Japan's Shochiku and France's Celluloid Dreams have partnered to handleinternational sales of Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's upcoming samuraidrama Hana (Hana Yori Mo Naho).

Celluloid Dreams will handleEuropean sales for the film while Shochiku's international sales division handlesthe rest of the world.

The deal marks the firstcollaboration between the two companies, although not the first time thatCelluloid Dreams has worked with Kore-eda. The French company handledinternational sales on his previous film, NobodyKnows, which premiered at Cannes in 2004 and won best actor for its 14-year-old starYuya Yagira.

Celluloid Dreams has alsorepped other Japanese titles such as Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi and Masahiro Kobayashi's 2005 Cannes competition entry Bashing.

Hana isKore-eda's fifth dramatic feature but his first foray into samurai territory.The high-profile picture features up-and-coming actor Junichi Okada (Tokyo Tower, Hold Up Down) in the lead role as a young samurai who comes torealise the futility of revenge.

Big name support comes fromRie Miyazawa (The Twilight Samurai, Tony Takitani) and Tadanobu Asano (Zatoichi, Last Life In The Universe). Latter previously appeared inKore-eda's Distance and Maborosi.

The film, which wrapped lastOctober in Kyoto, is set for a June 3 release in Japan.