Japanese Film Festival 2024

Contemporary Japanese cinema will once again take the main stage at the 28th annual Japanese Film Festival.

The festival will open with Yoji Yamamada’s Mom, Is That You?! a heartwarming portrayal of inter-generational family dynamics in modern Japan starring four-time Japan Academy Award winner Sayuri Yoshinaga.

For children and the anime lovers out there, Studio-Ghibli alumni Yoshiyuki Momose’s new animation The Imaginary takes viewers on a journey into the colourful and whimsy world of imaginary friends.

Romance is also a hot topic, with Our Secret Diary, a romantic comedy of errors that taps into the same vein as US hit-franchise To All The Boys I’ve Ever Love Before.

Other festival highlights include Academy Film Prize winner Uchida Eiji’s MATCHED, a gritty exploration online dating; and comedies A Samurai in Time and The Dancing Okami.

Audiences will also have an opportunity to engage with Japanese history via Shinya Tsukamoto, the cult director behind Tetsuo: The Iron Man. His new historical drama, Shadow of Fire, examines the brutal reality of life for Japanese civilians after World War II.

There is also the special free series celebrating the career of Shohei Imamura, a new wave Japanese director whose work sought to highlight the messy complexity of Japanese life.