The Tokyo International Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 39th edition, anchored by a new Godzilla film and a Japanese music drama about one of the country’s most famous pop songs.
The festival runs from October 26 to November 4 in the Yurakucho, Marunouchi and Ginza districts. Zeze Takahisa’s Sukiyaki opens the event with the story behind Kyu Sakamoto’s hit. Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie action film Colony closes it. Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero, the follow-up to Godzilla Minus One, plays as the centerpiece screening. Yamazaki’s earlier film won the Oscar for best visual effects, which gives the sequel a pedigree few festival centerpieces can match.
The gala section also includes Behemoth!, Fjord and Wild Horse Nine. Other titles in the lineup range from Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Spanish drama The Beloved and Wayne Wang’s Diary of a Mad Old Man to Sunshine Women’s Choir from Taiwan’s Gavin Lin. 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 represent Japan. The Crosscut Asia+ section includes Polen Ly’s Becoming Human from Cambodia and Daniel Hui’s Small Hours of the Night from Singapore. A classics program honors the director Kenji Mizoguchi.
Programmers made a conventional choice with the opener and closer. Last year’s festival closed with Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet and gave its top prize, the Tokyo Grand Prix, to Palestine 36. Fifteen films competed for that award. Organizers have not yet detailed this year’s competition field in the material released so far.
Practical details remain thin. A ticketing guide checked in mid-August found no published prices or sale schedule, and travelers planning trips around specific titles should confirm screening times with the festival before booking. The official site lists the opening, centerpiece and closing films but gives little else.
The 2026 edition follows a year in which the festival launched its lineup on October 1. Moving the announcement to September 30 gives international guests and industry buyers extra weeks to plan trips to Tokyo.
