Janus Films has secured all U.S. distribution rights to The Samurai and the Prisoner, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s adaptation of Honobu Yonezawa’s award-winning historical novel, ahead of its world premiere at Cannes Premiere.
Janus plans to announce plans for a theatrical release in the coming weeks.
Charade handled international sales for the title. The company brokered the deal with Janus.
Set during Japan’s Sengoku period, the film follows Murashige Araki, a warlord who rebels against the feared Nobunaga Oda and finds his home base sealed off from outside aid. As order within the castle collapses under the weight of a series of mysterious crimes, Araki forms a precarious alliance with Kanbei Kuroda, a razor-thin prisoner languishing in a dungeon in an effort to root out the traitors before the Oda army approaches. Yonezawa’s original novel won both the 12th Yamada Fuutarou Award and the 166th Naoki Award. The film was produced by Shochiku in cooperation with Tokyo Broadcasting Television.
Director Kurosawa said in a statement, “I was very surprised to hear that the story of Murashige Araki, a warlord from the Sengoku period who rebelled against his master Nobunaga Oda, would be screened at Cannes, transcending borders and time.” “If we’re lucky enough to have people overseas truly understand that this can still happen, I’d be very happy.”
Kurosawa built his reputation on films in the psychologically unstable genre, breaking internationally with CURE, and went on to develop a wide range of films, including Pulse, Tokyo Sonata, The Spy’s Wife, and most recently, Cloud.
Charade arrives in Cannes 2026 with a strong slate that includes two competition titles, Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales and Emmanuel Mare’s Man of the Age, and Sandra Wallner’s Also included are Jordan Firstman’s Un Certain Regard debut, Club Kid, Huong My Nguyen’s In Waves, which opens Critics’ Week, and a film by Julien Gaspar-Oliveri. “Stonewall” debuts at a special Critics Week screening.
Janus Films recently joined the action with the acquisition of Alan Gomis’ 2026 Berlinale selection “Dao,” Bea Gan’s “Resurrection,” and Ira Sachs’ “Peter Hujar’s Day.”
