Spotlight on Japan
Young sales executive Kawamura leads a picture-perfect life. He’s handsome, well-liked, has a great job that he excels at, and is about to marry the CEO’s daughter. On his way…
Spotlight on Japan
Sakura Ando (SHOPLIFTERS, MONSTER) plays Neri, a ruthless con woman who helps run complex-and profitable-phone scams in the slums of Osaka. When her younger half-brother Joe (Ryosuke Yamada) gets out…
Spotlight on Japan
Deep in the forest of the small rural village Harasawa, single parent Takumi lives with his young daughter, Hana, and takes care of odd jobs for locals, chopping wood and…
Eat. Drink. Film., Spotlight on Japan
Set in the northern part of Okinawa, known as Yanbaru, Manna (a cross between Jerry Garcia, Ai Wei Wei and Anthony Bourdain), the chef of a BBQ restaurant is given…
HIFF Extreme, Spotlight on Japan
Set in 16th century Feudal Japan, rival warlords battle for domination and territory. Lord Oda Nobunaga, intent on conquering the entire country, is waging war against several clans when one…
Spotlight on Japan
Akio is your prototypical Japanese salaryman, worn down by corporate culture. His job as head of Human Resources is wearing him down. To make matters worse, his family life isn’t…
Spotlight on Japan
Ever get a case of the Mondays, where going to work feels like you’re on repeat? Waking up on Monday morning after pulling an all-nighter at the creative agency where…
Spotlight on Japan
There’s a beautiful nuance in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest masterpiece MONSTER. Once again achieving brilliant performances from child actors—much like the top films in his masterful filmography NOBODY KNOWS and SHOPLIFTERS.…
Spotlight on Japan
As MOUNTAIN WOMAN opens, Rin goes about the job of helping a family dispose of a newborn. Her Tohoku village is in its second year of a devastating famine, and…
Documentaries, Pacific Showcase
When freedivers Sachiko Fukumoto and William Trubridge are unable to access the natural water-birth they passionately want for the birth of their first child in Japan, they travel to Aotearoa…
Spotlight on Japan
HIFF is honored to present two films from German auteur Wim Wenders (PARIS, TEXAS; WINGS OF DESIRE): ANSELM and PERFECT DAYS. In the latter, Wenders Tokyo-based story locates the magnificence…
Spotlight on Japan
Tokyo, 1924--Yuri is a madam of a small Tokyo bar. In a previous life, she was a brutal assassin with an impressive 57 kill count. One day, upon investigating the…
Eat. Drink. Film., Spotlight on Japan
Tatsuo and his daughter Haru run the Takano Tofu Store in Onomichi, Japan. They begin their work before dawn every day, carefully selecting beans to make their tofu. While the…
Closing Night Film
HIFF is honored to present THE BOY AND THE HERON, the highly anticipated new film from the legendary Academy Award-winning Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Japan''s celebrated animation house, Studio Ghibli,…
Spotlight on Japan
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND is an ensemble cast film made up of eight short interconnected segments all taking place in Yaeyama, Okinawa. It features people who have lost somebody…
Spotlight on Japan
Hideki is a Japanese Salaryman who goes on an unwitting journey of self-discovery when he takes a business trip from Tokyo to a Montana cattle ranch, in the hopes of…
Spotlight on Japan
In this thrilling procedural based on true events, Masahiro Higashide (ASAKO I & II) plays real-life computer programmer Isamu Kaneko, inventor of the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program Winny, released in…