Tokyo – We are honored to announce that Hirokazu Kore-eda’s newest film “The Truth” (French title: “La Vérité”), starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke and Ludivine Sagnier, has been selected as the opening film of the 76th Venice International Film Festival. This marks the first film by a Japanese director to kick off the festival.

“The Truth” will screen in Competition on August 28. Following the massive global success of “Shoplifters” (co-financed and produced by AOI Pro.), Palme d'Or winning director Kore-eda’s latest film is his first film set outside of Japan. It will be released in Japan on October 11, and AOI Pro. is one of the film partners for the distribution in Japan along with GAGA and Fuji Television Network.

“It is with great joy that I have learned that my new film, La vérité, has been selected to open the Official Competition of the Venice Film Festival,” director Hirokazu Kore-eda commented. “I am extremely honored. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the entire staff of the festival. We shot the movie in ten weeks last fall in Paris. As officially announced, the cast is prestigious but the film itself recounts a small family story that takes place primarily inside a house. I have tried to make my characters live within this small universe, with their lies, pride, regrets, sadness, joy, and reconciliation. I truly hope you will like this film.”

Venice International Film Festival, known as the oldest film festival in the world and one of the most prestigious, will take place in Venice from August 28 to September 7, 2019.

Synopsis

Fabienne is a star; a star of French cinema. She reigns amongst men who love and admire her: her new partner, her former husband, her agent... When she publishes her memoirs, her daughter Lumir (who has moved to the States to get away from her overbearing mother) returns to France with her husband and young child. The reunion between mother and daughter will quickly turn to confrontation: truths will be told, accounts settled, loves and resentments confessed. All under the astonished eyes of the men. At the same time, Fabienne is acting in a sci-fi movie, playing a daughter of a mother who never grows old...

For his first feature set outside Japan, Kore-eda unites French screen legends Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in a powerful and emotional story of family conflicts.

Credit

Director / Script / Editor	Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast	Catherine Deneuve The Umbrellas of Cherbourg; 8 Women Juliette Binoche The English Patient; Chocolat Ethan Hawke Gattaca; Boyhood Ludivine Sagnier 8 Women
Cinematographer	Éric Gautier A Christmas Tale; Summer Hours; The Motorcycle Diaries
Film Partners for the Distribution	GAGA / Fuji Television Network / AOI Pro.
Distributor	GAGA

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