Homage to Japanese legends at the 77th Cannes Film Festival

This year's Cannes Film Festival will pay homage to Japan's contribution to film over the years. The poster for the Cannes Film Festival, for example, is inspired by the film Rhapsody in August by legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, while an honorary Palme d'Or will be awarded to Japanese animators Studio Ghibli, creators of Oscar-winning The Boy and the Heron.

Kurosawa was 81 at the time his film Rhapsody in August was presented Out of Competition in at the Cannes festival in 1991.

Based on the novel Nabe no naka by Kiyoko Murata, it tells the story of a grandmother who lost her husband in the 9 August 1945 atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki by the United States.

While caring for her four grandchildren over that summer, she finds out she has a long-lost brother, Suzujiro, living in Hawaii who wants her to visit him before he dies. American film star Richard Gere appears as Suzujiro's son Clark.

Despite the suffering, she shares a message of faith in love and integrity as a bulwark against war.

The image for the poster, in several hues of blue, shows the cast from behind, contemplating an evening sky, with the Cannes palm logo shining down at them like a moon.

It was designed by Lionel Avignon and Stefan de Vivies from the Hartland Villa studio, the same company who designed the festival poster in 2023 with Catherine Deneuve and with Spike Lee in 2021.

Cinema to combat oblivion

The organisers said they wanted to communicate the Seventh Art as a place of peace, where "everyone has a voice.

Meanwhile, another genre of Japanese filmmaking is also being honoured this year.

(with newswires)

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