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The Tokyo International Film Festival has revealed its full competition lineup for the 39th edition of Asia‘s largest film event.
As ever, the lineup is a mix of new features from Asia’s best auteurs, a sprinkling of Hollywood movies and projects from up-and-coming filmmakers.
As previously announced,the festival which runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 4, will open with Zeze Takahisa’s music drama Sukiyaki and close with Yeon Sang-ho‘s zombie action horror film Colony. Sandwiched between those two gala screenings will be the centerpiece screening of Takashi Yamazaki‘s Godzilla Minus Zero.
Other gala screenings include Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, Michael Showalter’s Verity, Hiroshi Ando’s A Bouquet of Light for You, Sabu’s Arrested Memory, Kazuya Shiraishi’s Bye Bye Love: Detective Is in the Bar, Gavin Lin’s Sunshine Women’s Choir, Wayne Wang’s Diary of a Mad Old Man, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, Yukiko Sode’s All the Lovers in the Night, Ryutaro Nakagawa’s Your Story – Kimi No Hanashi and Yoshiro Nagikawa’s The Tiger and Her Wings The Movie.
The main competition at Tokyo will feature 15 films, all competiting for the Tokyo Grand Prix/Governor of Tokyo Award. Among the world premieres in the main competition are Akira Ikeda’s The Canary’s Lullaby, Qiu Jiongjiong’s Fuxi: Four Tales of Feasting, Akira Yamamoto’s The Intertwining, Wang Jiangyong’s The Night That Binds Us, Garin Nugroho’s Red Before Dawn, Milcho Manchevski’s Sister Brother Manhole Cover and Yukiko Mishima’s Two Cigarettes, Three Nights.
The Asian premieres among the competition lineup include Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride, Lisandro Alonso’s Double Freedom, Samuele Rossi’s Even If Hell Came, Teodora Ana Mihai’s Heysel 85, Sun Xun’s Magic Atlas, Sérgio Graciano’s Memories of Prison, Bahman Ghobadi’s Trees Are Watching and Jelena Maksimović’s Until the Day Ends.
The competition features only four female filmmakers (Rubaiyat Hossain, Teodora Ana Mihai, Yukiko Mishima and Jelena Maksimović) and somewhat unsurprisingly Japan boasts the most number of entries with three.
The animation offer at Tokyo is always strong and 2026 is no different, with new anime projects from the likes of Masanao Kawajiri and Shingo Natsume, and Japanese premieres for films like Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado’s Forgotten Island, Brenda Lígia and Edu Felistoque’s Amadeo and the Hypothetical New World, Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy, and Érica Maradona, Otto Guerra, Tania Anaya and Sávio Leite’s Son of a Bitch.
This year’s festival will also include a retrospective on the works of Japanese master filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Mizoguchi’s death, TIFF/NFAJ Classics—a collaboration between the National Film Archive of Japan and the Tokyo Film Festival— will present 13 films across 12 programs (all with English subtitles), with a particular focus on works that have undergone recent digital restoration. The full list of Mizoguchi films to be screened is below.
Tokyo also revealed the full lineup of films for its Asian Future, Nippon Cinema Now, Crosscut Asia+, World Focus and Women’s Empowerment sections.
