Films & Schedule - The Japanese Film Festival Australia

Drama

Yasuaki Shikano (Yo Oizumi; YAKINIKU DRAGON) is a 34 year old man who suffers from muscular dystrophy and is confined...

Crime & Suspense

A Girl Missing

よこがお

Diligent home-care nurse Ichiko is a fixture of her client’s family life: nursing the ailing bedridden grandmother while also warmly...

Slice of Life

And Your Bird Can Sing

きみの鳥はうたえる

With a contagious sense of abandon, three young adults’ lives become intimately entangled over the course of a long summer...

Crime & Mystery

Birds Without Names

彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち

It’s a relationship as dysfunctional as they come. Towako is a despicable woman—living with a man 15 years her senior,...

Classics

Black Cat Mansion

亡霊怪猫屋敷

In this nonlinear ghost story that mixes black and white and colour footage, Dr Kuzumi and his wife Yoriko relocate...

Slice of Life

Blue Hour

ブルーアワーにぶっ飛ばす

30-year-old Sunada (Kaho) seems to have it all: a successful career as a director for TV commercials, a kind husband,...

Drama

Born Bone Born

洗骨

Set on Aguni, an island 60 kilometres northwest of Okinawa’s capital, Naha, Born Bone Born provides viewers a glimpse of...

Drama

Brave Father Online – our story of FINAL FANTASY XIV

劇場版ファイナルファンタジーXIV 光のお父さん

For Akio (Kentaro Sakaguchi), interacting with strangers in the online multiplayer game Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is far...

Drama, Youth

Dad’s Lunch Box

パパのお弁当は世界一

Dad’s Lunch Box is a heart-warming story of a newly-divorced father who vows to make his daughter Midori’s lunch every...

Dance With Me

ダンスウィズミー

Musical meets road trip in this lighthearted comedy with an outstanding performance by Ayaka Miyoshi! Shizuka is slowly climbing the...

Anime

Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire

名探偵コナン紺青の拳（フィスト）

Detective Conan of long-running manga and anime fame returns for his 23rd feature film⁠—even beating Avengers: Endgame in the Japanese...

Drama, Slice of Life

Every Day a Good Day

日日是好日

Noriko and Michiko are cousins in their last year of university, trying to find their place in the world of...

Comedy

Fly Me to the Saitama

翔んで埼玉

Imagine a world where people from neighbouring prefectures were persecuted for entering Tokyo without a special visa—such is the premise...

Classics

Jigoku

地獄

A truly poetic and vibrant piece of horror cinema, Jigoku (Hell) is director Nobuo Nakagawa’s departure from the traditional Japanese...

Coming of Age, Youth

JK Rock

JK☆ROCK

On the cusp of fame, rock band the JoKers mysteriously splits up. One year later, vocalist Jyo Kodukai has debuted...

Action, Fantasy

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険　ダイヤモンドは砕けない　第一章

The sleepy town of Morioh, Japan, is home to Josuke Higashikata, a high school student who possesses the supernatural ability...

Romance, Slice of Life

Just Only Love

愛がなんだ

Based on the novel by Mitsuo Kakuta, Just Only Love is a reflection on the current relationship status for many...

Youth

Kakegurui

映画賭ケグルイ

Forget grades at Hyakkaou Private Academy, an elite school for the rich. Here, gambling is the only way to succeed....

Action, Drama, Period

Kingdom

キングダム

Based on the bestselling manga series of the same name, director Shinsuke Sato’s live-action adaptation is a historical adventure about...

Classics

Kwaidan

怪談

Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan is an anthology of four separate, chilling tragedies of the supernatural and ghostly worlds. From a man...

Coming of Age, Youth

Little Love Song

小さな恋のうた

Life in Okinawa has never looked sweeter for four high schoolers in a pop-rock band that sings catchy songs that...

Drama, Romance

Little Nights, Little Love

アイネクライネナハトムジーク

27-year-old Sato is hopelessly single, desperately waiting for that perfect meet-cute moment with the girl of his dreams. When he...

Mystery

Masquerade Hotel

マスカレード・ホテル

In this adaptation of Keigo Higashino’s best-selling novel, Detective Kosuke Nitta (Takuya Kimura; Blade of the Immortal) goes undercover in...

Crime & Suspense, Drama

Melancholic

メランコリック

Despite having a degree from a prestigious university, Kazuhiko is unemployed and living with his parents with no plans for...

