Japanese Film Festival 2025

The Japan Foundation, Bangkok, in collaboration with House Samyan, Dude, Movie, and Berng Nang Club proudly present the “Japanese Film Festival 2025 (JFF 2025)” in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Songkhla. Supported by the Embassy of Japan in Thailand and the Japanese Association in Thailand, JFF 2025 features 15 acclaimed films across various genres, including inspiring drama, light-hearted comedy, dokidoki romance, thrilling horror, renowned classics, and iconic animation.

The Future is Now!

This year’s highlight is ‘A Samurai in Time’ by Junichi Yasuda, a heartwarming time-travel comedy about a Samurai who transports to the present day. Initially released in just one theater in Japan, this indie film gained unexpected popularity, expanding to 300 theaters in three months. Produced on a tight budget (some funding from the director himself), the film successfully revived the Samurai genre. Also, it’s impossible not to mention this film. ‘AKIRA’ by Katsuhiro Otomo, a groundbreaking legendary cyberpunk animation that made a great impact on the film industry worldwide, based on Otomo's original comic series of the same name. Set in the world of Neo-Tokyo in 2019, as envisioned in 1988, AKIRA is a masterpiece of Japanese animations that keeps astonishing the world.

Love of Film Across Generations

Exclusively this year, thanks to recommendations from Pat Boonnitipat, director of ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (หลานม่า),’ we’re showcasing two of his favorite films. First is ‘Good Morning’ by Yasujiro Ozu, a charming story about two young boys set in suburban Tokyo. The second, ‘The Mourning Forest’ by Naomi Kawase, winner of the Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, is a deeply moving film that inspired Pat to become a director. The story follows a caregiver and her patient on an unexpected journey through the countryside.

Synopsis

 
A SAMURAI IN TIME

Dir. Junichi Yasuda

(2024 / 131 min)

At the end of the Edo period in Kyoto, during a stormy night a samurai prepares to fight against a ronin, when a flash of lighting hits and when he wakes up to find himself in a different time. He has been transported through time to the present day and the location where he was about to duel is now a film set for jidaigeki TV shows and movies. Still in his samurai clothes he is mistaken for an extra and immediately thrust into the world of jidaigeki productions. Due to his very ‘authentic’ look and speech, he starts working on many productions and finds himself playing the role of a “kirareyaku”, a swordsman whose job is to die spectacularly on film.

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AKIRA

Dir. Katsuhiro Otomo

(1988 / 124 min) 

July, 1988— World War III breaks loose. Then, in 2019, in megalopolis Tokyo... 

As the leader of a group of young robust delinquents, Kaneda spent his nights tearing through the urban wastes, racing his motorbike against rival groups. One night while riding with his gang, his friend Tetsuo suddenly encounters a strange boy― the product of human experimentation— and is injured in the ensuing crash. Shortly thereafter, a military squadron appears to take the boy and Tetsuo away to an army research facility. Determined to free Tetsuo from capture, Kaneda sneaks into the army research lab. However, a regimen of extreme experimental procedures has awakened a new power in his friend, and now he is consumed by madness.

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Good Morning 

Dir. Yasujiro Ozu

(1959/ 93 min) 

 Several families live alongside each other in rows of small houses in a residential area on the outskirts of Tokyo. One of them is home to the Hayashi family, comprised of office worker Keitaro, his wife Tamiko, her younger sister Setsuko, and their elementary school age sons Minoru and Isamu. The boys pester their parents to buy a television but to no avail, so they spend all their free time with the other neighborhood children ensconced in the home of a young couple with the only television on the block. Meanwhile, breaking wind becomes a fad among the local kids, and they pour their energies into trying different methods of producing flatulent sounds on command. Meanwhile, a minor dispute breaks out among the local housewives over fees for the local women's association. Tamiko admonishes Minoru and Isamu for persistently pleading for a television, and Keitaro angrily scolds them for saying unnecessary things. The children retort that adults say needless things too, such as “Good day,” “Good morning,” and “Nice weather we're having.” Then they implement a new strategy: a vow of silence... 

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The Mourning Forest 

Director: Naomi Kawase

(2007/ 97 min) 

Elder Shigeki lives in a retirement home where he is lovingly cared for by Nurse Machiko, who is grieving the loss of a child. After celebrating Shigeki's birthday, the two take a trip to the countryside. The man, followed by Machiko, goes into the forest and, after two days of walking made difficult by the dense vegetation, they reach the place where Shigeki's wife is buried. Machiko learns that the man has been writing to his wife for 33 years, and is now preparing to write her the last letter. 

Aside from the films suggested above, the festival offer more quality films such as BEST WISHES TO ALL, winner of “The Japan Horror Film Competition” hosted by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, MOM, IS THAT YOU?! , YAMADA Yoji’s 90th film, nominated for Best Picture, Japan Academy Film Prize 2024, and From the End of the World, an apocalyptic time-travelling film, directed by Kaz I Kiriya, renowned for his work on the action movie, Last Knights, and many more.