CANNES DIRECTOR’S FORTNIGHT IN TOKYO 2025

Two Unforgettable Visions of Japan

Venue(s): Human Trust Cinema Shibuya:
December 13 (Sat), 2025 and December 14 (Sun), 2025
Language: In Japanese with English subtitles
Official website: www.vipo.or.jp/news/48457/
Theater website: ttcg.jp/human_shibuya/
Theater website: ttcg.jp/human_shibuya/movie/1268200.html
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07iflSJRUGk


Title: カンヌ監督週間 in Tokio 2025 (Kannu Kantoku Shukan in Tokio 2025)

The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in Tokyo returns for the third year with a vibrant lineup of 12 international films from this year’s festival, offering audiences in Japan a first look at the selection of auteur-driven cinema. Among the titles, two Japanese films — showcasing the bold range of contemporary Japanese cinema, from timeless myth to cutting-edge indie vision — will be screened with with English subtitles just once, so mark your calendars for the brand new Brand New Landscape by rising filmmaker Yuiga Danzuka, and Isao Takahata’s hand-drawn masterpiece, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which played in the Fortnight in 2013.

Brand New Landscape/見はらし世代
December 13, 2025 (Sat), 14:00

Dir: Yuiga Danzuka (団塚唯我)
2025, 115 min, color, English subtitles

A bold new voice in Japanese cinema, Yuiga Danzuka is the youngest Japanese filmmaker ever selected for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. His Brand New Landscape, which artfully intertwines a family’s transforming dynamics with the changing physical and emotional landscapes of modern Japan.

One of Tokyo Filmgoer’s favorite films of the year, it follows a brother and sister (Kodai Kurosaki and Mai Kiryu)  now adults, who run into the father (Kenichi Endo) who abandoned them years earlier to pursue the career — landscape architect — that has now made him wealthy and famous. His new large-scale urban redevelopment project (Miyashita Park in Shibuya) has reshaped not only the city, but also the family’s fate. When the siblings meet him again, buried wounds rise to the surface, and the possibility of forgiveness seems increasingly fragile.

Especially for those dwelling in Tokyo, Danzuka’s feature will resonate, as he explores how the incessant transformations of our city spaces can impact our own inner landscapes. The film’s emotional collisions are orchestrated with striking visual control, weaving the siblings’ inner worlds with the stark environments shaped by their father’s career. Its blend of reality and magical realism creates a compelling tension between the city’s shiny new horizons and the unresolved grief at its core.

Anchored by powerful performances from its leads, Brand New Landscape establishes Danzuka’s reputation as a filmmaker capable of capturing both intimate psychological detail and sweeping social commentary. This is an urgent, beautifully composed work—one that asks whether the landscapes we build can ever repair the fractures we leave behind.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya/かぐや姫の物語
December 14, 2025 (Sun), 12:00

Dir: Isao Takahata (高畑勲)
2013, 137 min, color, English subtitles

A landmark of hand-drawn animation and one of Studio Ghibli’s most emotionally resonant works, The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013) returns to the big screen with newly added English subtitles—an opportunity to revisit Isao Takahata’s final masterpiece as audiences around the world rediscover his legacy.

Adapted from Japan’s oldest folktale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, the film unfolds with a quiet, lyrical power: a tiny girl discovered inside a glowing bamboo shoot grows into a radiant young woman whose beauty captivates the capital, even as her heart strains against the expectations placed upon her.

Takahata’s brushstroke-inspired animation—fluid, delicate, expressive—balances the intimacy of village life with the formality and pressure of aristocratic society. Voice performances by Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Nobuko Miyamoto, and others infuse warmth and emotional weight into Princess Kaguya’s journey, especially as she navigates suitors, social constraints, and the inescapable truth of her mysterious origins.

Paris is currently hosting the first-ever exhibition devoted entirely to Isao Takahata, accompanied by the largest retrospective of his films ever mounted and talks by leading experts. As part of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight—which has long embraced Japanese animation—Artistic Director Julien Regis highlights The Tale of Princess Kaguya as a personal favorite, celebrating Takahata’s visionary storytelling and his singular contribution to world cinema.

For longtime admirers and newcomers alike, this is a rare chance to experience one of animation’s most poetic achievements on the big screen.

Human Trust Cinema Shibuya