What to know before the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival
Directors Akira Ikeda (left), Yukiko Mishima (second from left) and Akira Yamamoto (right) pose with actor Kento Nakajima (second from right). Ikeda, Mishima and Yamamoto each have films screening in competition, while Nakajima is serving as this year’s festival “navigator,” or the official face of the 39th TIFF. | © 2026 TIFF
Oct 9, 2026
OK, film buffs, time to do some finger calisthenics and ready your devices: Tickets for the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) go on sale Oct. 17.
The 39th edition of TIFF brings more than 200 films from 112 countries and regions to screens across central Tokyo. The festival opens Oct. 26 with “Sukiyaki,” Takahisa Zeze’s dramatization of the story behind the 1961 song of the same name that became a surprise global hit, and closes Nov. 4 with Yeon Sang-ho’s action-horror flick “Colony.”
Under the theme “Connecting — Cinema Connects Us to the World Beyond,” TIFF invites attendees to cross geographical, cultural, linguistic and temporal borders through film. If you’re new to the festival, we’ve put together a guide to the basics, from buying tickets to choosing what to watch.
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