Neon has set the theatrical release date for writer/director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest film “All of a Sudden” on November 25th.
The film premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, with stars Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto sharing the Best Actress award. Efira will receive a separate Leopard Club Award at this year’s Locarno Film Festival for her body of work in the film industry. Neon is planning an award campaign for the release.
All of a Sudden, a drama that spans both Japan and France, is a work in which Hamaguchi is repeatedly interested in the bonds that form between strangers. The director, who won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for Drive My Car, co-wrote the screenplay with Lea Le Dimna. The script is loosely based on Makiko Miyano and Maho Isono’s collection of works, When Life Changes Suddenly: 20 Letters between a Philosopher and a Medical Anthropologist with Terminal Cancer.
The story follows Marie-Lou (Efira), who runs a care facility for the elderly, as she overcomes the opposition of some of her staff to introduce a new philosophy of care centered around listening and the dignity of residents. Her perspective changes when she meets Mari (Okamoto), a Japanese theater director facing a diagnosis of cancer, and the two women form a close bond as they tackle this challenge together.
All of a Sudden was produced by David Gauquier, Julien Delis, Jean-Luc Ormière and Renan Altukmak for CineFrance Studios in France. Hiroko Matsuda, Kosuke Oshida, and Yuji Sashiro from Japan’s Office Sirius and Bitter’s End. Bettina Brokemper of Germany’s Heimat Film. and Belgian tarantula Joseph Leshop.
Hamaguchi has amassed one of the most stellar filmographies of the past decade. Drive My Car won Best Film awards from the New York Film Critics Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Society of Film Critics, and went on to win Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Independent Spirit Awards, and Critics Choice Awards, and became the first Japanese film to be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards. His Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale, and Evil Does Not Exist won the Silver Lion and the Fiplessi Award at Venice.
“All of a Sudden” is directed by “Artificial” directed by Luca Guadagnino, “Clarissa” directed by twins Allie and Chuko, “Fjord” directed by Christian Mungiu, and “Fjord” directed by James Gray. It joins a crowded 2026 neon slate that includes “Paper Tiger,” Na Hong-jin’s “Hope,” and William and David Greaves’ documentary “Once Upon a Time in Harlem.” Earlier this year, the studio was nominated for Best Picture at the 98th Academy Awards for “Sentimental Value” and “The Secret Agent,” with the former winning Best International Feature Film. Neon also confirmed that “Epic: Elvis Presley in Concert” broke the Imax opening record and Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” surpassed $10 million domestically. Most recently, the studio released Boots Riley’s “I Love Boosters” and Adrian Chiarella’s Sundance breakout “Leviticus.”
In nine years, Neon has been nominated for 57 Academy Awards, including Best Picture wins for Sean Baker’s Anora and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. This year, the studio received 18 Academy Award nominations, the second most of any studio, with “Sentimental Value” and “The Secret Agent” both winning Best Picture, and “Sentimental Value” ultimately winning Best International Feature, bringing Neon’s total number of wins to 11.
The studio has also won Cannes’ Palme d’Or for seven consecutive years, with “Fjord” joining previous winners “It Was Just an Accident,” “Anora,” “Parasite,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Titane” and “Triangle of Sadness.” Neon has grossed more than $500 million at the box office, thanks in part to Osgood Perkins’ The Long Legs, an independent film from Osgood Perkins that became the highest-grossing film of 2024 with $75 million domestically, and its sequel The Monkey, the studio’s second-highest opening. Upcoming releases include new films by Mungiu, Gray, Hamaguchi, Na, and Bong.
