Shinya Tsukamoto's Venice Premiere 'Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?' Heads to Toronto Seeking U.S. Distribution
Shinya Tsukamoto's "Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?" premiered in the Competition section of the 2026 Venice International Film Festival and now heads to Toronto, where it screens in the Special Presentations programme at TIFF — still without a U.S. distributor (IndieWire).
The film is a trauma drama about Allen Nelson, an African American U.S. Marine shattered by his tours of duty in Vietnam. Nelson survived severe PTSD, rebuilt his life, and went on to deliver more than 1,200 lectures across Japan about the brutalities he committed during the war. The film adapts Nelson's memoir of the same name (The Hollywood Reporter).
Tsukamoto — best known for cult genre films like "Tetsuo: The Iron Man," "Tokyo Fist," and "Fires on the Plain" — wrote, directed, shot, and edited the film himself. In his director's statement, he said he attended one of Nelson's lectures, which exposed him to the horrors of war and changed his outlook on violence (The Hollywood Reporter; Variety). The production spanned four countries (The Hollywood Reporter).
The 116-minute film cuts between two timelines. Rodney Hicks plays Nelson as an older father grappling with shell shock; Mark Merphy plays him as a young marine carrying out acts of violence against enemy fighters and civilians. Geoffrey Rush plays Dr. Neil Daniels, the psychotherapist conducting therapy sessions with Nelson. The cast also includes Tatyana Ali and Lily Franky (The Hollywood Reporter).
At TIFF, the film screens at Scotiabank Theatre on Thursday, 10 September at 6:10 p.m. and at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Tuesday, 15 September at 6:15 p.m. (TIFF).
For a director whose body of work has built its reputation on visceral, body-horror stylisation, a war drama grounded in a real veteran's testimony is a striking pivot. The festival corridor from Venice to Toronto is where acquisition decisions happen: buyers see the films, gauge audience response, and negotiate distribution deals — the chain of decisions that determines whether a festival title reaches screens beyond the circuit. For "Mr. Nelson," that process is still open.
