Director’s latest to open next week after Cannes world premiere
The staff for Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu‘s new Belle (Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally “The Dragon and the Freckled Princess”) anime film announced on Tuesday that actor Takeru Satoh (live-action Rurouni Kenshin, Bakuman., Ajin) plays the mysterious entity that is the dragon in the film. The news came at the press conference to announce the completion of the film at Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel.
The film will open in Japan on July 16. France’s Cannes Film Festival will first screen the film in the festival’s Cannes Premiere section on July 15. This marks the first Official Selection at the festival for Hosoda. (The director’s previous Mirai film screened at the Directors’ Fortnight, an independent section held in parallel to the festival, in 2018.)
