Written by Lily Crossley-Baxter
Researched by Alexandra Ziminski
Don’t let the “film festival” in the name intimidate you — you don’t have to be a connoisseur of arthouse films to enjoy the festival.
What happens?
The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) screens more than 100 films in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area of Tokyo.
Past years have featured the world premiere of Fragments of the Last Will, a post‑WWII Japanese love story; Living, Kazuo Ishiguro’s adaptation of Kurosawa’s Ikiru; a special screening of Ozu Yasujiro’s Shoulders of Giants and a wide variety of Japanese and international animated films.
Schedule
This year marks the 39th edition of the festival, which runs for 10 days from October 26 to November 4, 2026.
Lineup 2026
This year’s opening film is Sukiyaki, Zeze Takahisa’s film about the story behind Sakamoto Kyu’s hit song. The Centerpiece screening is Godzilla Minus Zero, the follow-up to Godzilla Minus One, and the festival closes with Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony.
Over in the classics strand, TIFF and the National Film Archive of Japan are running a Mizoguchi Kenji retrospective from October 27 to November 1.
The Gala Selection and Animation lineups have been announced, with the rest of the program revealed in stages in the run-up to the festival. Talks and masterclasses with visiting filmmakers run throughout.
Free screenings
The festival usually lays on free outdoor screenings of crowd-pleasers in the Hibiya area — past years have included Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Jaws, and Gran Turismo. The 2026 titles hadn’t been announced at the time of writing.
Tickets
For most TIFF screenings, buying tickets online is required. Under the revised 2026 pricing, regular screenings are ¥2,200 (¥1,100 for students, or ¥700 on the day), Gala Selection titles are ¥2,700, and the opening, Centerpiece, and closing films are ¥3,500. General sales normally open in mid-October — check the official site for the exact date.
Screenings of particularly popular films will have tickets distributed using a lottery system.
