‘Two Seasons, Two Strangers’ Trailer: Sho Miyake’s Locarno Golden Leopard Winner Is His First Film to Be Properly Released in the U.S.

Miyake's ninth film and a 2025 festival favorite plays New Directors/New Films in New York before launching at Metrograph in April.

One of the defining voices of contemporary Japanese independent cinema will bring his latest film to New York — at a festival and in theaters — this April.

Sho Miyake’s “Two Seasons, Two Strangers,” winner of the 2025 Locarno Film Festival Golden Leopard, plays at Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA’s New Directors/New Films festival before opening at the Metrograph later in the month.

Miyake’s past films include “All the Long Nights” and “Small, Slow but Steady,” and his latest stars Shim Eun-kyung (“Miss Granny”), Yuumi Kawai (“Desert of Namibia”), Shinichi Tsutsumi (“Always: Sunset on Third Street”), and rising actor Mansaku Takada. “Two Seasons” is Miyake’s ninth feature but only the first to get a proper U.S. release. IndieWire debuts the trailer below.

More on the film from the official synopsis: “In summer, Nagisa, a woman from the city, and Natsuo, a young man visiting his relatives, meet by the sea. Their vacant gazes reflect each other as they exchange awkward words and wade into the rain-drenched ocean. In winter, Li, a screenwriter in a creative slump, travels to a snow-covered village with an old camera left behind by a late acquaintance. There, she finds a peculiar, desolate guesthouse run by the enigmatic Benzo. Their conversations rarely connect, yet they set off on an unexpected adventure.”

And from IndieWire’s Critic’s Pick review written by Josh Slater-Williams: “Miyake’s ‘All the Long Nights’ was adapted from a novel by Maiko Seo and ‘Small, Slow but Steady’ was loosely based on ​the autobiography of boxer Keiko Ogasawara. With ‘Two Seasons, Two Strangers,’ the writer/director once again draws inspiration from previously published material, though while his switch to bringing manga to live-action might seem like a curveball, the creator he’s adapting is an ideal match for the filmmaker’s skill with bringing real interiority to fable-like storytelling.”

“Two Seasons, Two Strangers” plays New Directors/New Films in New York City on April 17 and April 19. Several Futures then opens the film at New York City’s Metrograph on April 24, with a limited expansion to follow. It opens June 19 in Canada via Ritual Films. Watch the trailer below.