Tokyo International Film Festival Unveils Lineup

The Tokyo International Film Festival revealed its full 2024 lineup on Wednesday, including its main competition program and the Asian Future section for emerging regional filmmakers, as well as the all-new Women’s Empowerment section, which highlights nine films directed by women or involving female-focussed stories.

Tokyo’s 15-title main competition reveals a preference for securing world premieres over previously shown titles by established festival names. There are eight world premieres in the section — including Big World and My Friend An Delie by China’s Yang Lina and Dong Zijian, respectively; Papa from Hong Kong’s Philip Yung; The Englishman’s Papers from Portugal’s Sergio Graciano; and three Japanese features, among others (see full lineup below). Additional highlights include the international premiere of Midi Z’s The Unseen Sister and Huang Xi’s recent Toronto Film Festival entry Daughter’s Daughter, starring Sylvia Chang.

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As previously announced, the competition titles will be assessed by a jury led by Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The other jurors include Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Italian actress Chiara Mastroianni, Hungarian filmmaker Enyedi Ildikó, and Japanese actress Ai Hashimoto.

All films in the Asia Future Section will be world premieres. They include Sima’s Song from Afghan director Roya Sadat, Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun’s Pavane for an Infant, Turkish director Emine Yildirim’s Apollon By Day Athena By Night, The Bora by Iran’s Mohammad Esmaeilie and Three Castrated Goats by Chinese filmmaker Ye Xingyu.

Co-hosted with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Women’s Empowerment Section will provide the Asia premiere of Iranian drama My Favourite Cake by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, who are banned from leaving their country by authorities in Tehran. Other titles in the progressive-spirited section, which is programmed by Tokyo-based former diplomat Andrijana Cvetkovikj, include Turkish director Ceylan Ozgun Ozcelik’s In Ten Seconds; Hong Kong filmmaker Oliver Chan’s Montages Of A Motherhood; Memories Of A Burning Body from Costa Rica’s Antonella Sudasassi Furniss; and Japanese director Naoki Tamura’s Doctor-X The Movie, among others.

Tokyo previously revealed that samurai thriller 11 Rebels, directed by Kazuya Shiraishi, would make its world premiere as the festival’s opening title this year, while French director Christophe Honoré’s Marcello Mio, starring jury member Mastroianni, will close the event.

The Nippon Cinema Now section, which focuses on emerging trends in Japanese cinema, will screen 12 titles, including a mini-retrospective of five films directed by Yu Irie, who is Tokyo’s director in focus this year.

The festival’s gala screenings, which tend to highlight previously shown festival hits, include Marielle Heller’s Toronto favorite Nightbitch, Hong Kong action blockbuster Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Audrey Diwan’s Emmanuelle, Guan Hu’s Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Black Dog, Marc Foster’s White Bird, the world premiere of Indonesian filmmaker Mike Wiluan’s Orang Ikan, and Eric Khoo’s Tokyo-set, Catherine Deneuve-starring Spirit World.

Always a strong suit, Tokyo’s animation section includes: Kuno Yoko and Yamashita Nobuhiro’s Ghost Cat Anzu, Chris Sanders’ The Wild Robot, Yakuwa Shinnosuke’s Toto Chan: The Little Girl at the Window, Gints Zilbalodis’s Flow, Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, Make a Girl by Yasuda Gensho, and the 4K restoration of Masuda Toshio’s 1977 classic Space Battleship Yamato.

The 2024 Tokyo International Film Festival runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 6 in the areas surrounding the Japanese capital’s downtown Ginza district. See the full competition lineup below.

MAIN COMPETITION: 

Adios Amigo (Colombia) AP
Dir: Iván David Gaona          
 
Big World (China) WP
Dir: Yang Lina
 
Bury Your Dead (Brazil) AP
Dir: Marco Dutra       
 
Cadet (Kazakhstan) WP        
Dir: Adilkhan Yerzhanov       
 
Daughter’s Daughter (Taiwan) AP    
Dir: Huang Xi
 
The Englishman’s Papers (Portugal) WP       
Dir: Sérgio Graciano
 
In His Own Image (France) AP
Dir: Thierry de Peretti
 
Lust In The Rain (Japan, Taiwan) WP
Dir: Katayama Shinzo
 
My Friend An Delie (China) WP
Dir: Dong Zijian        
 
Papa (Hong Kong) WP
Dir: Philip Yung         
 
Promise, I’ll Be Fine (Slovakia, Czech) WP
Dir: Katarína Gramatová       
 
She Taught Me Serendipity (Japan) WP
Dir: Ohku Akiko        
 
Teki Cometh (Japan) WP
Dir: Yoshida Daihachi
 
Traffic (Romania, Belgium, Netherlands) AP
Dir: Teodora Ana Mihai
 
The Unseen Sister (China) IP
Dir: Midi Z

ASIAN FUTURE (All World Premieres)

Apollon by Day Athena by Night (Turkey)
Dir: Emine Yildirim

Black Ox (Japan, Taiwan, US)
Dir: Tsuta Tetsuichiro

The Bora (Iran)
Dir: Mohammad Esmaeilie

Missing Child Videotape (Japan)
Dir: Kondo Ryota

Pavane for an Infant (Malaysia)
Dir: Chong Keat Aun

Sima’s Song (Spain, Netherlands, France, Taiwan, Greece, Afghanistan)
Dir: Roya Sadat

Three Castrated Goats (US)
Dir: Ye Xingyu

Valley of the Shadow of Death (Hong Kong)
Dir: Jeffery Lam Sen, Antonio Tam

The Vessel’s Isle (US)
Dir: Wang Di

Wait Until Spring (Iran)

Dir: Ashkan Ashkani

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