Everything You Need To Know About Japanese Film Sheep In The Box

Filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda is no stranger to Cannes. The Japanese filmmaker has long been a fixture at the festival, returning repeatedly to its main competition over the years and ultimately winning the highest honour, the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018.

Now, he returns once again with Sheep in the Box to the 79th year of film festival. A science fiction drama, The Sheep In the Box, that's officially made its way to the selection amongst other 20 films and is set for a premiere in May, continues the director's ongoing dialogue with family, loss and emotional connection.

This time through an unexpected technological lens.

Sheep in the Box is written, directed and edited by Kore-eda reinforcing his deeply hands-on approach to storytelling. At the centre of the film is a grieving couple played by Haruka Ayase and Daigo Yamamoto, who welcome an infant humanoid robot into their home following the death of their son.

The robot child is portrayed by Rimu Kuwaki. What begins as an act of emotional survival quickly becomes a quiet test of identity, attachment, and what it means to rebuild family after loss. The cast also includes Nana Seino, Kanichiro, Hinata Hiiragi, Akihiro Kakuta, Kayo Noro, Mari Hoshino, Ayumu Nakajima, Kimiko Yo, and Min Tanaka, suggesting a wider social world surrounding the central household.

Produced by Fuji Television Network, GAGA Corporation, Toho, and AOI Pro., the film will be distributed in Japan by Toho, with a domestic release set for 29 May 2026. Internationally, Neon has secured rights for screening.

What makes Sheep in the Box especially notable is its genre shift. While Kore-eda is best known for grounded human dramas, this film introduces science fiction without abandoning his core preoccupation: the emotional structures of family. The result is less a technological speculation than a human one—filtered through artificial life.

The title of the film was inspired by the French children’s novel The Little Prince.