Koreeda's 'Lookback' heads to Venice competition for world premiere

Hirokazu Koreeda's Lookback has been selected for competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, running September 2 to 12 in Italy. It will have its world premiere there.

Koreeda directed, wrote, and edited the film himself. Lookback is the first live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's short manga—the creator behind Chainsaw Man. Natsuki Deguchi leads the cast alongside Aju Makita, with Daiki Koide producing.

The manga already had a moment. The 2024 anime adaptation won the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year and drew more than 320,000 viewers in South Korea.

For Koreeda, Venice is old territory. This marks his fourth competition section entry and his first return in seven years. He won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2018 for Shoplifters, then brought Broker, Monster, and The Box to major international festivals. (Most directors never get four competition slots at Venice.)

Lookback releases domestically in October.