Sheep in the Box

A quasi-fantastical parable about an AI humanoid featured in the 2026 Cannes Film Festival programme.

Hako no Naka no Hitsuji
2026, Hirokazu Koreeda

Japan
126 minutes, Japanese with Russian subtitles

Starring: Haruka Ayase, Daigo Yamamoto, Rimu Kuwaki, Nana Seino

Otone and Kensuke have lost their seven-year-old son in a car crash. Two years later, they come across an advert for a company that creates humanoid robots based on photographs and videos of the deceased. After signing a contract, the parents welcome a cyber-replicant into their home, who looks exactly like their son and carries his memories.

Still from Sheep in the Box, 2026

Koreeda has taken the stuff of dystopian cyberpunk nightmares and turned it into an elegant, wistful fairytale.

—Damon Wise, Deadline

The film’s title refers to an episode from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, where instead of a sheep there is a box in which it must surely be found. Similarly, the director suggests viewing the AI duplicate as a fragile entity in which the family attempts to conceal their vulnerability.