The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. According to the FIAPF, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals and the second largest film festival in Asia behind the Shanghai International Film Festival, as well as the only Japanese festival accredited by the FIAPF.International Federation of Film Producers Associations.
The awards handed out during the festival have changed throughout its existence, but the Tokyo Grand Prix, handed to the best film, has stayed as the top award. Other awards that have been given regularly include the Special Jury Award and awards for best actor, best actress and best director.
In recent years, the festival's main events have been held over one week in late October, at the Roppongi Hills development. Events include open-air screenings, voice-over screenings, and appearances by actors, as well as seminars and symposiums related to the film market. Takeo Hisamatsu was appointed festival director effective April 14, 2026. He took over from Hiroyasu Ando, who served from 2019 till April 2026.
List of festivals and award winners Edition Year Jury president Award winners Tokyo Grand PrixDirector Best DirectorFilm Best ActorFilm Best ActressFilm Special Jury PrizeDirector 1st 1985 David Puttnam Typhoon ClubShinji Sōmai Péter GothárTime Stands Still Not awarded Jacques and NovemberFrançois Bouvier and Jean BeaudryKiss of the Spider WomanHéctor Babenco 2nd 1987 Gregory Peck Old WellWu Tianming Lana GogoberidzeTurnover Zhang YimouOld Well Rachel WardThe Good Wife HousekeepingBill Forsyth 3rd 1989 Yves Montand That Summer of White RosesRajko Grlić Rajko GrlićThat Summer of White Roses Marlon BrandoA Dry White Season Elena YakovlevaIntergirl IntergirlPyotr Todorovsky 4th 1991 Lewis Gilbert City of HopeJohn Sayles Alan ParkerThe Commitments Otar MegvinetukhutsesiGet Thee Out Zhao LirongThe Spring Festival A Brighter Summer DayEdward YangThe Spring FestivalHuang Jianchong 5th 1992 Richard D. Zanuck White BadgeChung Ji-young Chung Ji-youngWhite Badge Max Von SydowThe Silent Touch Lumi CavazosLike Water for Chocolate About Love, TokyoMitsuo Yanagimachi 6th 1993 Franco Zeffirelli The Blue KiteTian Zhuangzhuang Taylor HackfordBlood In Blood Out Masahiro MotokiLast Song Lü LipingThe Blue KiteLolita DavidovichYounger and Younger Searching for Bobby FischerSteven Zaillian 7th 1994 Mike Medavoy The Day the Sun Turned ColdYim Ho Yim HoThe Day the Sun Turned Cold Niu ZhenhuaBack to Back, Face to Face Debra WingerA Dangerous Woman 47 RoninKon Ichikawa 8th 1995 Hugh Hudson Not awarded Joseph NovoaSicario Not awarded Yasuko TomitaThe Christ of Nanjing The Man Who Read Music from PlatesJan Jakub Kolski 9th 1996 Serge Silberman KolyaJan Svěrák Wu TianmingThe King of Masks Zhu XuThe King of Masks Hildegun Riise and Marie TheisenThe Other Side of Sunday In Full GallopKrzysztof ZanussiLibertariasVicente Aranda 10th 1997 Saul Zaentz The Perfect CircleAdemir KenovićBeyond SilenceCaroline Link Ademir KenovićThe Perfect Circle Koji YakushoCure Rene Liu and Jing TsengMurmur of Youth Brassed OffMark Herman 11th 1998 Jeremy Thomas Open Your EyesAlejandro Amenábar Guy RitchieLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Brad RenfroApt Pupil Maki MiyamotoThe Geisha House Leaf on a PillowGarin Nugroho 12th 1999 Karel Reisz Darkness and LightChang Tso-chi Martha FiennesOnegin Carlos Alvarez-NovoaAlone María GalianaAlone Rainbow TroutPark Jong-won 13th 2000 Volker Schlöndorff Amores perrosAlejandro González Iñárritu Alejandro González IñárrituAmores perros Moussa MaaskriMondialito Jennifer Jason