This year’s Cannes Film Festival proved to be a remarkable moment for Japanese cinema. Across the official selection, films from Japan dominated the festival’s various strands, including main competition effort “Renoir”, video game adaptation “Exit 8” which played in Midnight Screenings, and “A Pale View of Hills”, a British-Japanese co-production that brought esteemed author Kazao Ishiguro’s debut novel to the big screen and took a place in Un Certain Regard. The market was also flush with Japanese films, including Naoto Kawashima’s boxing saga “Welcome Back” and “Tokyo Taxi” from veteran director, Yoji Yamada. 

The big question, however, is how global audiences can be made aware of this impressive and diverse slate of Japanese movies. On Friday 18th May, held in Cannes’ bustling Marché du Film, a lively and engaging panel – Distributors, Festivals, Platforms: Why Bet on Japanese Cinema? – looked to tackle this very topic. Hosted by producer Atsuko Ohno (Hassaku Labs, Japan and Survivance, France), the three film industry personnel who joined her on the panel had considerable experience handling Japanese cinema in Europe. 

The panellists were Amel Lacombe, CEO and Founder of Eurozoom, the French distributor that, fifteen years ago, expanded into releasing Japanese animations films (or “non-Ghibli movies”, as she put it, meaning that the company specialises in those not made by Japan’s famed Studio Ghibli animation company). Joining her was Nousha Saint-Martin, the President and General Director of Operations of the Kinotayo Festival, the largest Japanese film festival in France, which will present its 19^th edition this winter between 23rd November and 12th December. 

The third panellist was Eve Gabereau, founder of UK distribution outfit Modern Films and the Director of Distribution at Vue Lumière, the distribution arm of European cinema company, Vue International. Without doubt, all three were enthusiastic about bringing Japanese cinema to international audiences. Of course, some countries in Europe were easier to sell to than others. “In France, we have an enormous appetite for Japanese culture“, said Lacombe, pointing out that Japanese animation was a booming market, thanks to the popularity of manga and anime in the country. 

“From a point of view of interest in Japanese cinema, there are several key factors“, she added. “First of all, the importance is that it’s cross-generational. Here in France, when we release Japanese animation, we release the two versions, the subtitled version and the dubbed version, because we can see that the audience – depending on the subject of the movie, of course – can be very wide. It can be families and also young adults.”

Fully aware that Japanese film can appeal to both arthouse lovers and those seeking more commercial entertainment, Lacombe added that Eurozoom made the decision to diversify, seeking out projects beyond animation and into the realm of live-action fiction. Notably, the company is the French distributor and co-producer of “Renoir“, the story of an 11-year-old girl coping with her terminally ill father. Playing in competition in Cannes this year, the film marks the second feature by writer-director Chie Hayakawa, after her 2022 feature “Plan 75.”

Lacombe also noted how crucial France was for Japanese cinema, thanks to three key factors. The Cannes Film Festival itself remains the ideal “way of putting your movie, your director, onto the international map.” Secondly, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival – held annually in June – is “the most important animation festival in the world.” And also, cinema itself, she argued, is still highly valued, culturally. “We have a lot of press that is still committed to cinema. It’s still committed to critics. France, in this aspect, is a key territory.”

Kinotayo Festival
The success of the Kinotayo Festival is, arguably, proof of the success of Japanese film in France. Founded in 2006, this non-profit festival has seen a fifty percent increase in attendance over the last two years. The 18^th edition screened films in 22 cinemas across 17 cities in France, including Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Cannes and La Rochelle. “Now we really have, I could say, more nationwide visibility,” said Kinotayo’s Saint-Martin. “It can be a teaser for a future projection. So I think that it’s really an incubation and launching platform for Japanese cinema.”

A festival like Kinotayo has also been crucial in bringing Japanese talent into France. In the past, Japanese filmmakers such as Kei Ishikawa (director of this year’s Ishiguro adaptation “A Pale View of Hills”), Shinya Tsukamoto and Miwa Nishikawa have all been welcomed to the festival. Kinotayo has also been instrumental in introducing French audiences to filmmakers little-known outside of Japan, such as Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, whose “Happy Hour”  was presented in 2015. Hamaguchi has since seen extraordinary success, in particular with 2021’s “Drive My Car,” which gained two Oscar nominations and won Best Screenplay at Cannes. 

