The Tokyo International Film Festival

Oct 31, 2024

The Tokyo International Film Festival

It is no surprise that the country of legendary and lasting film directors like Akira Kurosawa, Ishiro Honda and Yasujiro Oz would have an international film festival. As of 2024, the Tokyo International Film Festival is on its 37th run and will be held from October 28th until November 6th.

The festival will bring together the entire spectrum of film and many of the films are premiering in some way, shape or form – A quick glance at the film page of their website shows that most films will be premiering in Japan, Asia or even globally. Film buffs and casual moviegoers alike will be able to carve out a custom schedule over the festival’s runtime and will undoubtedly walk away with plenty to talk about. This is a great chance to go in blind for a genre you may normally not pay much heed to – we are talking about a collection of films directed and produced by both fiery newcomer and industry titans.

The centerpiece for the 37th festival is Gladiator II, but the event will showcase a wide variety of movies with a special focus on an “Asian Future” category. Regardless of your taste in film, there will be something up your alley for sure. There are also films that have been submitted for the 37th Festival’s competition with both a Grand Prix and an Audience Award winner to be announced.

The Grand Prix award is no small smiley face sticker either – the Prizes page shows that a 3 million yen prize awaits the film judged the greatest amongst those submitted into the competition. Aside from the Grand Prix and various other jury-awarded prizes, an Audience Award will be determined by viewer votes.

For those interested in going, purchasing tickets in advance will be necessary. As the How to Get page of the Ticket section states, “Tickets for the 37th TIFF will not be sold at the box offices of each screening theater. Tickets may be purchased from the online ticket site or at the Yurakucho Station ticket center, which will be set up after October 28.” Make sure to follow the process on their website to prevent any disappointment.

Equally important will be paying careful attention to the schedule page to know which films will be shown in which theaters. The film festival is spread out across multiple cinema theaters, so make sure to check the address of each location. Some films will have stage greetings taking place 15 minutes prior to screen time or Q&As that will run for 30 minutes after the film ends, so take note if these interest you.

There will be some caveats to the event. All ticket purchases are final and non-transferrable – so if you get sick or have something prevent you from going, the ticket will simply go unused. Children who are under 3 will not be allowed into the theater and people of all ages 3 and up are required to have a ticket in order to attend these filmings.

If you were able to view any of the films, let us know in the coments below!

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Image courtesy of the official website.