Hirokazu Kore-eda’s family drama Shoplifters, winner of Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or this year, has landed a UK distribution deal with Thunderbird Releasing.

Kore-eda’s seventh film to screen at Cannes beat Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War and Lee Chang-dong’s Burning to take the top honour from Cannes’ main competition this year.

Starring Sakura Ando and Mayu Matsuoka, the film tells the story of a shoplifting father-and-son duo and the little girl they take in from the street. Producers on the project are Kaoru Matsusaki, Akihiko Yose and Hijiri Taguchi.

The deal was negotiated by Kevin Chan, acquisitions manager of Thunderbird Releasing, and Olivier Barbier at sales agent Wild Bunch.

Chan commented: “We immediately fell in love with Kore-eda’s Shoplifters when we saw it. We are delighted to continue our growing partnership with Wild Bunch to bring this bittersweet modern family drama to a UK audience.”

Barbier added: “We’re delighted to welcome Thunderbird Releasing as a new member of the Kore-eda family. We are sure this powerful and tender film has found the right home to reach a wide audience in the UK.

Thunderbird also picked up Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, which set a record score in the history of Screen’s Cannes jury grid this month, and Christopher Honore’s romantic drama Sorry Angel from Cannes’ Competition this year.

The company’s upcoming releases include Vita And Virginia and The Kindergarten Teacher.

Last year’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Ruben Ostlund’s The Square, was released by Curzon in the UK.