Japan selects ‘All of a Sudden’ for Oscar international feature race

The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) has selected Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film ‘All of a Sudden’ as Japan’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

A French-Belgian-Japanese-German co-production, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where lead actresses Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto shared the Best Actress prize. The story, based on a collection of letters, follows a nursing home director in Paris and a terminally ill Japanese playwright.

This marks the second time a Hamaguchi film has represented Japan in this category, following the success of ‘Drive My Car’ five years ago. In North America, the distributor Neon plans to campaign for the film in several categories, including Best Actress for Efira and Best Supporting Actress for Okamoto.