Japanese Film Festival

Overview

Australians have an appetite for international cinema, with major cities across the country regularly hosting events like the Japanese Film Festival, which returns to theatres nationwide this October and November.

Whether you're a film fest regular, more of a blockbuster-familiar audience member or are simply looking to expand your cultural worldview, you'll be able to catch the best of Japanese film and filmmakers on a big screen near you.

"We're excited to bring a program that speaks to the breadth of Japanese cinema today," said Manisay Oudomvilay, Festival Programmer. "From historical sagas to intimate family portraits, contemporary thrillers to beloved manga brought to life, these films capture both the richness of tradition and the restless innovation of Japanese filmmakers."

Leading this year's JFF program is Kokuhō, an Academy Awards-submitted title starring three of Japan's best acting talents — Ryо̄ Yoshizawa, Ryūsei Yokohama and Ken Watanabe — in a five-decade story of friendship and rivalry between two boys making a name for themselves in traditional kabuki theatre.

This year's festival also features three titles from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa. There's the sound-centric horror film Chime, an online resale-inspired thriller titled Cloud and a French-language remake of Kurosawa's Serpent's Path.

Also featuring on the lineup are literary and pop culture adaptations. There's 6 Lying University Students, a story of a corporate recruitment test-turned psychological thriller, Petals and Memories, which adapts the prize-winning short stories of Minato Shukawa, and 366 Days, adapting the song of the same name by HY about two students trying to make careers in Tokyo's music and translation scenes.

There's also the terrorist negotiation thriller Showtime 7, two unlikely allies teaming up to take down swindlers in Angry Squad: The Civil Servant and the Seven Swindlers, the surreal animated flick The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store, a contemporary post-COVID story in Sunset Sunrise, samurai drama Bushido, manga-adapting Cells at Work! and a retrospective series of Japanese films from the 1930s at various venues around the country.

The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store

JFF 2025 is taking place at Palace Barracks, Queensland Art Gallery and GOMA from Thursday, November 6 to Friday, December 19. Get the full program or tickets on the website.

Top images: 'Cloud', 'Kokuhō'