Fellow Hirokazu Koreeda fans, this is going to be a damn good year. The acclaimed Shoplifters director recently premiered his sci-fi film, Sheep in the Box, at Cannes. He’s not done, however, because announced for TIFF is his second film of 2026, Look Back, an adaptation of the popular manga and anime.
Look Back will make its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this September, which likely means the world premiere will be at Venice, or possibly even Telluride.
The film is based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s 2021 manga about two girls, the reclusive Kyomoto and the outgoing Fujino, who are bonded by their mutual passion for drawing. Fujimoto’s web comic was then adapted into a hit anime film in 2024.
Koreeda reunites with stars Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita, who had roles in his Netflix series, The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House. Also in the cast are Furi Nanase, Rokka Okada, Masaki Suda, Kankurō Kudō, Kayo Noro, Ryō Ikeda, Miyu Sasaki, and Maho Yamada.
Look Back will open in Japan on September 11th, with a domestic rollout to follow courtesy of GKIDS at some point.
