Kohei Kadowaki's original anime film We Are Aliens, produced by NOTHING NEW and Miyu Productions, has been selected for the 79th Cannes Directors' Fortnight screening in May 2026.
Kohei Kadowaki's original anime film We Are Aliens has been selected for the 79th Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight program, running May 12 through 23. A new teaser trailer, visual, and main cast and composer details were revealed alongside the festival announcement.
We Are Aliens is an original production from studio NOTHING NEW, with Miyu Productions providing production cooperation. Kadowaki serves as the film's planner, scriptwriter, director, storyboard artist, and editor, wearing nearly every creative hat on the project. He is known for directing the BEASTARS season 2 ending sequence and crafting music videos for artists including YOASOBI.
The project reached its funding milestone through a Motion Gallery crowdfunding campaign in late 2025, raising approximately 9.6 million yen against an 8 million yen target. That grassroots support has now culminated in one of the most prestigious screening slots in international cinema.
The newly released teaser trailer introduced the film's main voice cast. Ryota Bando voices the adult version of Tsubasa, while Amane Okayama takes on the role of adult Akitaro. The younger versions of the two leads are voiced by Yuto Maki as young Tsubasa and Tasuku Nakagome as young Akitaro.
Composer Yaffle, who has previously produced music for artists such as Fujii Kaze and Kenshi Yonezu, is scoring the film. The teaser itself builds from quiet daily-life scenes into an increasingly tense atmosphere, hinting at the emotional weight of the story.
The film is set during Japan's Heisei era and follows two boys in a countryside town. Tsubasa, who values normalcy, crosses paths with Akitaro, described as a "special existence." The two become close friends as elementary school students, but jealousy and misunderstandings eventually drive them apart. Years later, when the memories from their past resurface, they must confront what happened between them.
The accompanying visual depicts daily life slowly beginning to warp between the two characters, underscoring the film's central question posed in its promotional materials: "Is this the story of their youth? Or is it a memory they want to wipe away?"
We Are Aliens is scheduled for a Japanese theatrical release in 2026, with an international rollout planned for 2027. The Directors' Fortnight screening at Cannes will serve as the film's global debut, giving it significant visibility ahead of its wider release. The selection marks a notable achievement for a crowdfunded anime original from an independent studio, continuing a growing trend of anime projects earning recognition at major international film festivals.
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