“I think there is room for more Japanese movies in France“, continued Saint-Martin. “Our movies have another life in France after we provide them visibility. And so I think there’s more room for more distributors. And actually this year, all the Japanese movies that are in Cannes already have distributors, and I’m glad to see that there are newcomers as well. So this also shows that definitely there is a momentum for this, and it’s rising and we want to contribute to that.” 

The panel was not only focused on France, with Eve Gabereau diligently illustrating that in the UK, since 2000, there have been 301 Japanese movies released, both by studios and independent distributors. “That’s a cumulative box office of GBP £60 million, which represents about just under twenty percent of global box office for Japanese films,” she revealed. “And of those 301 films, the number one genre was animation. And after that is drama and action and horror, and then documentaries and comedies.”

Modern Films and Vue Lumière
Gabereau’s own company Modern Films was set up in 2017 as a female-led, social issues-driven production, distribution and event cinema company. In terms of Japanese cinema, it released three Hamaguchi films, “Drive My Car”, “Wheels of Fortune and Fantasy” and “Evil Does Not Exist,” the 2023 film which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. “All three have done very well culturally and made a big impact,” she confirmed. The company was also responsible for releasing two documentaries on legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto; “Coda” and the concert film “Opus.” 

In November 2024, Gabereau joined Vue Lumière, the fledgling foreign-language and independent film distribution arm of UK-based exhibitor Vue, as director of distribution. “It’s an interesting merger for me“, she explained, “and I hope for the industry of exhibition and distribution, where we can reach wider audiences. And I’m very keen to bring in some Japanese films to our mix. So what we will do is we acquire films for the UK and Ireland to start, and then if we can, we take the campaign and we can get international territories, then we would localize our English campaign in those territories.” 

Gabereau noted that Vue Lumière was dedicated to honing in on what audiences wanted. “We do a lot of profiling and cultural specificity in our marketing. It will be country specific. And we also look at what’s performing best in different countries and compare that. So there’s a lot of richness, and that’s a very exciting part of the talent. So the distribution… it isn’t data driven in so far as that it’s abstract. But I think the more you can know about the various audiences first hand, the people’s behaviour, what they’re clicking through, what they’re looking at, what they’re interested in, [you can discover] how to reach them directly and have some kind of impact with that.”

When the panel opened up to the audience, one of the most thought-provoking questions saw one attendee ask: what is missing from Japan’s film export strategy? As Lancombe noted, Japan’s film industry had been somewhat inward-looking, looking only for localised partnerships. “For a long time, the Japanese market was self-sufficient, meaning they didn’t see the value of having an international career outside of Asia, because I think the Japanese movies are very strong in Asia, notably in China now and Korea also.” 

Saint-Martin also sounded a note of caution, especially when it comes to the selling of Japanese movies, with a focus on casting rather than the director. “The way they [pitch to] the national market… is mostly on the casting […] and less about the director or his intention. Very often I have the feeling that Japanese sellers still pitch internationally, like they would do in Japan,” she said. “The way of pitching in Japan is quite different from the way we pitch in France and in the Western world. So there is also probably room for improvement there, I would say.” 

While there is currently no co-production treaty between Japan and France, Lacombe suggested that this is about to change, an issue that is key to further bridging cultural divides and bringing nations together to share stories. “Both Japanese and French people are really determined to try to find a way to sign this co-production treaty. I think this is something that will make Japanese cinema more international. So from a regulatory and institutional point of view, something that is happening now.”  

As Gabrereau pointed out, on a very positive note, “There has been a lot of movement, especially in recent years, around co-production and collaboration.” She cited “Tokyo Vice”, the TV detective series co-produced by HBO Max, Endeavor Content, and Wowow, Japan’s leading premium pay TV broadcaster. Running between 2002 and 2024, and executive produced by Michael Mann, it represented a huge moment, bringing the Americas and Japanese film industries together. It’s collaborations like this, she feels, that has led to Cannes seeing such an influx of Japanese movies this year. “Having so many Japanese films is a direct result of this deep engagement in the modern industry.”