The Tokyo International Film Festival has unveiled the full program for its 39th edition, setting a 15-film main competition alongside major gala screenings, animation, emerging Asian cinema and an extensive classics program.

Running from Oct. 26 to Nov. 4, the festival will open with Zeze Takahisa’s Japanese music drama Sukiyaki. Yeon Sang-ho’s South Korean zombie action horror film Colony will close the event, while Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero has been selected as the centerpiece screening.

A 15-Film Race for Tokyo’s Top Prize

All 15 main competition entries will contend for the Tokyo Grand Prix/Governor of Tokyo Award. Seven will arrive as world premieres: 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 remaining competition films will receive Asian premieres. They are 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.

Four women filmmakers — Hossain, Mihai, Mishima and Maksimović — are represented in the competition. Japan has the largest number of entries, with three.

Hollywood and Asian Cinema Share the Gala Spotlight

The gala slate includes four U.S. films: Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine and Michael Showalter’s Verity. Wayne Wang’s U.S. production Diary of a Mad Old Man is also included.

Other gala selections are Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, 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, 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.

Animation and Emerging Filmmakers

Tokyo’s 12-title animation selection brings new Japanese projects including Kawajiri Masanao’s Cherry And Virgin and Natsume Shingo’s Ghost – End of Night. The section also includes Nishigori Atsushi’s Grotesqqque, Kadowaki Kohei’s We Are Aliens, Nagaoka Chika’s Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire, Watanabe Kotono’s Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom and Yoshimura Ai’s The Rose of Versailles.

Japanese premieres in the animation program include 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 Son of a Bitch, directed by Érica Maradona, Otto Guerra, Tania Anaya and Sávio Leite. Alexandre Poncet and Gilles Penso’s Walking with Animators completes the selection.

The Asian Future section comprises 10 films, including Katski Flores’ EDJOP, Navid Mohammadzadeh’s I’m Nothing Special Really, Ariani Darmawan’s Jani Be Good, Cai Ronglin’s Miracle Summer and Chezhiyan’s The Paper Flower.

Nippon Cinema Now offers nine titles, among them Matsumura Shingo’s Between Us, Matsubayashi Yoju’s Okinawa Saudade, Ueda Shinichiro’s Earthlings in Love and Inudo Isshin’s Yamazaki Riverside: Over an Actor’s Shoulder. The seven-film Women’s Empowerment program includes Meritxell Colell Aparicio’s Far from the Trees, Zou Jing’s A Girl Unknown, Anuparna Roy’s Lovers in the Blue Night and Yang Kaijing’s Super Lucky Girl.

Kenji Mizoguchi Retrospective

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of Kenji Mizoguchi’s death, TIFF/NFAJ Classics — a collaboration between the festival and the National Film Archive of Japan — will present 13 films across 12 programs. Every screening will have English subtitles, with particular attention given to recently restored works.

The retrospective includes Osaka Elegy, Sisters of Gion, both parts of The 47 Ronin, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, YANG KWEI FEI, New Tales of the Taira Clan, Street of Shame, Gion Bayashi, Ugetsu, The Water Magician, Sansho the Bailiff and A Story from Chikamatsu.

The broader lineup is rounded out by the six-film Crosscut Asia+ program and World Focus, which combines 2026 releases with earlier works. The latter ranges from Roger Corman’s 1964 The Masque of the Red Death to films by Ulrike Ottinger and a group of works directed by Youssef Chahine.

What Happens Next?

The festival begins Oct. 26 with Sukiyaki, followed by 10 days of competition, gala, animation, specialty and retrospective screenings before Colony closes the 39th edition on Nov. 4.