“I started to ask myself about carrying on making films”: Hirokazu Koreeda on Look Back at London Film Festival 2026

From the Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters to Monster, Hirokazu Koreeda has long had a knack for finding extraordinary emotional depth in seemingly ordinary human relationships. With Look Back, the Japanese filmmaker turns his attention to the creative process itself, adapting Tatsuki Fujimoto’s acclaimed manga about two young girls whose shared passion for drawing brings them together in unexpected ways.

We sat down with Koreeda at BFI London Film Festival to discuss how discovering the manga during the pandemic, at a time when he was questioning his own future as a filmmaker, rekindled his creative drive. He also reflected on his decision to expand the world of the original story, the complicated relationship between rivalry and inspiration, and how the people we lose can nevertheless remain a part of who we become.

Sarah Bradbury

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival 2026 coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.