Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car MVFF44) delivers a rare work that celebrates unsentimentally the redemptive power of creativity and empathy. Marie-Lou (Virginie Efira) is a doctor in a Paris clinic testing innovative methods for treating those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. One night, she attends the theater where she encounters work by a young Japanese woman, Mari (Tao Okamoto), that connects to her own. Marie-Lou speaks Japanese, Mari speaks French, and after the performance, the two women meet and form a bond that gradually becomes intellectual, creative, and spiritual. Hamaguchi delivers an epic yet intimate drama that uncovers hidden and unsuspected connections miraculously occurring between people who seem hopelessly separated by age, nationality, and differences in health and well-being. Humorous, painful, and constantly surprising, All of a Sudden is a masterpiece, dedicated to the proposition that the impossible can be made possible. —Larry Gross

VIRGINIE EFIRA will receive the MVFF Award for Screen Artistry for her performance in All of a Sudden, where her ability to disappear fully into a role has made her one of European cinema's most sought-after leads. VIRGINIE EFIRA began her career as a TV presenter in her native Belgium before making her cinema debut in the Belgian French co-production Les Barons (2009). After establishing her stardom with her first leading role in It Boy (2013), she went on to build a busy, critically acclaimed career, earning seven César Award nominations for Victoria (2016), Sink or Swim (2018), An Impossible Love (2018), Bye Bye Morons (2020), Benedetta (2021), and Just the Two of Us (2023), and winning Best Actress for Revoir Paris (2022). At MVFF48, audiences saw her opposite Jodie Foster in A Private Life (2025). For her role in All of a Sudden, she received Cannes' 2026 Best Actress Award.