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Asian Stars Shine in Eclectic Tokyo Film Festival Lineup
1 Oct, 2025
Summary
- Fan Bingbing and Zhang Ziyi lead high-profile films at Tokyo festival
- Diverse competition includes emerging voices and veteran auteurs
- Festival opens with Everest pioneer story, closes with Shakespeare-inspired drama
The 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, set to take place from October 28 to November 5, 2025, will feature a high-profile lineup of films, including two major works led by Asian superstars.
The competition section will showcase "Mother Bhumi," a drama starring Fan Bingbing as a widowed village woman who uses sorcery to protect her community, and "She Has No Name," a gala selection directed by Peter Ho-sun Chan and starring Zhang Ziyi as a Shanghai housewife accused of her husband's murder in the 1940s.
Beyond the star power, the festival's competition lineup blends emerging voices with seasoned auteurs. Highlights include Amos Gitai's hybrid docu-fiction "Golem in Pompei," Hailey Gates' satirical "Atropia," and Rithy Panh's documentary "We Are the Fruits of the Forest." The festival will also showcase works from rising filmmakers in its Asian Future and Nippon Cinema Now sections.
The festival will open with Sakamoto Junji's "Climbing for Life," chronicling the story of Everest pioneer Junko Tabei, and close with Chloé Zhao's "Hamnet," a drama inspired by Shakespeare's "Hamlet." In between, the centerpiece film is veteran director Yamada Yoji's "Tokyo Taxi," a human drama starring Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura.
