The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today unveiled the full lineup and other highlights of its 38th edition in a press conference held at Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, one of the festival’s main venues.
As previously announced, TIFF will open with Sakamoto Junji’s Climbing for Life, based on the true-life story of legendary mountaineer Tabei Junko, and close with Academy Award® winning director Chloé Zhao’s heralded Hamnet, about the creation of William Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece Hamlet.
The 10-day festival will feature screenings and extensive related events in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area of Tokyo from October 27 to November 5, 2025.
Festival Chairman Ando Hiroyasu delivered opening remarks at the conference, highlighting three major focuses of this year’s TIFF: enhancing the festival’s international exchange initiatives, addressing gender disparity through programs to support female empowerment, and nurturing talent that will shape the industry’s future.
TIFFCOM Managing Director Ikeda Kaori then discussed TIFFCOM 2025, TIFF’s affiliated marketplace, which will be hosting its 22nd edition from October 29 to 31 at the Hamamatsucho-kan Building, a short ride from TIFF’s main venues. Ikeda highlighted the market’s role in facilitating extensive business meetings, seminars and production matching for a wide range of content—films, TV programming, animation, streaming series—as well as the sixth year of the Tokyo Gap Financing Market, which will host 23 film and animation projects from around the world.
Italian film critic Carlo Chatrian, former Artistic Director at the Berlin and Locarno film festivals and previously announced President of the International Competition Jury at the 38th TIFF, will be joined by fellow jurors Taiwanese actor Gwei Lun-Mei, French film editor Mathieu Lacroix, Japanese actor/filmmaker Saitoh Takumi, and Chinese filmmaker/producer Vivian Qu. The Asian Future Jury is comprised of Ellen Y.D. Kim, director of the Asian Contents and Film Market at the Busan International Film Festival, filmmaker Matsunaga Daishi, and Nishizawa Akihiro, programming manager of Tokyo Theatres Co., Inc.
The 38th TIFF Festival Navigator Takiuchi Kumi then appeared on stage and shared her thoughts on serving in the role, noting that she hoped to foster a dialogue with as many festival attendees as possible, and encouraging people to see as many films as possible during TIFF.
Following video clips from TIFF’s Opening Film Climbing for Life (by Sakamoto Junji), Centerpiece Film Tokyo Taxi (by Yamada Yoji), and Closing Film Hamnet (by Chloé Zhao), all of which were previously announced, TIFF Programming Director Ichiyama Shozo unveiled the 15 films chosen for the festival’s Competition section, which includes premieres from heralded auteurs Rithy Panh, Zhang Lu, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, and Chong Keat Aun.
Two Japanese directors whose work will receive world premieres in Competition then joined Ichiyama on stage to make remarks about their selection: Sakashita Yuichiro (Blonde) and Nakagawa Ryutaro (Echoes of Motherhood).
Senior Programmer Ishizaka Kenji introduced the Asian Future section lineup and provided highlights of the 10 films in competition from Japan, Southeast Asia and Iran, all of which are receiving their world premieres and will be eligible for awards. He also touted the section’s opening film, an “iconic work, Journey into Sato Tadao, about the great cinema critic who died three years ago. It’s a documentary about his years searching for Asian films, and in launching the Asian section of this festival.”
Ichiyama then introduced the films in the Gala Selection, World Focus, Nippon Cinema Now, and newly established section Asian Students’ Film Conference, as well as in other special sections of the festival.
TIFF Senior Programmer Andrijana Cvetkovikj provided an overview of the second edition of the Women’s Empowerment section, which will highlight seven films. She stressed, “Our hope is that the section does more than inspire. We want it to open doors, to build partnerships, and to create spaces where women can support and mentor one another. Above all, we want women’s voices to be heard, respected, and celebrated as an essential part of global cinema.”
TIFF Animation Programming Advisor Fujitsu Ryota unveiled the full Animation section, which will feature screenings of 12 new Japanese and international works, including the Annecy International Animation Film Festival’s Jury Award winner, ChaO, as well as an 80th anniversary screening of Momotaro, Sacred Sailors (4K remaster), Japan’s first feature-length animated film, a propaganda work directed by Seo Mitsuyo that was produced during WWII with backing from the Ministry of the Navy.
Full 2025 Competition Lineup
Atropia — dir. Hailey Gates (USA)
Blonde — dir. Yuichiro Sakashita (Japan)
Echoes of Motherhood — dir. Nakagawa Ryutaro (Japan)
Golem in Pompei — dir. Amos Gitai (France)
Heads or Tails? — dir. Alessio Rigo de Righi & Matteo Zoppis (Italy/USA)
Hen — dir. György Pálfi (Greece/Germany/Hungary)
Maria Vitoria — dir. Mário Patrocínio (Portugal)
Morte Cucina — dir. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang (Thailand)
Mother Bhumi — dir. Chong Keat Aun (Malaysia)
Mothertongue — dir. Zhang Lu (China)
Mother — dir. Teona Strugar Mitevska (Belgium/North Macedonia)
Palestine 36 — dir. Annemarie Jacir (Palestine/UK/France/Denmark)
Sermon to the Void — dir. Hilal Baydarov (Azerbaijan/Mexico/Turkey)
Take Off — dir. Pengfei (China)
We Are the Fruits of the Forest — dir. Rithy Panh (Cambodia/France)
The Greatest Funeral Hits — dir. Ziya Demirel (Turkey)
Halo — dir. Roh Young-wan (Korea)
Linka Linka — dir. Kangdrun (China/Tibet)
Kiiroiko — dir. Imai Mika (Japan/Taiwan)
