Tokyo Film Festival Reveals Full 2026 Lineup

The Tokyo International Film Festival has revealed its full competition lineup for the 39th edition of Asia‘s largest film event. As ever, the lineup is a mix of new features from Asia’s best auteurs, a sprinkling of Hollywood movies and projects from up-and-coming filmmakers. As previously announced, the festival which runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 4, will open with Zeze Takahisa’s music drama Sukiyaki and close with Yeon Sang-ho‘s zombie action horror film Colony. Sandwiched between those two gala screenings will be the centerpiece screening of Takashi Yamazaki‘s Godzilla Minus Zero. Other gala screenings include Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, Michael Showalter’s Verity, 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, Wayne Wang’s Diary of a Mad Old Man, 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. The main competition at Tokyo will feature 15 films, all competiting for the Tokyo Grand Prix/Governor of Tokyo Award. Among the world premieres in the main competition are 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 Asian premieres among the competition lineup include 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. The competition features only four female filmmakers (Rubaiyat Hossain, Teodora Ana Mihai, Yukiko Mishima and Jelena Maksimović) and somewhat unsurprisingly Japan boasts the most number of entries with three. The animation offer at Tokyo is always strong and 2026 is no different, with new anime projects from the likes of Masanao Kawajiri and Shingo Natsume, and Japanese premieres for films like 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 Érica Maradona, Otto Guerra, Tania Anaya and Sávio Leite’s Son of a Bitch. This year’s festival will also include a retrospective on the works of Japanese master filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Mizoguchi’s death, TIFF/NFAJ Classics—a collaboration between the National Film Archive of Japan and the Tokyo Film Festival— will present 13 films across 12 programs (all with English subtitles), with a particular focus on works that have undergone recent digital restoration. The full list of Mizoguchi films to be screened is below. The full lineup for the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival is below: Opening, Closing and Centerpiece Screenings Sukiyaki (Japan) dir. Zeze TakahisaGodzilla Minus Zero (Japan) dir. Takashi YamazakiColony (South Korea) dir. Yeon Sang-ho Gala Screenings Behemoth! – dir. Tony GilroyTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – dir. Jane SchoenbrunFjord – dir. Cristian MungiuWild Horse Nine – dir. Martin McDonaghVerity – dir. Michael ShowalterA Bouquet of Light for You – dir. Hiroshi AndoArrested Memory – dir. SabuBye Bye Love: Detective Is in the Bar – dir. Kazuya ShiraishiSunshine Women’s Choir – dir. Gavin LinDiary of a Mad Old Man – dir. Wayne WangThe Beloved – dir. Rodrigo SorogoyenAll the Lovers in the Night – directed by Yukiko SodeYour Story – Kimi No Hanashi – dir. Ryutaro NakagawaThe Tiger and Her Wings The Movie – dir. Yoshiro Nagikawa Main Competition The Canary’s Lullaby – dir. Akira IkedaThe Difficult Bride – dir. Rubaiyat HossainDouble Freedom – dir. Lisandro AlonsoEven If Hell Came – dir. Samuele RossiFuxi: Four Tales of Feasting – dir. Qiu JiongjiongHeysel 85 – dir. Teodora Ana MihaiThe Intertwining – dir. Akira YamamotoMagic Atlas – dir. Sun XunMemories of Prison – dir. Sérgio GracianoThe Night That Binds Us – dir. Wang JiangyongRed Before Dawn – dir. Garin NugrohoSister Brother Manhole Cover – dir. Milcho ManchevskiTrees Are Watching – dir. Bahman GhobadiTwo Cigarettes, Three Nights – dir. Yukiko MishimaUntil the Day Ends – dir. Jelena Maksimović Kenji Mizoguchi Retrospective Osaka Elegy (1936)Sisters of Gion (1936)The 47 Ronin (Part One, Part Two, 1941–42)The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)YANG KWEI FEI (1955)New Tales of the Taira Clan (1955)Street of Shame (1956)Gion Bayashi (1953)Ugetsu (1953)The Water Magician (1933)Sansho the Bailiff (1954)A Story from Chikamatsu (1954)