LeighThe King is Alive Virgin Stripped Bare by Her BachelorsHong Sang-soo 14th 2001 Norman Jewison SlogansGjergj Xhuvani Reza MirkarimiUnder the MoonlightGjergj XhuvaniSlogans Andrew HowardMr In-Between Luiza XhuvaniSlogans Under the MoonlightReza Mirkarimi 15th 2002 Luc Besson Broken WingsNir Bergman Carlo RolaSass Graham GreeneSkins Donatella FinocchiaroAngela Hotel HibiscusYuji Nakae 16th 2003 Gong Li NuanHuo Jianqi Chris Valentien and Till SchauderSanta Smokes Teruyuki KagawaNuan Shinobu TerajimaVibratorKhristy Jean HulslanderSanta Smokes The SuitBakhtyar Khudojnazarov 17th 2004 Yoji Yamada WhiskyJuan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll Im Chan-sangThe President's Barber Olzhas NusuppaevSchizo Mirella PascualWhisky Kekexili: Mountain PatrolLu Chuan 18th 2005 Zhang Yimou What the Snow BringsKichitaro Negishi Kichitaro NegishiWhat the Snow Brings Kōichi SatōWhat the Snow Brings Helena Bonham CarterConversations with Other WomenJin YaqinYou and Me Conversations with Other WomenHans Canosa 19th 2006 Jean-Pierre Jeunet OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of SpiesMichel Hazanavicius Jonathan Dayton and Valerie FarisLittle Miss Sunshine Roy DupuisThe Rocket Abigail BreslinLittle Miss Sunshine Thirteen Princess TreesLü Yue 20th 2007 Alan Ladd Jr. The Band's VisitEran Kolirin Peter HowittDangerous Parking Damian UlTricks Shefali ShahGandhi, My Father The Western Trunk LineLi Ji-xian 21st 2008 Jon Voight TyulpanSergey Dvortsevoy Sergey DvortsevoyTyulpan Vincent CasselMesrine Félicité WouassiWith a Little Help from Myself Four Nights with AnnaJerzy Skolimowski 22nd 2009 Alejandro González Iñárritu Eastern PlaysKamen Kalev Kamen KalevEastern Plays Christo ChristovEastern Plays Julie GayetEight Times Up RabiaSebastián Cordero 23rd 2010 Neil Jordan Intimate GrammarNir Bergman Gilles Paquet-BrennerSarah's Key Wang QianyuanThe Piano in a Factory Fan BingbingBuddha Mountain PostcardKaneto Shindo 24th 2011 Edward R. Pressman The IntouchablesÉric Toledano and Olivier Nakache Ruben ÖstlundPlay François CluzetThe Intouchables Glenn CloseAlbert Nobbs The Woodsman and the RainShuichi Okita 25th 2012 Roger Corman The Other SonLorraine Lévy Lorraine LévyThe Other Son Seo Young-jooJuvenile Offender Neslihan AtagülAraf Juvenile OffenderKang Yi-kwan 26th 2013 Chen Kaige We Are the Best!Lukas Moodysson Benedikt ErlingssonOf Horses and Men Wang JingchunTo Live and Die in Ordos Eugene DomingoBarber's Tales Bending the RulesBehnam Behzadi 27th 2014 James Gunn Heaven Knows WhatJoshua Safdie and Ben Safdie Joshua Safdie and Ben SafdieHeaven Knows What Robert WięckiewiczThe Mighty Angel Rie MiyazawaPale Moon The LessonKristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov 28th 2015 Bryan Singer Nise: The Heart of MadnessRoberto Berliner Mustafa KaraCold of Kalandar Roland Møller and Louis HofmannLand of Mine Glória PiresNise: The Heart of Madness All Three of UsKheiron 29th 2016 Jean-Jacques Beineix The Bloom of YesterdayChris Kraus Hana JušićQuit Staring at My Plate Paolo BallesterosDie Beautiful Lene Cecilia SparrokSami Blood Sami BloodAmanda Kernell 30th 2017 Tommy Lee Jones GrainSemih Kaplanoğlu Edmund YeoAqérat (We, The Dead) Duan YihongThe Looming Storm Adeline D'HermyMaryline CraterSilvia Luzi and Luca Bellino 31st 2018 Brillante Mendoza AmandaMikhaël Hers Edoardo De AngelisThe Vice of Hope Jesper ChristensenBefore the Frost Pina TurcoThe Vice of Hope Before the FrostMichael Noer 32nd 2019 Zhang Ziyi UncleFrelle Petersen Saeed RoustayiJust 6.5 Navid MohammadzadehJust 6.5 Nadia TereszkiewiczOnly the Animals