Tokyo Festival 2026 bets on original anime and female directors

The Tokyo International Film Festival is gearing up for its 39th edition, from October 26 to November 4, with an animation selection that aims to broaden the idea of what anime can offer. Ryota Fujitsu, programming advisor for the section, is combining original Japanese premieres, award-winning international titles, and spaces for conversation about the industry.

Japanese animation earned nearly 4 trillion yen in 2024, about 25.6 billion dollars, but local audiences mostly consume domestic production. Fujitsu wants to change that: if Japanese audiences won't seek out animated films from other countries, the festival will bring them closer. The selection includes the Japanese premieres of DreamWorks' Iron Boy and Forgotten Island, along with Érica Maradona's Son of a Bitch, a coming-of-age story told with a limited color palette.

Also screening is Walking with Animators, Alexandre Poncet's documentary about the creative processes of animators and what their work means to them. A topic with extra resonance now that artificial intelligence is at the center of the debate. Fujitsu sums it up with a simple comparison: watching foreign animation is like trying food from another country, an experience that can be interesting precisely because it's unfamiliar.

The festival has already shown it can boost a film in Japan. Robot Dreams played Tokyo in 2023 and, after its Oscar nomination in 2024, became a long-running box office hit. This year, titles like Iron Boy and Amadeo and the Hypothetical New World hope to repeat the trick.

'Amadeo and the Hypothetical New World', one of the international films in the selection.cartoonbrew.com

Three Japanese premieres with no franchise behind them

One of the focuses is on original Japanese films. Although the industry is growing, features that don't come from an existing IP have a hard time against established franchises. That's why it's notable that three upcoming productions are passing through the festival: Ghost – End of Night, Grotesqqque, and Cherry and Virgin.

Fujitsu explains that Japanese animation is usually finished at the last minute, which made it hard to present it as a premiere in Tokyo. The inclusion of Grotesqqque and Ghost reflects a change: original projects are developed earlier and sent to festivals. For these films, the screening is a chance to build an audience before their release.

'Grotesqqque', by Atsushi Nishigori, will have its premiere at the Tokyo Festival.cartoonbrew.com

Grotesqqque has Atsushi Nishigori on board, and Ghost – End of Night represents the work of Shingo Natsume. Both will take part in the symposium The Thrill of Being an Animator alongside Alexandre Poncet.

Female directors in focus

The festival is also turning its eye to women who direct animation. Less than 5% of animated features, both in Japan and internationally, are directed by women. To make that work visible, the symposium Women Directors: Diverse Visions will bring together three Japanese filmmakers with recent films in the program.

They are Chika Nagaoka, who in 2019 directed Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire, the first film in the franchise with a woman at the helm; Kotono Watanabe, director of 2023's Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom; and Ai Yoshimura, responsible for last year's musical adaptation of The Rose of Versailles.

Fujitsu has wanted to organize a gathering like this for a while. He acknowledges that the number of women in the industry has grown a lot over the last 20 years, but the leap to directing comes more slowly because it's usually the last step in an animator's career. Presenting these three directors is his way of showing that there are women working in every role in anime, including behind the camera.

The 39th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival runs from October 26 to November 4, 2026.