The full lineup for the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival is below:
Opening, Closing and Centerpiece Screenings
Sukiyaki (Japan) dir. Zeze Takahisa
Godzilla Minus Zero (Japan) dir. Takashi Yamazaki
Colony (South Korea) dir. Yeon Sang-ho
Gala Screenings
Behemoth! (USA) – dir. Tony Gilroy
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (USA) – dir. Jane Schoenbrun
Fjord (Romania/France/Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Finland) – dir. Cristian Mungiu
Wild Horse Nine (USA) – dir. Martin McDonagh
Verity (USA) – dir. Michael Showalter
A Bouquet of Light for You (Japan) – dir. Hiroshi Ando
Arrested Memory (Taiwan/Japan) – dir. Sabu
Bye Bye Love: Detective Is in the Bar (Japan) – dir. Kazuya Shiraishi
Sunshine Women’s Choir (Taiwan) – dir. Gavin Lin
Diary of a Mad Old Man (USA) – dir. Wayne Wang
The Beloved (Spain )– dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
All the Lovers in the Night (Japan) – directed by Yukiko Sode
Your Story – Kimi No Hanashi (Japan) – dir. Ryutaro Nakagawa
The Tiger and Her Wings The Movie (Japan) – dir. Yoshiro Nagikawa
Main Competition
The Canary’s Lullaby (Taiwan/Japan) – dir. Akira Ikeda
The Difficult Bride (France/Bangladesh/Portugal/Norway/Germany) – dir. Rubaiyat Hossain
Double Freedom (Chile/Argentina/Luxemburg/Germany/UK) – dir. Lisandro Alonso
Even If Hell Came (Italy) – dir. Samuele Rossi
Fuxi: Four Tales of Feasting (Hong Kong/Taiwan/Japan/Saudi Arabia/Qatar) – dir. Qiu Jiongjiong
Heysel 85 (Belgium/The Netherlands/Germany) – dir. Teodora Ana Mihai
The Intertwining (Japan) – dir. Akira Yamamoto
Magic Atlas (Singapore) – dir. Sun Xun
Memories of Prison (Portugal) – dir. Sérgio Graciano
The Night That Binds Us (France/Hong Kong) – dir. Wang Jiangyong
Red Before Dawn (Indonesia) – dir. Garin Nugroho
Sister Brother Manhole Cover (North Macedonia/Bulgaria/Serbia/Albania/Italy/UK) – dir. Milcho Manchevski
Trees Are Watching (Türkiye)– dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Two Cigarettes, Three Nights (Japan) – dir. Yukiko Mishima
Until the Day Ends (Serbia/Bulgaria/Slovenia/Montenegro/Croatia/Germany) – dir. Jelena Maksimović
Kenji Mizoguchi Retrospective
Osaka Elegy (1936)
Sisters of Gion (1936)
The 47 Ronin (Part One, Part Two, 1941–42)
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)
YANG KWEI FEI (1955)
New Tales of the Taira Clan (1955)
Street of Shame (1956)
Gion Bayashi (1953)
Ugetsu (1953)
The Water Magician (1933)
Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
A Story from Chikamatsu (1954)
Animation Selection
Amadeo and the Hypothetical New World (Brazil) – dir. Brenda Lígia, Edu Felistoque
Cherry And Virgin (Japan) – dir. Kawajiri Masanao
Forgotten Island (USA) – dir. Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado
Ghost – End of Night (Japan) – dir. Natsume Shingo
Grotesqqque (Japan) – dir. Nishigori Atsushi
Iron Boy (France/Belgium) – dir. Louis Clichy
Son of a Bitch (Brazil) – dir. Érica Maradona, Otto Guerra, Tania Anaya, Sávio Leite
Walking with Animators (France) – dir. Alexandre Poncet, Gilles Penso
We Are Aliens (Japan) – dir. Kadowaki Kohei
Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire (Japan) – dir. Nagaoka Chika
Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom (Japan) – dir. Watanabe Kotono
The Rose of Versailles (Japan) – dir. Yoshimura Ai
Asian Future Selection
EDJOP (The Philippines) – dir. Katski Flores
I’m Nothing Special Really (Iran) – dir. Navid Mohammadzadeh
Jani Be Good (Indonesia) – dir. Ariani Darmawan
Miracle Summer (Japan) – dir. Cai Ronglin
On the Heights (Korea) – dir. Kim Hyun-min
