KOKUHO (国宝) World Cinema

Adapted from Shūichi Yoshida’s two-part novel in a creative journey 15 years in the making, filmmaker Sang-il Lee’s sumptuous period epic tells a decades-spanning tale of devotion and sacrifice for the craft of onnagata in Kabuki (where men cross-dress as female characters in theater). Opening in 1964, Nagasaki, a timid yet strong-willed 14-year-old Kikuo (played by a magnetic Soya Kurokawa after his breakout role in Koreeda’s MONSTER) is taken under the wing of renowned Kabuki maestro Hanjiro Hanai (Ken Watanabe) after his yakuza father was slain in a gang battle. Raised alongside Hanai’s only son, Shunsuke (Keitatsu Koshiyama), over the next five decades of tumultuous rivalry and indelible bond, the two boys — one an heir bound by blood, the other a prodigy brimming with talent — must forge their own paths to become Kokuho, a “national treasure.” Selected as Japan’s official submission for the 2026 Academy Awards® Best International Feature Film category, KOKUHO is a visually opulent and narratively rich saga celebrating one of Japan’s most storied and revered art forms. –Anna Li