The Japanese Film Festival Australia returns for its landmark 29th year with screenings in Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth from October to December. Since its inception in 1997, the festival has introduced Australian audiences to the dynamic voices shaping Japanese cinema, and is now one of the largest celebrations of Japanese films in the world.

Based on the best-selling novel by Shūichi Yoshida, Kokuhō (which translates as 'National Treasure') stormed the Japanese box office in mid-2025, with demand escalating f

JFF25 Kokuho

Wrongfully accused of a crime, Kakunoshin Yanagida is cast out from his hometown and stripped of his samurai status. Resigned to life in an Edo tenement house with his da

JFF25 Bushido

Akino is a trainee concierge at the Hokkyoku Department Store, an unusual department store that caters exclusively to animals. Under the watchful eyes of the floor manage

JFF25 The Concierge

Following the brutal murder of his eight-year-old daughter, Albert (Damien Bonnard) is consumed by thoughts of revenge. Believing his daughter’s death to be linked to a v

JFF25 Serpent's Path

Created by renowned Japanese horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, 1997), and featuring his signature wide shots, eerie sound design, and a disarming colour palette, Ch

JFF25 Chime

A modern psychological thriller from renowned horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Cloud uncannily probes the anxieties of technological and social isolation in a capitalist w

JFF25 Cloud

Part science lesson and part theme park ride, director Hideki TAKEUCHI ’s (Fly me to the Saitama, THERMAE ROMAE) adaptation artfully injects soul into the seemingly absur

JFF25 Cells at Work!

It’s 2003, and a love story spanning decades has just begun. Bubbly highschooler Miu and quiet senior student Minato dream of a life beyond their sleepy Okinawan town, an

JFF25 366 DAYS

Once the face of the prime time TV program Showtime 7, Shinnosuke Orimoto (Hiroshi Abe) was a national news anchor until mysteriously being forced to step down from his p

JFF25 SHOWTIME 7

Set in Osaka, the story follows siblings Toshiki and Fumiko, who lost their parents early on. As the older brother, Toshiki promised their late father he would always pro

JFF25 Petals and Memories

Based on Akinari Asakura’s wildly popular novel of the same name, Six Lying University Students delivers a high-pressure, suspense-driven drama fraught with manipulation,

JFF25 6 Lying University Students

The year is 2020, and measures against COVID-19 are starting to affect life all over Japan. Leaving behind his life in the city, young salaryman Shinsaku (Masaki SUDA) de

JFF25 Sunset Sunrise

Adapted from the hit South Korean drama Squad 38, this feel-good escapade delivers fast-talking tricksters, corporate power plays and an ensemble of lovable outcasts with

JFF25 ANGRY SQUAD: The Civil Servant & 7 Swindlers

Festival Highlights

6 November – 19 December

Japanese Film Festival 2025

Returning to cinemas this November with a spectacular line up of exquisite dramas, charming comedies, fascinating documentaries and much-loved retrospectives, starring some of Britain’s finest talent!

Yorkshire, 1916, as World War I ravages the English countryside and strips small towns of their men, the local choral society faces near collapse. In a move borne of desp

BFF25 The Choral

From first-time feature director Ronan Day-Lewis comes Anemone, a haunting, resonant exploration of fractured kinship and the trauma that lingers across generations. Co-w

BFF25 Anemone

Paul Mescal and Britain’s Josh O’Connor deliver luminous performances in this sweeping, elegiac romance set against the backdrop of early twentieth-century America. Adapt

BFF25 The History of Sound

From Academy Award® winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, The Rider) comes a sensitively observed, magnificently crafted tale about the complexities of love and the he

BFF25 Hamnet

Twiggy captures the rise of a cultural icon who reshaped beauty, fashion, and fame. In the late 1960s, Twiggy’s striking look, wide eyes, sharp pixie cut, and fearless in

BFF25 Twiggy

At 85, John Cleese isn’t easing into retirement - he’s hitting the road in John Cleese Packs It In, a wry, often poignant documentary that accompanies one of his most amb

BFF25 John Cleese Packs It In

Emma Thompson delivers a powerhouse turn in Dead of Winter, UK director Brian Kirk’s icy, nerve-shredding thriller.

