situation, but then she begins to wash her daughter’s feet.
MCD: Those are the contradictions of being a mother. You love, but you are who you are. I wanted to show the complexity of the relationship between mother and daughter.
At one point, I realised I was really searching for the heart of a mother. That's where something new begins. That's why she spoke about wanting to forgive in the first place. But forgiveness also had to become something visible and real.
RFI: In the closing credits, you thank the German director Volker Schlöndorff, who has often explored Germany’s own history in his work. Did you ever discuss with him the fact that Rwanda embarked on a direct reconciliation process after the genocide, something Germany never truly achieved after the Holocaust?
MCD: While I was working on the project, Volker Schlöndorff recommended me for a three-month programme at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. It gave me the opportunity to rework the screenplay quietly in Berlin.
But it was during Covid, so we never actually met in person.
Why is African cinema out of the picture at the Cannes Film Festival?
This interview was adapted from the original in French by Siegfried Forster and has been lightly edited for clarity.
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu wins Palme d'Or for 'Fjord'
24.05.2026, DPA
Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/dpa
The Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival has been awarded to Romanian director Cristian Mungiu for his film "Fjord," the jury announced on Saturday evening.
The film beat 21 other entries in the competition.
The Jury Prize was awarded to German director Valeska Grisebach for her film "The Dreamed Adventure" ("Das geträumte Abenteuer".) The decision was made by a jury chaired by South Korean director Park Chan-wook.
Morally complex drama
This is already Mungui’s second Palme d’Or. In 2007, his film “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” won the award. With "Fjord," the director has created a morally complex drama about family, upbringing and cultural conflicts.
Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve play a strictly religious Romanian-Norwegian couple who move to a remote Norwegian village with their five children. When injuries are discovered on their daughter, the parents are suspected of having physically abused their child.
“Fjord” deliberately portrays the conflict between the couple and the Norwegian authorities without offering any easy answers.
Grand Prix for the Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev
The Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s second most important award, went to Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev for his socially critical thriller “Minotaur.”
The film tells the story of a Russian businessman who faces major challenges at his company and discovers his wife is having an affair. Zvyagintsev weaves the story together with the omnipresence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
The award for Best Director was shared by three directors: Spaniards Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for the drama “The Black Ball” (“La bola negra”) and Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski for “Fatherland”. The film, starring Sandra Hüller, tells the story of a road trip undertaken by Thomas Mann and Erika Mann through post-war Germany in 1949.
Who else was honoured
Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne were named Best Actors for their roles in the film “Coward” by Belgian director Lukas Dhont. In it, they play two soldiers in the First World War who fall in love with one another.
Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto were honoured as Best Actresses for the drama “All of a Sudden” (“Soudain”). In the film, Japanese director Ryūsuke Hamaguchi crafts a quiet yet haunting drama about two women whose encounter shifts the course of their lives in unexpected ways.
The award for Best Screenplay went to Frenchman Emmanuel Marre for “A Man of His Time” (“Notre Salut”). In the film, the director explores a chapter of his family’s history during the Second World War in France.
Barbra Streisand honoured
French actress Isabelle Huppert paid tribute to US actress Barbra Streisand, who was awarded an Honorary Palme d’Or but was unable to accept the prize in person due to a knee injury. Streisand expressed her thanks via a video message, saying that films have “this magical ability” to bring people together.
(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH
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