Celebrated actor Hiroshi Abe began his career over three decades ago. Among his most internationally recognized work are memorable roles in Trick (2002), Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking (2008) and After the Storm (2016), Chocolate (Thailand, 2008), Thermæ Romæ (2012), for which he won his first Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Actor, Thermæ Romæ II (2014), Chen Kaige’s Legend of the Demon Cat (2018), and the English-language The Garden of Evening Mists (Malaysia, 2019). He is the first Japanese recipient of the Screen International Star Asia Award.

Rio de Janeiro-born writer-director Eiji Uchida began his career as a magazine reporter before turning to TV scriptwriting. He made his film debut as a director with Gachapon! (2004) and drew international attention in 2014 with Greatful Dead. Among his other hits are Lowlife Love (2015), Love and Other Cults (2017), Netflix’s The Naked Director (2019), and the 2020 Japan Academy Film Prize Best Picture awardee Midnight Swan.