The 38th Tokyo International Film Festival will showcase a high-profile lineup headlined by two of Asia’s biggest stars: Fan Bingbing in Chong Keat Aun’s “Mother Bhumi” and Zhang Ziyi in Peter Ho-sun Chan’s “She Has No Name.”
Competition title “Mother Bhumi” marks a striking reinvention for Fan Bingbing, who plays a widowed village woman navigating farm work by day and employing sorcery by night to protect her community. The world premiere drama sees her confront the truth behind her husband’s death.
A high-profile gala is Peter Ho-sun Chan’s “She Has No Name,” which has previously played Cannes, Shanghai and Toronto, starring Zhang Ziyi as a Shanghai housewife accused of her husband’s grisly murder in the 1940s, with Lei Jiayin co-starring. The film revisits one of China’s most notorious unsolved cases.
TIFF had previously confirmed its opening, centerpiece and closing films, all by marquee directors. Sakamoto Junji’s “Climbing for Life,” chronicling Everest pioneer Junko Tabei, opens the festival with Yoshinaga Sayuri leading the cast. The centerpiece slot is reserved for veteran Yamada Yoji’s “Tokyo Taxi,” a human drama starring Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura. Closing the edition is Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” toplined by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, which dramatizes the loss that inspired Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
The competition section blends emerging voices with seasoned auteurs. Nakagawa Ryutaro closes his trilogy with “Echoes of Motherhood,” while Amos Gitai unveils the hybrid docu-fiction “Golem in Pompei.” Hailey Gates’ “Atropia,” produced by Luca Guadagnino, offers a satirical look at U.S. war training grounds, while Hungarian provocateur György Pálfi delivers “Hen,” a fable shot in Greece. Further titles include Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis’ “Heads or Tails?,” and Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir’s epic “Palestine 36.” Cambodian master Rithy Panh returns with “We Are the Fruits of the Forest,” a documentary shot over four years in northern highlands communities.
Nippon Cinema Now spotlights the current landscape of Japanese filmmaking, from rising independent voices to established auteurs and international collaborations. This year’s lineup includes Keiko Tsuruoka’s “Saikai Paradise,” Yukari Sakamoto’s “White Flowers and Fruits,” Shigeru Kobayashi’s “In Their Traces,” Yang Liping’s Japan-China co-production “Echoes of the Orient,” and Akio Fujimoto’s multinational project “Lost Land,”
TIFF’s Asian Future platform introduces works from emerging regional filmmakers, including Roh Young-wan’s Korean coming-of-age drama “Halo,” Michael Kam’s “The Old Man and His Car” from Singapore, Park Young-jae’s sports-themed “Tomorrow’s Min-Jae,” and Kangdrun’s Tibetan feature “Linka Linka.” Gala Selections feature global auteurs such as Ari Aster with “Eddington,” as well as Korean genre fare like Lim Dae-hee’s “Holy Night: Demon Hunters.” World Focus brings a broad international spread, including Alejandro Amenábar’s “The Captive,” Michel Franco’s “Dreams” and Vivian Qu’s “Girl on Wire.”
Running Oct. 28–Nov. 5, the festival will screen at venues across central Tokyo, including Toho Cinemas Hibiya, Humantrust Cinema Yurakucho and Marunouchi Piccadilly.
