The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival is aiming for a higher international profile after revealing a 15-film Gala selection and a 12-title animation strand for its Oct. 26-Nov. 4 run. The gala roster collects recent work from established directors and marquee casts, positioning the festival to draw attention from critics, industry attendees and global media.
Headliners in the Gala Selection include Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord and Michael Showalter’s Verity. The program also highlights regional and festival favorites such as Sabu’s Arrested Memory, Wayne Wang’s Diary of a Mad Old Man and Yukiko Sode’s Cannes-recognised All the Lovers in the Night, alongside Kazuya Shiraishi’s Bye Bye Love: Detective Is in the Bar. The slate mixes international names with local voices, and it also lists Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and a feature adaptation titled The Tiger and Her Wings The Movie.
Animation programming aims to pair commercial studio projects with auteur work. Titles announced for Tokyo attendance include Grotesqqque, an original anthology by Atsushi Nishigori and CloverWorks; Ghost, End of Night, Shingo Natsume’s first original feature produced by Madhouse; DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island, directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado; and We Are Aliens by Kohei Kadowaki. The festival will also present a Women Directors: Diverse Visions sidebar that brings entries such as Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire, Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom and The Rose of Versailles.
Cate Blanchett will appear in Tokyo as part of a showcase for the Displacement Film Fund, which she co-founded, and five shorts backed by the fund will screen. The screenings will be followed by a Q&A that includes Middle Eastern filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Shahrbanoo Sadat. On her visit, Blanchett said, “In a world where conflict and persecution are driving displacement and division, cinematic storytelling has a vital role to play in connecting with the experiences of others.” Her appearance coincides with the week she receives the Praemium Imperiale, Japan’s international arts prize for lifetime achievement in multiple disciplines.
The gala and animation announcements build on a program already anchored by the opening title Sukiyaki, centerpiece Godzilla Minus Zero and closing feature Colony. TIFFCOM, the festival’s market, is scheduled for Oct. 28-30, keeping industry screenings and meetings concentrated in the same week as the public program.
