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Here is the press release:
NEON announced today that ALL OF A SUDDEN will open exclusively in theaters on November 25, 2026. The latest feature from writer/director Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Academy Award® winning Drive My Car) premiered in competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where its two lead actresses, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, were jointly awarded the prize for Best Actress. ALL OF A SUDDEN was met with widespread critical acclaim topping the Indiewire Critics Poll for Best Film following its premiere, with praise directed at the performances of Efira and Okamoto as well as Hamaguchi’s direction and screenplay. Efira will also receive the Leopard Club Award at this year’s Locarno Film Festival in recognition of her outstanding career in cinema. Neon plans an awards campaign for the film.
A Japanese-French language drama set across both continents, the film marks Hamaguchi’s latest exploration of the profound connections that can emerge between strangers. Hamaguchi co-wrote the screenplay with Léa Le Dimna, loosely adapting the celebrated book of writings by Makiko Miyano and Maho Isono, When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher with Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist.
The film is produced by David Gauquié, Julien Deris, Jean-Luc Ormières and Renan Artukmaç for France’s Cinefrance Studios; Hiroko Matsuda, Kosuke Oshida and Yuji Sadai for Japan’s Office Shirous and Bitters End; Bettina Brokemper for Germany’s Heimatfilm; and Joseph Rouschop for Belgium’s Tarantula.
Set in France and Japan, ALL OF A SUDDEN follows Marie-Lou (Efira), the director of a care facility for the elderly, who is determined to introduce an innovative philosophy of care rooted in listening and respect for residents’ dignity, despite resistance from members of her staff. Her path is profoundly reshaped by an encounter with Mari (Okamoto), a Japanese theater director battling cancer. As the two women form a deep friendship, they join forces in a shared struggle to make the impossible possible.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi has emerged as one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the past decade. DRIVE MY CAR won the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film. It went on to win the Best International Feature from the Oscars ®, Golden Globes, BAFTA, Independent Spirit Awards and Critics Choice Awards. It was also the first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture along with Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Hamaguchi’s WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and EVIL DOES NOT EXIST won the Silver Lion and FIPRESCI prize at the Venice Film Festival.
ALL OF A SUDDEN joins NEON’s award-winning 2026 slate, alongside Luca Guadagnino’s ARTIFICIAL, twin brother directing duo Arie and Chuko’s CLARISSA, Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner, FJORD, James Gray’s PAPER TIGER, Director Na Hong-Jin’s HOPE and the William and David Greaves documentary ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM. Earlier this year, the studio received recognition at the 98th Academy Awards®, including Best Picture nods for SENTIMENTAL VALUE and THE SECRET AGENT (with the former ultimately winning Best International Feature Film) – recent milestones including the record-breaking IMAX opening of EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT and Park Chan-wook’s NO OTHER CHOICE crossing $10 million domestically. Most recently, the company released Boots Riley’s I LOVE BOOSTERS and Adrian Chiarella’s Sundance hit, LEVITICUS.
About NEON
In only nine years, NEON has garnered 57 Academy Award® nominations, winning Best Picture for Sean Baker’s Anora and Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. This year, NEON received 18 Oscar nominations, the second most for any motion picture studio. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent were both nominated for Best Picture, with Sentimental Value ultimately winning the award for Best International Feature Film – bringing the studio’s total to 11 wins.
NEON continues to champion bold, risk-taking cinema and has built an impressive streak winning the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with seven consecutive wins, including this most recent year’s winner Fjord, as well as It Was Just an Accident, Anora, Parasite, Anatomy of a Fall, Titane, and Triangle of Sadness. In 2024, NEON was named The Hollywood Reporter’s Independent Studio of the Year and received the Clio Award for Studio of the Year.
NEON has grossed over half-a-billion at the box office, with highlights including Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, which was the highest grossing independent film of 2024 at $75 million domestically, and his follow-up feature The Monkey, NEON’s second-highest opening. The studio’s upcoming slate includes films from notable auteurs including Cristian Mungiu, James Gray, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Director Na, and Bong Joon Ho.
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