International festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film will center on a court case in which Masaharu Fukuyama plays a successful lawyer defending a convicted murderer, played by Koji Yakusho (Memoirs of a Geisha).
Fukuyama also starred in Kore-eda’s Like Father, Like Son, which won the grand jury prize at Cannes in 2013 and was picked up by Steven Spielberg, who headed the jury that year, for a DreamWorks remake.
Kore-eda’s films have been selected for competition at Cannes four times, the most recent entry being Our Little Sister in 2015.
The story is based on an original script by Kore-eda, though no title has yet been announced.
The film is due to begin shooting soon and is scheduled for release in Japan by Toho and Gaga in September.
