The 2025 edition of the Berlin International Film Festival will run February 13 to 23 and the full line-up has been announced. There are interesting titles from around the world, including Bong Joon-Ho’s Hollywood dystopian sci-fi flick Mickey 17 and a stop-motion movie by Michel Gondry. But!
What are the Japanese films programmed so far?
Panorama
The Longing / Mix Modern
ミックスモダン 「Mikkusu Modan」
Release Date: 2025
Duration: 6 mins.
Director: Toshizo Fujiwara 藤原稔三
Writer: Toshizo Fujiwara, Rin Mikuni (Screenplay),
Starring: Daiki Ido, Toshizo Fujiwara, Rino Tsuneishi, Sasha, Tomoko Fujita,
Website Twitter: @Toshizo2023 IMDB
Toshizo Fujiwara encountered a programme that placed former offenders with business people willing to apprentice them and rehabilitate them. Following this, he was inspired and decided to make this film.
Synopsis: Hiroyuki and Sonoko are a childless couple approaching middle age who run an okonomiyaki restaurant in Sennichimae, Osaka. The restaurant is struggling to keep afloat due to an incident involving a former employee but that doesn’t deter Hiroyuki from hiring 18-year-old Yuto who is keen to start a new life with their help following a stay at a juvenile reformatory. He is keen to reform but his parents refuse to take him back, considering his disastrous actions. Hiroyuki can understand due to his own background and, along with Sonoko, he takes the boy in and support his rough re-integration into society as best they can.
Forum Section
アンダーグラウンド 「Anda-guraundo」
Release Date: March 01st, 2025
Duration: 83 mins.
Director: Kaori Oda 小田香
Writer: N/A
Starring: Nao Yoshigai, Mitsuo Matsunaga, Mikie Nishihara, Eiga Matsuo, Hayato Nagasaki
Website Twitter: @AraganeFilm IMDB
This is an experimental film from documentarian Kaori Oda as she plumbs depths of caves across Japan for stories.
She has previously explored underground worlds in her films. Mines in Bosnia were in Aragane (2015) and caves in Mexico in Cenote (2019). Shot over a number of years and featuring footage or Oda’s Japanese-set adventures. You can read about the finer details over at Asian Docs which gives a great insight into the background.
Synopsis: Kaori Okada returns to the caves under Japan. She is accompanied by choreographer/dancer/writer/director Nao Yoshigai as a “shadow” for her exploration of underground spaces in Okinawa, Shimane, Saga, and elsewhere. This shadow hears the sound of a subway train running and the voices of the dead in a cave where people lost their lives during the Second World War, and the shadow even heads for a city sunk at the bottom of a lake. This exploration turns up all sorts of stories that linger in the dark.
Generation Kplus
海辺へ行く道 「Umibe e iku michi」
Release Date: 2025
Duration: 6 mins.
Director: Satoko Yokohama
Writer: Satoko Yokohama (Screenplay), Gin Miyoshi (Original Manga),
Starring: Konosuke Harada, Kumiko Aso, Kengo Kora, Erika Karata, Koharu Sugawara, Ayame Goriki,
Website Twitter: @umibeeikumichi IMDB
If I have this correct, this is the fifth feature Satoko Yokohama and it comes after Ito (for which I interviewed her) and a grip of omnibus films. It is based on a manga that she first read in 2010 that she had dearly wanted to adapt.
The cast list has some of the best actors going, like Kumiko Aso, who worked with Yokohama on Bare Essence of Life (2009) and The Actor (2016). Erika Karata (Asako I&II) and Ayame Goriki (Black Butler) are other noticeable names and then there is Kengo Kora (A Story of Yonosuke).
Synopsis from the festival site: A seaside town that attracts artists who involve children and adults alike in strange events. A collection of vignettes from an unforgettable summer, both gently mysterious and bittersweet.
Berlinale Shorts
普通の生活 「Futsu no Seikatsu」
Release Date: 2025
Duration: 6 mins.
Director: Yoriko Mizushiri
Writer: N/A
Starring: Yoriko Mizushiri, Sumi Mizushiri
New Deer Website Miyu Website IMDB
Synopsis: This is a 2D animation from Yoriko Mizushiri and it follows the sensation of touch and the psychological and erotic potential it contains, all done in pastel colours.
ウィータ・ラカーマヤ 「Ui0ta Raka-maya」
Release Date: 2016
Duration: 7 mins.
Director: Akihito Izuhara 泉原昭人
Writer: Ikuko Mizukami (Original Story),
Starring: N/A
I was surprised at how old this film is when looking it up but Izuhara’s film Kawauso was featured at last year’s Berlinale.
Anyway, this is an award-winning production. It took the following prizes at the following fests:
Best Non Dialogue Prize in “Sapporo Short Fest 2016”
Bronze skull Prize in “MORBIDO Film Festival 2016”
Jury Prize in “Kyoto International Indie Film Festival 2017”
You can see its festival run and more details on the website.
You can also watch it here.
Synopsis: In the land of Vita Lakamaya, resting is the most important pastime of all. A procession goes by. The year draws to a close. The creature sleeps.
Berlinale Classics
清作の妻 「Seisaku no Tsuma」
Release Date: June 25th, 1965
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Yasuzo Masumura
Writer: Kaneto Shindo, (Screenplay), Genjiro Yoshida (Original Story)
Starring: Ayako Wakao, Takahiro Tamura, Nobuo Chiba, Yuzo Hayakawa, Mikio Narita,
This is the World Premiere of the 4K Digital Restoration based on the original 35mm fil negative.
Yasuzo Masumura was one of Japan’s great directors and his muse was Ayako Wakao. Together they made a string of films that still wow today. Over the decades the director captured the vulpine nature of his leading lady in works like Blue Sky Maiden, The Red Angel, A Wife Confesses, and Manji.
In this story, themes of love, societal rejection, and militarism are explored, thus making this akin to In the Realm of the Senses.
Synopsis: Ayako Wakao plays a peasant woman named Okane. In order to support her impoverished family, she had been sold to a wealthy older man for marriage. When he dies, she gets an inheritance but her father also passes away. Okane and her mother head back to their home village and are ostracised by the people around them but she catches the eye of Seisaku, a model young man who marries her. However, the Russo-Japanese War breaks out and he is drafted. When wounded, he is shipped home. Plagued by fear that Seisaku will return to the battlefield, she takes desperate measures…
Here is past coverage I have offered on the festival:
Berlin Film Festival 2012 Competition Results