BFF25 Dead of Winter

Bold, poignant, and infused with unexpected humor, I Swear tells the extraordinary story of John Davidson, a young man whose life takes a sharp turn in the 1980s when he 

BFF25 I Swear

Step into a delightfully absurd world of class, cricket, and cunning in Fackham Hall — a gleefully irreverent spoof on the grandeur of period drama. In this riotous comed

BFF25 Fackham Hall

A heartwarming story that has danced its way into cinema history, Billy Elliot returns to the big screen for its 25th anniversary. Set against the backdrop of the 1984–85

BFF25 Billy Elliot 25th Anniversary

Christmas Karma is a dazzling new musical reimagining of Charles Dickens’ timeless A Christmas Carol. Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) transports the story into a v

BFF25 Christmas Karma

In a hypnotic folk-horror fever dream set in 1976 Wales, married musicians Darcy (Dev Patel) and Daphne Davenport (Rosy McEwen) forsake London’s noise for a countryside r

BFF25 Rabbit Trap

When a young father, portrayed with heart-rending vulnerability by Benedict Cumberbatch, loses his wife, the home he shares with his two sons becomes a place heavy with s

BFF25 The Thing with Feathers

A sweeping yet deeply intimate portrait of family, inheritance, and the fragile ties that shape identity. When world-renowned but reclusive novelist Andrew Dyer (Bill Nig

BFF25 & Sons

Step inside the thrilling origins of a master filmmaker with Becoming Hitchcock – The Legacy of Blackmail. This captivating documentary revisits Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackm

BFF25 Becoming Hitchcock - The Legacy of Blackmail

Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade is a compelling new documentary that captures John Lennon in the extraordinary final decade. It journeys through his post-Beatles year

BFF25 Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade

This compassionate drama from writer-director Paul Andrew Williams, gradually sharpens into a nerve-pricking psychological thriller as the serpentine story unfolds. Andre

BFF25 Dragonfly

Winner of the Audience Award at the BFI London Film Festival, this sharp-edged comedy with a beating heart, bursts onto the screen with wit, warmth, and just the right am

BFF25 Four Mothers

Set against the sweeping highlands of Scotland, Glenrothan is a heartfelt drama about roots, reconciliation, and the ties that refuse to be broken. The story follows two 

BFF25 Glenrothan

I Am Martin Parr offers a vibrant and intimate portrait of one of the world’s most celebrated photographers, delivering audiences a rare chance to step inside the colourf

BFF25 I Am Martin Parr

On the striking volcanic coast of Fuerteventura, Islands unfolds as a hypnotic portrait of dislocation, temptation, and moral ambiguity. Tom (Sam Riley), once a promising

BFF25 Islands

Step into the emotional heart of Lollipop, a moving new drama that explores resilience, love, and the will to fight for family. Posy Sterling delivers a searing performan

BFF25 Lollipop

Moss & Freud invites audiences into a rare and electric dialogue between two British icons: supermodel Kate Moss (Ellie Bamber) and master painter Lucian Freud (Derek Jac

BFF25 Moss & Freud

Spoons at the ready as Every October, the quiet Highland village of Carrbridge transforms into the spirited stage for the World Porridge Making Championship. At the heart

BFF25 The Golden Spurtle

In The North, director Bart Schrijver invites audiences on a breathtaking pilgrimage through the Scottish Highlands, where the raw beauty of the land collides with the un

BFF25 The North

Written and directed by Harris Dickinson, Urchin is a haunting, compassionate odyssey of survival, redemption, and the fragile architecture of hope. In his bold feature-l

BFF25 Urchin

This UK co-production features a brilliant ensemble and from the opening frame to its haunting coda, Words of War immerses audiences in the brave and fraught world of inv

BFF25 Words of War

5 November – 7 December

Russell Hobbs British Film Festival

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