Anime, Youth

Mirai

未来のミライ

Four-year-old Kun’s life gets turned upside down when he meets his new baby sister Mirai (meaning “future”) for the first...

Drama

Moonless Dawn

暁闇

Adolescence is often fraught with anger and despair, leaving you feeling like you’re swimming in an endless sea of trouble...

Comedy

My Dad is a Heel Wrestler

パパはわるものチャンピオン

Pro wrestling champion Hiroshi Tanahashi makes his acting debut as the gentle giant dad to nine-year-old Shota, whose understanding of...

Drama

My Father, the Bride

おいしい家族

Returning home for her mother’s second memorial service was never going to be easy for Tohka. While struggling in Ginza...

Cult & Indie

NOISE

ノイズ

Akihabara is a playground for anime, gaming and idol subcultures, but also home to a shady underbelly riddled with exploitation...

Anime

Penguin Highway

ペンギン・ハイウェイ

Fourth-grade student Aoyama is a young boy sure of his own intelligence and place in the world; he spends his...

Romance

Rent a Friend

月極オトコトモダチ

Do platonic friendships between the sexes really exist? Despite a lack of personal experience, columnist Nasa thinks it’s possible. After...

Anime

Ride Your Wave

きみと、波にのれたら

Surf’s up every day for free-spirited Hinako after she moves to the seaside! When her apartment block catches ablaze and...

Drama

Riding Uphill

ガチ星

Pro baseballer Hamajima (Kenichi Abe) is kicked out of the league for his wavering performance, and eight years later, he’s...

Comedy, Drama

SAINT☆YOUNG MEN 2nd Century

聖☆おにいさん第Ⅱ紀

SAINT☆YOUNG MEN 2nd Century imagines a world where Jesus Christ (Kenichi Matsuyama; Death Note) and Gautama Buddha (Shōta Sometani; Himizu)...

Comedy, Drama, Period

Samurai Shifters

引っ越し大名！

Socially awkward Katagiri Harunosuke (Gen Hoshino; JFF 2018’s The Night is Short, Walk On Girl) is a samurai librarian stuck...

Crime & Suspense

Sea of Revival

凪待ち

Sea of Revival tells a story of a working class family trying to get by despite their own personal demons....

Cult & Indie, Drama

Siblings of the Cape

岬の兄妹

Yoshio (Yuya Matsuura) lives with his sister Mariko (Misa Wada), who has a disability that requires his constant care. They...

Classics

The Adventures of Tobisuke

エノケンのとび助冒険旅行

In war-torn Kyoto, a kind-hearted puppeteer named Tobisuke meets Ofuku, a young girl desperate to find her lost mother, when...

Classics

The Bride from Hades

牡丹燈籠

One night during the Obon lantern festival, Shinzaburo meets a mysterious, beautiful woman and her servant. When they meet again,...

Crime & Mystery

The Crimes That Bind

祈りの幕が下りる時

Screening as part of JFF Fringe 2019. Michiko Oshitani, a woman from Shiga prefecture, near Kyoto, was found strangled to...

Classics

The Ghost Story of Yotsuya

東海道四谷怪談

This adaptation of the 19th century kabuki masterpiece by Nanboku Tsuruya is a tale of a greedy ronin samurai, Iemon...

Cult & Indie

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers

星くず兄弟の伝説

Rival amateur musicians, punk Kan and new-wave Shingo, are sucked inside the corporate beast of Japanese 80s music industry. Seduced...

Classics

The Living Koheiji

怪異談　生きてゐる小平次

Set during the Edo period, The Living Koheiji is director Nobuo Nakagawa’s final film. In this theatrical ghost story, unpopular...

Documentary

Tower of the Sun

太陽の塔

Fondly thought of as the Picasso of Japan, Taro Okamoto worked as a prolific avant-garde artist, philosopher, and writer until...

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Film Schedule 2019

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Special Guests

Come & meet these creatives in real life!

Yuko Hakota

Blue Hour (ブルーアワーにぶっ飛ばす)

Dr Emerald L King

Fly Me to the Saitama (翔んで埼玉)

Shinzo Katayama

Siblings of the Cape (岬の兄妹)

Staff Picks

We Recommend

Documentary

Mystery

Crime & Suspense

Drama

Cult & Indie

Coming Of Age & Youth

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