Janus Films has acquired all US rights to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s period drama The Samurai And The Prisoner from Paris-based sales agent Charades.
The film is due to receive its world premiere at Cannes in the Cannes Premiere section in May followed by a local release in Japan by Shochiku on June 19. Janus Films will announce US theatrical release plans in the coming weeks.
Adapted from Honobu Yonezawa’s award-winning 2021 novel Kokurojo, the story is set in 16th century Japan. It follows Lord Murashige Araki, who finds himself besieged within the walls of his own castle after rising up against the tyrannical Nobunaga Oda. Isolated, he is confronted with a series of mysterious crimes, plunging the fortress into fear and suspicion.
The cast is led by Masahiro Motoki as Murashige Araki alongside Masaki Suda as Kanbei Kuroda, the prisoner of the title with whom he must form an uneasy alliance. They are joined by Yuriko Yoshitaka, Munetaka Aoki, Ryota Miyadate, Tasuku Emoto and Joe Odagiri.
It marks the first period feature written and directed by Kurosawa, the Japanese auteur who won best director at Venice in 2020 with Wife Of A Spy and has had several films selected for Cannes including Before We Vanish, Journey To The Shore, Tokyo Sonata, Bright Future and Pulse. Janus Films previously acquired the filmmaker’s 2024 thriller Cloud, which also starred Suda and premiered at Venice.
The Samurai And The Prisoner is produced by Shochiku in association with Tokyo Broadcasting System Television. Producer is Satoko Ishida.
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.”
Over the past 12 months, Janus Films has acquired festival titles such as Berlinale selection Dao by Alain Gomis; Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron, which played at Locarno and Toronto; and Cannes 2025 titles Romeria by Carla Simon, Magellan by Lav Diaz, Resurrection by Bi Gan, Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains and Sergei Loznitsa’s Two Prosecutors.
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