Event Outline
The Osaka Asian Film Festival aims to facilitate human resources development and exchange, to invigorate the Osaka economy, and to increase the city's appeal, through providing opportunities to watch excellent Asian films, supporting filmmaking in Osaka and attracting filmmakers from Asian countries and regions to Osaka. Promoting Osaka worldwide as a gateway city for Asian films, and engaging with many people from the fields of culture, art, education, tourism and business, from Osaka and all of Asia, OAFF works as an open platform to contribute to the development of Osaka and cinema.
Marking its 19th edition this year, OAFF, under programming director TERUOKA Sozo, will again select high-quality Asian films. The Competition section, which receives increased recognition every year, will again select films previously unreleased in Japan. The regular sections, Special Screenings and Indie Forum, and other special programs will also feature a wide variety of excellent Asian films.
OAFF attracts a large number of viewers from all over Japan and overseas, as well as from the local Kansai area. From Osaka to all of Japan and all of Asia, OAFF introduces many films and strives to make Osaka a hub of moving image culture.
Dates & Venues
March 1 – 10, 2024
ABC Hall, Cine Libre Umeda, T・Joy Umeda, the Nakanoshima Museum of Art
Line-up
The special opening film and closing film will be announced in early February.
Except for the special opening film and closing film, the number of films chosen for this year's festival comes to 53 in total, and they include 13 World Premieres, 10 International Premieres, 5 Asia Premieres, and 17 Japan Premieres. Films from 21 countries and regions, including the USA, the UK, Indonesia, Australia, Netherlands, Qatar, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Taiwan,
China, Germany, Bangladesh, the Philippines, France, Portugal, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mongolia, and Japan, will be screened.
[Special Opening Film]
The film will be screened on March 5, the first day of a run of films hosted at the main venue, ABC Hall. A special opening ceremony will be held before the screening.
[Closing Film]
The film will be screened on March 10, the final day of the festival, at ABC Hall. A closing ceremony will be held before the screening.
[Competition]
This section will present 13 films chosen from films completed on or after 1st October 2022 and unreleased in Japan. The jurors will choose the winners of the Grand Prix and Most Promising Talent Award from these films.
The Competition section contains a number of World Premieres that will get their debuts on screens in Osaka. “Unborn Soul” (2024), the latest work from Chinese filmmaker Zhou ZHOU of “Meili” (2017, OAFF 2019) fame, has been programmed alongside a high school teen comedy from veteran Japanese filmmaker YAMASHITA Nobuhiro, director of beloved “Linda Linda Linda” (2005). They are joined by promising up-and-comer HIGASHI Kahori, whose debut feature “Melting Sounds” (2022) played at OAFF2022. She returns to Osaka with her latest project “Memories of His Scent” (2024). OAFF are also pleased to host the World Premiere screening of YOSHIDA Kota's socially conscious drama “Snowdrop” (2023).
Also programmed are films submitted by various Asian countries for the 96th ACADEMY AWARD® category of Best International Feature Film: “The City of Wind” (2023), the debut feature by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, is a coming-of-age tale of a 17-year-old shaman learning to stand up for himself in the modern world after meeting a girl. Fresh from the Philippines is Carl Joseph Papa's rotoscoped and animated feature “The Missing” (2023), a story of a mouthless young man whose encounter with aliens unravels long-repressed childhood traumas. Meanwhile, the coming-of-age drama “Not Friends” (2023), the debut feature about teens making a movie as a tribute to a dead classmate, comes from Atta HEMWADEE, was Thailand's submission.
[Spotlight]
In this section, the films are not yet famous but are expected to gain attention this year because they highlight a new talent or movement in cinema.
The Spotlight section has a wide variety of titles from across Asia and they cover a wide variety of genres. “13 Bombs” (2023) is an Indonesian action film from Angga Dwimas SASONGKO with scenes of a hard-hitting gunpowder scented nature as terrorists hold Jakarta hostage in the name of social justice. LIN Yihan's “Sojourn to Shangri-la” (2023) comes to Osaka soon after its Berlinale screening and audiences will be able to enjoy a fashion shoot that goes awry before hitting a magical realist note.
[Indie Forum]
This program will present 12 films by innovative and challenging talents. The JAPAN CUTS AWARD will be bestowed by the Japan Society to one Japanese film selected from this section.
The Indie Forum section is female-led with a majority of the films directed by women and many of them World Premieres as the festival seeks to support new talent. Among their number is MATSUBAYASHI Urara, an actress turned director who makes her debut with a #MeToo drama named “Blue Imagine” (2024). “Performing KAORU's Funeral” (2023) is a black-comedy from YUASA Noriko focussing on a man leading the funeral rites of his writer ex-wife and coming to terms with her passing and who she was as a person at a calamitous family gathering. They are joined by MARIKO Tetsuya, director of “Destruction Babies” (2016) and “From Miyamoto to You” (2019), whose film “Before Anyone Else” was shot on the streets of Chicago.
[Special Programs]
In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture Thailand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thailand, the Royal Thai Consulate-General Osaka, the National Soft Power Strategy Committee Thailand, OAFF presents various works. Like the patterns in a kaleidoscope, each film is unique and fascinating.
A special screening event will be held.
[Special Programs]
In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, OAFF will feature a wide range of works that let you feel the “now” of the booming Taiwanese movie scene.
A special screening event will be held.
[Special Programs]
This special program will present a wide range of excellent films from contemporary Hong Kong cinematic output.
[Special Screenings]
This section will present two films from Asia which are judged to be both beautifully shot and topical.
[Special Presentation sponsored by Kobe College, Department of English]
With the support of Kobe College, Department of English, the Bangladeshi film “Rickshaw Girl” will be screened.
[Housen Cultural Foundation-supported programs]
Based in Osaka, the Housen Cultural Foundation supports film study and production in graduate schools. In addition to the three films funded in the fiscal year of 2022, four films that won awards for undergraduate graduation films will be screened at the Nakanoshima Art Museum, Osaka. Free Admission.
There will also be a special screening of a rare short film related to the 1970 Osaka Expo.
Further details regarding the OAFF 2024 line-up are available here: https://oaff.jp/en/
