The Tokyo International Film Festival is to add new venues at this year’s event. It will be the festival’s first-full-scale edition since the COVID pandemic.
The festival relocated to the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Ginza area in 2021, having previously operated from the Rpppongi district for many years. It functioned as a real-world event, but had on a few dozen foreign visitors, due to strict border controls.
This year, border controls are slowly being lifted and organizers are forecasting an increase in foreign festival guests. “We hope to host a spectacular opening event that will add color to Tokyo’s autumn season,” they said in a statement.
The newly added Tokyo Takarazuka Theater will be the home for the opening ceremony. The closing ceremony will take place at the Tokyo International Forum.
Three large cinemas, Toho Cinemas Hibiya, used only for the closing ceremony last year, Marunouchi Toei and Marunouchi Piccadilly will join last year’s list of screening venues — Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho, Cine Switch Ginza, Humantrust Cinema Yurakucho, Toho Cinemas Chanter and Yurakucho Yomiuri Hall. These will enable an increase in the number of film screenings.
Organizers also point to greater co-operation with local businesses and authorities in the Hibiya-Marunouchi district. These include Mitsui Fudosan and Mitsubishi Estate, the Chiyoda City council and Zen-Ginza-kai shopping and business association.
The Tokyo festival is scheduled to run from Oct. 24 through Nov. 2, 2022. The TIFFCOM market, however, will operate as an online-only event.
The festivals also unveiled a poster image for this year. Created by renowned fashion designer Koshino Junko, it is intended to illustrate the theme of leaping forward.