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TIFF 38: Tokyo International Film Festival 2025

This was my second visit to the Tokyo International Film Festival — the first one was about two years ago. I’ve always loved film festivals. There’s something about the atmosphere that’s hard to describe — the mix of excitement, curiosity, and pure love for cinema. That love of movies is what originally brought me into this industry, and being back here, this time as a volunteer, made the experience even more special.

Volunteering gave me a small window into the behind-the-scenes rhythm of the festival — the guests, the audience, the volunteers quietly helping things run smoothly. It reminded me how much invisible effort goes into making these events feel seamless.

This year, I managed to watch a few films that left very different impressions — from student shorts to bold experiments in animation. Each in their own way reminded me what storytelling can do, and how it continues to evolve across cultures and generations.

✦ Films Watched

1. I Am Frankelda

  • Directors: Roy and Arturo Ambriz
  • Country: Mexico
  • Runtime: 97 minutes
  • Release: World Premiere — Annecy International Animation Festival (June 2024) / Japan Premiere — TIFF 2025
  • Synopsis: Set between the realms of reality and fiction, the story follows a young writer named Frankelda whose imagination gives life to a world of creatures and nightmares. When the cycle between the two realms breaks, a prince from the world of fiction crosses into reality to find Frankelda — their creator — and save their fading world.
  • My thoughts: After watching I Am Frankelda, I was overwhelmed — in a good way. It’s bold, colorful, saturated, and loud. The music, visuals, and storytelling barely pause to take a breath. There are very few moments of calm, and to be honest, it was a little exhausting at times, but also incredibly ambitious and confident. Coming from a CG background, I couldn’t help noticing how different this approach was from what we usually do. In CG production, we carefully design each shot to guide the viewer’s eye toward a specific point in the frame. But Frankelda takes the opposite approach — the whole frame is alive and chaotic. Yet somehow, it doesn’t get in the way of the story. That kind of creative energy feels refreshing.

In the presentation after the screening, I learned that this was the first stop-motion feature film ever made in Mexico. That surprised me, considering Mexico’s rich history of horror and folklore — both of which lend themselves beautifully to the stop-motion medium.

2. Time Limit

  • Director: Tomoyuki Oshima
  • Country: Japan
  • Runtime: 100 minutes
  • Release: Japan (October 2025, TIFF Premiere)
  • Synopsis: A documentary following Kazuya Yoshii, the frontman of The Yellow Monkey, as he faces a serious medical condition just before the band’s anniversary performance. The film captures his quiet determination, vulnerability, and reflection on a life devoted to music.
  • My thoughts: Even though I didn’t know much about The Yellow Monkey before watching, I found this documentary deeply touching. It’s not just about music — it’s about time and aging, health, memory, and reconnecting with your past.

3. Allah Is Not Obliged

  • Director: Zaven Najjar
  • Country: France / Luxembourg / Canada
  • Runtime: 88 minutes
  • Release: 2025 (TIFF Japan Premiere; international release November 2025)
  • Synopsis: Based on Ahmadou Kourouma’s 2000 novel, this animated adaptation follows Birahima, a child soldier caught in the civil wars of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Told with grim humor and harsh honesty, it’s a story of innocence lost in chaos.
  • My thoughts: Watching Allah Is Not Obliged was a brutal experience in many ways. The opening scene — a boy shot in the chest — sets the tone for everything that follows. Through flashbacks, we see his life unravel through loss and survival. If this story were live action, it would almost be unbearable to watch. The animation softens the blow just enough without erasing the pain.

4. Kopitiam Days

  • Directors: Yeo Siew Hua, Shoki Lin, Raihan Halim, Don Aravind, Ong Kuo Sin
  • Country: Singapore
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Release: World Premiere — TIFF 2025 / Streaming Release — November 2025 (Netflix)
  • Synopsis: An anthology film celebrating Singapore’s 60th year of independence, connecting several short stories through the setting of a kopitiam — the traditional coffee shop — as a symbol of the nation’s shared identity.
  • My thoughts: The word kopitiam itself says so much about Singapore. Kopi means “coffee” in Malay, and tiam means “shop” in Hokkien — so the name itself is already a fusion of languages and cultures, just like Singapore. That’s what I loved about this film. Each story touches on everyday life — love, aging, family, and belonging — seen through different cultural lenses but connected by the same simple place. The coffee shop becomes a crossroads for memories and generations. The stories are modest, but sincere. They’re told with a kind of emotional honesty that made me smile and cry.

5. Asian Students’ Film Conference – Program 3

  • Country: Various (Asia)
  • Runtime: Each film under 60 minutes
  • Release: TIFF 2025 debut
  • Synopsis: A new initiative launched with support from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, showcasing outstanding short films from film schools across Asia — works recognized by Cannes and other major festivals.
  • My thoughts: Watching movies from the next generation of filmmakers filled me with both joy and a little sadness. It reminded me of my dream once to become a filmmaker. Film has always been a powerful medium for me. Beyond its commercial side, it’s how we record our human history, emotions, and our moment in time. Seeing these young filmmakers’ work — so full of energy, bold ideas, and emotional truth — made me proud and inspired, but also a bit nostalgic for what might have been. It was an emotional reminder that the desire to tell stories never really disappears, even if the form changes.

6. Blonde (金髪 / Kimpatsu)

  • Director: Hiroshi Okuyama
  • Country: Japan
  • Runtime: 112 minutes
  • Release: Audience Award Winner, TIFF 2025
  • Synopsis: A group of junior high school students dye their hair blonde in protest after a classmate is told to dye her naturally brown hair black. What starts as an act of rebellion turns into a quiet reflection on conformity, individuality, and the role of rules in Japanese society.
  • My thoughts: Having lived in Japan for a while, I’ve seen how deeply rules are woven into everyday life. Sometimes protecting a rule seems to matter more than questioning whether it still makes sense. Watching Blonde reminded me of that side of society — and maybe of myself, too. The film captures that tension between wanting to respect the system and realizing that sometimes the system itself needs to change. It’s not loud or dramatic, but it lingers in your mind. For me, it spoke to the importance of questioning old rules and finding the courage to make space for change — something I think a lot about in my own work as well.

✦ Reflections

Being part of the festival again reminded me how cinema connects people across borders, cultures, and generations. Each film — whether it was made by a student or a veteran director — carried its own small truth, its own heartbeat.

It’s easy in production life (my work in CGI) to get lost in tools, deadlines, and technical precision. But film festivals bring it all back to why we started: to feel something, to see the world from someone else’s eyes, to remember that stories still matter.

Also being accepted as a volunteer was a true privillage to play a tiny part supporting the festival and a memory I will cherrish.

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