AtlantisValentyn Vasyanovych 33rd 2020No competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 34th 2021 Isabelle HuppertVera Dreams of the SeaKaltrina Krasniqi Darezhan OmirbaevPoet Amir Aghaei, Fatih Al, Bariş Yildiz, and Onur BulduThe Four Walls Julia ChávezThe Other Tom La civilTeodora Mihai 35th 2022 Julie Taymor The BeastsRodrigo Sorogoyen Rodrigo SorogoyenThe Beasts Denis MénochetThe Beasts Aline Küppenheim1976 World War IIIHouman Seyyedi 36th 2023 Wim WendersSnow LeopardPema TsedenKishi Yoshiyuki(Ab)normal DesireYasna MirtahmasbRoxana Zar Amir EbrahimiTatamiTatamiGuy Nattiv, Zar Amir Ebrahimi 37th 2024 Tony Leung Teki Cometh Daihachi Yoshida Daihachi Yoshida Teki Cometh Kyōzō Nagatsuka Teki Cometh Anamaria Vartolomei Traffic Adios Amigo Iván David Gaona 38th 2025 Carlo Chatrian Palestine 36 Annemarie Jacir Zhang Lü/Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis Mothertongue/Heads or Tails? Wang ChuanjunMothertongueMomoko Fukuchi and Naomi KawaseEchoes of Motherhood We Are the Fruits of the ForestRithy Panh 39th 2026 Rolf de Heer TBA TBATBA TBA TBA
Other awards
Best Screenplay Award 2017 - Euthanizer, Teemu Nikki 2018 - Amanda, Mikhael Hers and Maud Ameline 2019 - A Beloved Wife, Shin Adachi
Best Artistic Contribution Award 2012 - Pankaj Kumar, Ship of Theseus 2014 - Ispytanie, Aleksandr Kott 2015 - Family Film, Olmo Omerzu 2017 - The Looming Storm 2018 - The White Crow 2019 - Chaogtu with Sarula 2021 - Crane Lantern 2022 - Peacock Lament, Sanjeewa Pushpakumara 2024 - My Friend An Delie, Dong Zijian 2025 - Mother by Teona Strugar Mitevska
Audience Award 2013 - Red Family, Lee Ju-hyoung 2014 - Pale Moon, Daihachi Yoshida 2015 - God Willing, Edoardo Falcone 2016 - Die Beautiful, Jun Lana 2017 - Tremble All You Want, Akiko Ooku 2018 - Another World, Junji Sakamoto 2019 - Only the Animals, Dominik Moll 2020 - Hold Me Back, Akiko Ooku (sole award given) 2021 - Just Remembering, Daigo Matsui 2022 - By the Window, Rikiya Imaizumi 2024 - Big World, Yang Lina 2025 - Blonde by Sakashita Yuichiro
Asian Future Best Film Award 2014 - Bedone marz بدون مرز, Amirhossein Asgari امیرحسین عسگری 2015 - Pimpaka Towira, The Island Funeral 2016 - Birdshot 2017 - Passage of Life 2018 - A First Farewell 2019 - Summer Knight 2021 - World, Northern Hemisphere 2022 - Butterflies Live Only One Day, Mohammadreza Vatandoust 2024 - Apollon by Day Athena by Night, Emine Yildirim 2025 - Halo by Roh Young-wan
Japanese Cinema Splash Best Picture Award
2014 - 100 Yen Love, Masaharu Take 2015 - Ken and Kazu, Hiroshi Shoji 2017 - Of Love & Law, Hikaru Toda 2016 - Poolsideman, Hirobumi Watanabe 2018 - Lying to Mom, Katsumi Nojiri 2019 - i -Documentary of the Journalist-, Tatsuya Mori
Tokyo Gemstone Award 2017 - Mayu Matsuoka, Shizuka Ishibashi, Adeline D'Hermy, Daphne Low 2018 - Liên Bỉnh Phát, Karelle Tremblay, Mai Kiryu, Nijiro Murakami 2019 - Josefine Frida Pettersen, Sairi Ito, Riru Yoshina, Yui Sakuma
Kashiko Kawakita Award
"Kashiko Kawakita Award" a new award is established by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute to honour women advancing film culture in Japan and internationally. The award that takes its name from Kashiko Kawakita, known as "Madame Kawakita", will be presented starting with the 2026 edition of the festival. Hata Sahoko, film critic is the first recipient of the award. Hata Sahoko, film critic (2026)
References
External links Official site of the Tokyo International Film Festival English site of the Tokyo International Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival at the Internet Movie Database