Hirokazu Koreeda

It took the Palme d’Or at Cannes, even as its director was accused back home in Japan of bringing shame on his country. A family who shoplift to survive take in a child who isn’t theirs, and ending up with them is the best thing that has ever happened to her. — Fresh from another petty theft, a man and his son find a little girl out in the freezing cold, clearly chilled to the bone. His wife isn’t keen at first, but she ends up agreeing to take the girl in and look after her. Money is short and they scrape by from day to day, yet theirs is a happy home, until the day something goes wrong. — Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film | Oscars | 2019 Palme d'Or | Cannes Film Festival | 2018

Hirokazu Koreeda (“Shoplifters”) doesn’t speak Korean, but that didn’t stop him making a film in it, and Song Kang-ho (“Parasite”) became the first Korean man ever to leave Cannes with an acting prize. Two con men steal an abandoned baby to sell to parents who’ll pay, and we end up rooting for them. — On a rainy night a woman leaves her baby in a church baby box and walks away, and the two men who work there take the boy before anyone can register him. When she comes back the next morning, she climbs into their van instead of going to the police. The three of them set off across the country looking for a couple who’ll pay for the child, with two policewomen watching their every move. — Best Actor Award (Song Kang-Ho) | Cannes Film Festival | 2022 Prize of the Ecumenical Jury | Cannes Film Festival | 2022