This is an original Japanese poster printed for the film’s first Japanese theatrical release. Japanese film databases list the local opening as 17 February 1996, with distribution by KUZUIエンタープライズ; Movie Walker also notes 日本コロンビア協力 for the Japanese release. It belongs to the original Japanese rollout of one of the defining international art-house films of the 1990s.
La Haine was only shown in one cinema in Tokyo. From the outset, this poster was very rare.
About the film
Directed and written by Mathieu Kassovitz, with editing by Kassovitz and Scott Stevenson, La Haine stars Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, and Saïd Taghmaoui. The story unfolds over twenty-four hours in the Paris banlieue after a boy named Abdel is beaten by police, following three friends as rage, drift, and the discovery of a lost police gun push the day toward catastrophe.
The Film & Its Place in 1990s Cinema
Criterion describes the picture as a black-and-white chronicle of twenty-four hours in the lives of a mixed-race trio from a run-down banlieue, while BFI credits Kassovitz’s stylistic innovation, monochrome photography, and personal response to police-brutality protests with creating one of the great urban portraits of the 1990s. Criterion also notes that Kassovitz began writing the script after the 1993 police-custody killing of Makome M’Bowole, which helps explain the film’s extraordinary urgency and political charge.
Its impact was immediate. La Haine won Best Director at Cannes in 1995; Institut français notes that it drew two million admissions in France, received 11 César nominations, won three César Awards including Best Film and Best Editing, and became a genuine cult film that helped launch the careers of Kassovitz and Cassel. BFI still describes it as a landmark mid-90s drama, which says a great deal about its lasting stature.
La Haine in Japan
The Japanese campaign is especially compelling because it avoids sensational clutter. Rather than selling riots or action, the poster reduces the film to pure tension: the looming eyes, the monumental silver LA HAINE title, and the blood-red Japanese title 憎しみ. It also preserves the striking “Jodie Foster Presents” credit; Criterion notes that Foster later championed and presented the film in the United States, giving this Japanese sheet an extra layer of transnational release history.
Poster design
A masterclass in reduction, the sheet is built from stark horizontal bands. The eyes across the top turn the entire poster into a confrontation; the central black field gives the red Japanese title maximum force; and the lower photographic strip places Vinz, Hubert, and Saïd in suspended motion, as if already trapped in the long fall the film famously invokes. The white Japanese tagline まだ、だいじょうぶ。 only sharpens the unease. This is exactly the kind of Japanese international poster whose design power is as collectible as the film itself.
Why collectors prize this example
This film was only shown in an extremely limited number of art-house focused cinemas in Japan (mostly Tokyo and Osaka) - therefore, from the outset, this poster was extremely rare.
Collectors respond strongly to this poster because La Haine now sits securely in the canon of modern world cinema, and because the Japanese B2 distills the film’s entire reputation—youth, dread, anger, alienation, and style—into one brutally elegant image. For collectors of French cinema, 1990s cult film, and design-led Japanese paper, it has the kind of crossover appeal that keeps the best international B2s in demand.
Condition
Excellent for its age. There is light, honest handling and storage wear, including soft handling impressions visible mainly from the reverse, a few faint marks/scuffs on the blank verso, and only minor edge/corner wear. Most importantly, the front presents beautifully, with deep blacks, crisp contrast, and exceptional display presence. Please review the supplied photographs carefully—shown is the exact poster offered.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
A rare opportunity to acquire an original first-release Japanese La Haine B2 poster: a stark, beautifully designed, highly elusive sheet for one of the essential films of 1990s French and world cinema.
*Please note the price is fixed for this item. It is not included in any of our periodic sales (e.g. Black Friday)!*