The Paper Flower (India) – dir. Chezhiyan
Saravah (Japan) – dir. Kujiraoka Hironori
Serife Tavsan (Switzerland/Turkey) – dir. Tareq Daoud
Shyrmauyq (Kazakhstan) – dir. Azamat Shargyn
Silver (Iran) – dir. Soheil Karimi
Nippon Cinema Now Selection
Between Us (Japan) – dir. Matsumura Shingo
Okinawa Saudade (Japan) – dir. Matsubayashi Yoju
Kefi (Japan) – dir. Saito Kisin
Earthlings in Love (Japan) – dir. Ueda Shinichiro
silver express (Japan) – dir. Tanaka Miki
Hinotama: Ball of Fire (Japan) – dir. Yaza Takenoshin
Plastic Love! (Japan/Austria) – dir. Sybilla Patrizia, Clementine Nuttall
Chihiro | Akemi (Japan) – dir. Natori Satoshi
Yamazaki Riverside: Over an Actor’s Shoulder (Japan) – dir. Inudo Isshin
Women’s Empowerment Selection
Far from the Trees (Spain/Peru/Italy) – dir. Meritxell Colell Aparicio
A Girl Unknown (China/France) – dir. Zou Jing
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming (Germany/Ukraine) – dir. Isabelle Stever
Lovers in the Blue Night (India/USA) – dir. Anuparna Roy
The Meltdown (Chile/USA/Spain/Mexico) – dir. Manuela Martelli
Super Lucky Girl (Japan) – dir. Yang Kaijing
Truly Naked (The Netherlands/Belgium/France) – dir. Muriel d’Ansembourg
CROSSCUT ASIA+ Selection
Four Seasons in Java (Indonesia/France/The Netherlands/Norway/Saudi Arabia/Singapore/Poland) – dir. Kamila Andini
Filipiñana (Singapore/UK/The Philippines/France/The Netherlands) – dir. Rafael Manuel
Becoming Human (Cambodia) – dir. Ly Polen
Small Hours of the Night (Singapore) – dir. Daniel Hui
Behind the Flickering Light: The Archive (Indonesia) – dir. Hafiz Rancajale
Turang (Indonesia) – dir. Bachtiar Siagian
World Focus Selection
The Dreamed Adventure (Germany/France/Bulgaria/Austria, 2026) – dir. Valeska Grisebach
Hearing (Vietnam/Singapore, 2026) – dir. Lê Bảo
Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors (The Philippines, 2026) – dir. Lav Diaz
The Masque of the Red Death (USA/UK, 1964) – dir. Roger Corman
My Wife Cries (Germany/France, 2026) – dir. Angela Schanelec
The Road to Jericho (France/UK, 2026) – dir. Amos Gitai
Sleep No More (Indonesia/Singapore/Japan/Germany/France, 2026) – dir. Edwin
DAU (Germany/France/Sweden, 2026) – dir. Ilya Khrzhanovsky
Flies (Mexico, 2026) – dir. Fernand Eimbcke
La Bola Negra (Spain, 2026) – dir. Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi
The Match (Argentina/Spain, 2026) – dir. Juan Cabral, Santiago Franco
Sixteen Moments of My Life (France/Spain, 2026) – dir. Albert Serra
Saccharine (Australia, 2025) – dir. Natalie Erika James
Time and Tide (Australia, 2026) – dir. Vee Shi
The Survival of Kindness (Australia, 2022) – dir. Rolf de Heer
The Blood Countess (Austria/Luxembourg/Germany, 2026) – dir. Ulrike Ottinger
Under Snow (Germany, 2011) – dir. Ulrike Ottinger
Ticket of No Return (West Germany, 1979) – dir. Ulrike Ottinger
A Dance with Rainbows (Taiwan, 2025) – dir. Lee Yi-shan
The Grandmaster’s Gift (Taiwan, 2026) – dir. Chen Yi-jung
Happily Ever After (Taiwan, 2026) – dir. Feng-i Fiona Roan
To Be Ordinary (Taiwan, 2026) – dir. Lee Yun-chan
Good Neighbors (Restoration) (Taiwan, 1962／2026) – dir. Lee Hsing
Return of the Prodigal Son (Egypt/Algeria, 1976) – dir. Youssef Chahine
Alexandria Why (Egypt/Algeria, 1978) – dir. Youssef Chahine
Adieu Bonaparte (Egypt/France, 1984) – dir. Youssef Chahine
An Egyptian Story (Egypt, 1982) – dir. Youssef Chahine
Cairo Station (Egypt, 1958) – dir. Youssef Chahine
Cairo, As Told by Chahine (Egypt, 1991) – dir. Youssef Chahine
Alexandria Again And Forever (Egypt, 1989) – dir. Youssef Chahine
Destiny (Egypt/France, 1997) – dir. Youssef Chahine
