Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Samurai And The Prisoner now has a home in the U.S. over at Janus Films as of this week. The news comes just as the film readies a World Premeire at the 79th edition of Cannes which kicks off in May.
Paris-based Charades is repping world sales on Kurosawa’s first period piece which is based on Honobu Yonezawa’s award-winning 2021 novel, “Kokurojo.” Set in the 16th century, The Samurai And The Prisoner follows a whodunit format as daimyo Murashige Araki (Masahiro Motoki) desperately consults with a prisoner to solve the mystery behind the murder of a young samurai in the confines of Arioka Castle as enemy soldiers outside the gates await the chance to strike.
Kurosawa said: “I was very positively surprised to learn that the story of the Sengoku warlord Araki Murashige, who rebelled against his lord Oda Nobunaga, will be screened in Cannes, transcending both borders and time. If, by good fortune, people overseas can truly understand that this is something that could still happen even today, I would be immensely happy.”
Yuriko Yoshitaka and Masaki Suda, as well as Munetaka Aoki, Ryota Miyadate, Tasuku Emoto and Joe Odagiri. Shochiku will release the film in Japan on June 19.
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