Festival Programme

Films by Language

Japanese

Ayukawa: The Weight of a Life

Tu Rapana Neill, Jim Speers

How does a small Japanese whaling town adapt to a post-whaling world? In this sensitive study, local inhabitants reflect on the decline of local industry and the devastating tsunami that hit Ayukawa in 2011.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

Droste no hate de bokura

Junta Yamaguchi

A genial café owner is puzzled when he receives a message on his TV from himself two minutes into the future. Director Junta Yamaguchi takes that simple concept, ups the ante and ends up with an instant classic.

Drive My Car

Doraibu mai kā

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Adapted from the short story by Haruki Murakami, Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s profoundly moving, poetic vision of grief and the deep mysteries of the human spirit is the Cannes 2021 winner for Best Screenplay.

The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On

Yuki yukite shingun

Kazuo Hara

“The stories [Hara] extracts... are shocking, as is the film’s underlying premise: that the Japanese government failed to confront its wartime atrocities.” — Richard Brody, The New Yorker

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

Världens vackraste pojke

Kristian Petri, Kristina Lindström

As Tadzio in Death in Venice, Björn Andrésen electrified audiences worldwide with his fragile beauty. Fifty years later, his life is still haunted by the fallout from the role that made him recognised, and coveted, across the globe.

Sing a Bit of Harmony

Ai no utagoe o kikasete

Yasuhiro Yoshiura

Schoolyard romance, musical numbers and lifelike robotics collide in this animated glimpse at what teenage life might look like in a world increasingly run by artificial intelligence.

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Guzen to sozo

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

A gentle exploration of the complexities of the human heart, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a balm for the soul.