France, May 23 -- 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...