Neon Splits Efira and Okamoto Into Separate Oscar Categories for 'All of a Sudden'

Neon will campaign Virginie Efira for best actress and Tao Okamoto for best supporting actress in the Oscar race for All of a Sudden, avoiding a scenario where the two performers compete against each other in the same category. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news on 25 August 2026, laying out the distributor's full awards strategy for the film.

The decision resolves a question that had hovered since May, when Efira and Okamoto shared the Cannes Film Festival's best actress prize for their performances in the film — a rare joint honour from the jury. Okamoto became the first Japanese actress ever to receive the award. By placing Efira in the lead-actress category and Okamoto in supporting, Neon ensures that voters can recognise both performances without having to choose between them.

In All of a Sudden, Efira plays the director of a Paris nursing home; Okamoto plays a terminally ill Japanese playwright. The film is Ryusuke Hamaguchi's French-language debut. Hamaguchi previously directed Drive My Car, which won the Academy Award for best international feature film in 2022. Neon's own promotional material quotes Hamaguchi describing the new film as "An unassumingly momentous miracle."

Neon will release All of a Sudden in US cinemas on 25 November 2026, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That date plants the film squarely in the Thanksgiving corridor — the stretch of the calendar when awards hopefuls typically open, giving them a runway of screenings and word-of-mouth through the December voting period. The film has already opened in France, where it debuted on 12 August.

Beyond the two acting categories, Neon will also push All of a Sudden for best picture, best director, and best adapted screenplay. That is a full-slate campaign — the kind a distributor mounts when it believes a film can compete across the board rather than in a single race.

The awards calendar works on early momentum. A Cannes premiere in May, a French release in August, and a US opening in late November give All of a Sudden exposure across three distinct phases: the festival jury verdict, the domestic-market critical reception, and the industry-voter window. Neon's category split for Efira and Okamoto keeps both performers visible to voters throughout that cycle without cannibalising either one's chances.