Japan

Compulsively watchable two-part J-pop saga of supernatural vigilantism run amok, centring on a college student who possesses a notebook that allows him to kill anyone whose name he writes in it.

Surreal, awe-inspiring, innovative missives from the world of digital animation, selected to showcase the detail, depth of field and full resonant sound that only a cinema can deliver.

Low-key, ironic and very sharp Japanese comedy which uncovers sexual deviancy and family dysfunction in the wake of a small-town crime. From the director of last year's Festival hit Linda, Linda, Linda.

In anime master Kon Satoshi's (Millennium Actress) latest exhilarating thriller/detective story, a shrink must recover the machine that allows psychotherapists to alter their patients' dreams.

Japan's foremost spookmeister Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Cure, Charisma, Pulse) expertly applies his brooding and atmospheric cinema of unease to this police procedural ghost story.

The son of Miyazaki Hayao (Spirited Away) directs this adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin's popular fantasy novel in which a teenage prince teams up with a powerful wizard to save the realm from evil.

Two street urchins with magical powers are pitched against the yakuza in this dark, noirish fairytale set in Tokyo. This first American-directed anime has cult classic written all over it.