38th Tokyo International Film Festival Lineup:
Main Competition
“Atropia” (U.S., Hailey Gates)
“Blonde” (Japan, Sakashita Yuichiro)
“Echoes of Motherhood ” (Japan, Nakagawa Ryutaro)
“Golem in Pompei” (France, Amos Gitai)
“Heads or Tails?” (Italy/U.S., Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis)
“Hen” (Greece/Germany/Hungary, György Pálfi)
“Maria Vitoria” (Portugal, Mário Patrocínio)
“Morte Cucina” (Thailand, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
“Mother” (Belgium/North Macedonia, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
“Mother Bhumi” (Malaysia, Chong Keat Aun)
“Mothertongue” (China, Zhang Lu)
“Palestine 36” (Palestine/UK/France/Denmark, Annemarie Jacir)
“Sermon to the Void” (Azerbaijan/Mexico/Turkey, Hilal Baydarov )
“Take Off” (China, Pengfei)
“We Are the Fruits of the Forest” (Cambodia/France, Rithy Panh)
Gala Selection
“Climbing for Life” (Japan, Sakamoto Junji ) – opening film
“Hamnet” (U.K., Chloé Zhao) – closing film
“Tokyo Taxi” (Japan, Yamada Yoji) – centerpiece
“Blue Boy Trial” (Japan, Iizuka Kasho)
“Bring Him Down to a Portable Size” (Japan/France/China, Nakano Ryota )
“Can’t Cry with Your Face” (Japan, Sakashita Yuichiro)
“Eddington” (U.S., Ari Aster)
“Holy Night: Demon Hunters” (Korea, Lim Dae-hee)
“Love on Trial” (Japan, Fukada Koji)
“Night Flower” (Japan, Uchida Eiji)
“One Last Throw” (Japan, Akiyama Jun )
“Rental Family” (U.S./Japan, Hikari)
“She Has No Name” (China, Peter Ho-sun Chan)
“Sirat” (France/Spain, Oliver Laxe)
“Sons of the Neon Night” (China/Hong Kong, Juno Mak)
“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” (U.S., Scott Cooper)
Asian Future
“Journey into Sato Tadao” (Japan, Terasaki Mizuho)
“The Chatterboxes” (Japan, Kawai Ken)
“Far in the Middle of the East” (Iran/Austria, Arash Aneessee)
“The Greatest Funeral Hits” (Turkey, Ziya Demirel)
“Halo” (Korea, Roh Young-wan)
“Kiiroiko” (Japan , Imai Mika)
“Linka Linka” (China, Kangdrun)
“Noah’s Daughter” (Iran, Amirreza Jalalian)
“Number 23” (China, Xia Hao )
“The Old Man and His Car” (Singapore, Michael Kam)
“Tomorrow’s Min-Jae” (Korea, Park Young-jae)
Nippon Cinema Now
“Saikai Paradise” (Japan, Tsuruoka Keiko)
“White Flowers and Fruits” (Japan, Sakamoto Yukari)
“In Their Traces” (Japan, Kobayashi Shigeru)
“Echoes of the Orient” (Japan, Yang Liping)
“All Greens” (Japan, Koyama Takashi)
“Poca Pon” (Japan, Ohtsuka Shin-ichi)
“TimeLimit” (Japan, Elizabeth Miyaji)
“Harà Watan (Lost Land)” (Japan/France/Malaysia/Germany, Fujimoto Akio)
Women’s Empowerment
“100 Sunset” (Canada, Kunsang Kyirong)
“About Me” (Japan, Nomoto Kozue)
“Cinema Jazireh” (Turkey/Bulgaria/Romania, Gözde Kural)
“Happy Birthday” (Egypt, Sarah Goher)
“I Am Nevenka” (Spain/Italy, Icíar Bollaín)
“Sato and Sato” (Japan, Amano Chihiro)
“Someone Like Me” (Hong Kong, Tam Wai-ching)
World Focus
“Girls on Wire” (China, Vivian Qu)
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” (U.S., Bill Condon)
“Kopitiam Days” (Singapore, Yeo Siew Hua, Shoki Lin, M. Rihan Halim, Tan Siyou, Don Aravind, Ong Kuo Sin)
“Le Lac” (Switzerland, Fabrice Aragno)
“Magellan” (Portugal/Spain/France/The Philippines/Taiwan, Lav Diaz)
“Mare’s Nest” (UK/France/Canada, Ben Rivers)
“The Mastermind” (U.S., Kelly Reichardt)
“Tunnels: Sun in the Dark” (Vietnam, Bui Thac Chuyen)
“The Captive” (Spain/Italy, Alejandro Amenábar)
“Dreams” (Mexico/U.S., Michel Franco)
“Matador” (Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)
“The Wave” (Chile, Sebastián Lelio)
“April” (Taiwan, Freddy Tang)
“Crown Shyness” (Taiwan, Chang Chun-yu)
“Double Happiness” (Taiwan, Joseph Chen-chieh Hsu)
“The Waves Will Carry Us” (Taiwan, Lau Kek-huat)
“Kika” (Belgium/France, Alexe Poukine)
“Vitrival – The Most Beautiful Village in the World” (Belgium, Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bogaert)
“Black God, White Devil” (Brazil, Glauber Rocha)
“The Dragon of Wickedness Against the Holy Warrior” (Brazil, Glauber Rocha)
“Central Station” (Brazil, Walter Salles)
“White House” (Brazil, Luciano Vidigal)
“The Blue Trail” (Brazil/Mexico/Netherlands/Chile, Gabriel Mascaro)
“Milton Bituca Nascimento” (Brazil, Flavia Moraes)
