20 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival (Part 1)

By Asian Film Festival on October 14, 2020 • ( Leave a comment )

These are twenty films you shouldn’t miss at the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival which will take place from October 31st until November 9th, in Tokyo, Japan.

About the festival:
The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), the only Japanese ﬁlm festival accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). TIFF started in 1985 as Japan’s ﬁrst major ﬁlm festival. Since then, it has grown to become one of the biggest ﬁlm festivals in Asia. TIFF seeks out excellent ﬁlms from around the world and brings them to Tokyo, where ﬁlmmakers and ﬁlm fans can enjoy them, meet emerging ﬁlmmakers, and be inspired.

Selected Films:

**A Girl Missing** by Koji Fukada – Japan, France | 2019 – 111 minutes
**Section**: Japan Now The Artistry of Koji Fukada

Ichiko is happy with her work as a private nurse for a family that makes her feel appreciated and at home. Not only does she take care of the grandmother, but she is also the confidante of the eldest sister Motoko. But then one day Motoko’s youngest sister disappears and the kidnapper turns out to be Ichiko’s cousin. (Camera Japan 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 7th, 2020 (Saturday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 1 | 14:45 pm

Trailer:

**Alaya** by Shi Meng – China | 2020 – 150 minutes
**Section**: Tokyo Premiere 2020

A man becomes a hermit after losing his son. An assaulted woman closes her mind. A girl was born illegitimately. As time passes by, their fates begin to move. Auteur’s debut is an astonishing story about karma and samsara. (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 3rd, 2020 (Tuesday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 3 | 18:40 pm
November 7th, 2020 (Saturday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 2 | 11:05 am

Trailer:

**Along the sea** by Akio Fujimoto – Japan, Vietnam | 2020 – 88 minutes
**Section**: World Focus

Akio Fujimoto, who won two awards in the Asian Future Section at TIFF 2017, is back with his second feature, which follows a Vietnamese woman who leaves her workplace as a technical trainee in Japan. (TIFF 2020)

Trailer:

**Aristocrats** by Yukiko Sode – Japan | 2019 – 124 minutes
**Section**: Special Screenings

A new feature from Yukiko Sode, one of Japan’s most-hoped-for young directors, based on a novel by Mariko Yamauchi. The film depicts life in Tokyo for two women of different social classes. (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 5th, 2020 (Thursday) | EX Theater Roppongi | 15:20 pm

**Come and Go** by Lim Kah Wai – Japan, Malaysia | 2020 – 158 minutes
**Section**: Tokyo Premiere 2020

A Korean girl at a party disguisedly as a porno actress. An overly ambitious Nepalese man. A Vietnamese far from home. An Okinawa-born filmmaker in debt. A non-stop ensemble film about people surviving in Osaka. (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 1st, 2020 (Sunday) | EX Theater Roppongi | 19:30 pm
November 6th, 2020 (Friday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 1 | 10:50 am

Trailer:

**Company Retreat** by Atsushi Funahashi – Japan | 2020 – 135 minutes
**Section**: Tokyo Premiere 2020

A woman working as a hotel receptionist is harassed by her superior. This docu-fiction shows that sexual harassment affects not only the victim and the perpetrator, but everyone around them. (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 4th, 2020 (Wednesday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 7 | 20:00 pm
November 8th, 2020 (Sunday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 1 | 11:00 am

**Eternally Younger Than Those idiots** by Ryohei Yoshino – Japan | 2020 – 118 minutes – **Section**: Tokyo Premiere 2020

Horigai spends her boring days waiting to graduate from college. As she hangs out with friends, she begins to realize the violence and sorrow behind their ordinary lives. (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 1st, 2020 (Sunday) | EX Theater Roppongi | 14:45 pm
November 3rd, 2020 (Tuesday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 1 | 14:20 pm

Trailer:

**Fan Girl** by Antoinette Jadaone – Philippines | 2020 – 100 minutes
**Section**: Tokyo Premiere 2020

Eagerly awaited new film by Jadaone, whose Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay won Eiga Hiho magazine’s best TIFF 2019 film. A starstruck girl sneaks into an actor’s house and sees a horrifying truth. (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
October 31st, 2020 (Saturday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 2 | 16:25 pm
November 5th, 2020 (Thursday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 2 | 10:20 am

Trailer:

**Genus Pan** by Lav Diaz – Philippines | 2020 – 157 minutes
**Section**: World Focus

Three illegal miners traversed the sea, the mountains and the forest until they reached their destination. Or did they really reach their cursed place? (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 4th, 2020 (Wednesday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 7 | 10:35 am
November 7th, 2020 (Saturday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 8 | 16:20 pm

Trailer:

**Harmonium** by Koji Fukada – Japan, France | 2016 – 119 minutes
**Section**: Japan Now The Artistry of Koji Fukada

Harmonium is a 2016 Japanese drama film directed by Koji Fukada. It won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. (TIFF 2020)

Screening Dates:
November 7th, 2020 (Saturday) | TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills Screen 1 | 10:25 am

Trailer: