From June 2 to 7, 2026, the 26th Nippon Connection Film Festival invites you on a journey of discovery through contemporary Japanese cinema. At 13 venues in Frankfurt am Main, the world’s largest festival for Japanese film will present more than 140 short and feature-length films, including 7 world premieres, 28 international premieres, 9 European premieres, and 38 German premieres. Around 100 Japanese filmmakers and artists are expected to attend in person in Frankfurt. An extensive supporting program as well as a Japanese market featuring culinary delights and handicrafts will offer diverse insights into Japanese culture. Tickets for all films and events are now available at NipponConnection.com.
The festival program reflects the full spectrum of contemporary Japanese cinema, which is currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Japan is this year’s guest of honor at the Cannes Film Festival and in Japan itself, the industry can look back on a successful year for cinema. Several box-office hits are now being screened at Nippon Connection, including Yusuke Hirota’s animated film Chimney Town: Frozen in Time — which celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale –, Akira Nagai’s suspenseful thriller SUZUKI=BAKUDAN, and Ayuko Tsukahara’s amusing time-travel romance FIRST KISS.
Japanese arthouse cinema is also well represented with several outstanding films, including the international premiere of Eiji Uchida’s Night Flower, a story about two women on the margins of society who defy all odds, as well as the queer drama TIGER, which is celebrating its German premiere in the presence of director Anshul Chauhan.
Fans of Japanese genre cinema have plenty of cinematic treats to look forward to: Internationally renowned comedienne Yuriyan Retriever reinvents the horror genre in her wacky comedy MAG MAG, corpses pile up in a supermarket in Yusuke Iwasaki’s grotesque directorial debut AnyMart, and a superhero saves Japan in Ryo Fujii’s trash spectacle Taroman Expo Explosion.
The extensive documentary film program, funded by the Dr. Marscher Foundation, offers insights into Japanese society. For example, Dear Tomorrow by Kaspar Astrup Schröder addresses the growing problem of loneliness in Japan, while Tetsuyo Turned 104, Living on Her Own by Kazuhiro Yamamoto portrays a lively centenarian protagonist who manages her daily life largely on her own.
The numerous short film programs are an opportunity to discover up-and coming filmmakers. The range spans animation, experimental films, documentaries, and horror films. This year’s thematic focus, sponsored by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, explores the tension between staging and reality under the title “Shades of Reality – Between Truth and Fiction.”
The guest of honor at the 26th Nippon Connection Film Festival is actress Anna Yamada, who will receive the Nippon Rising Star Award. Presented by Kyocera Document Solutions Deutschland, this award recognizes the work of up-and-coming talent in the Japanese film industry. Numerous other prominent guests are also expected at the festival, including director Kei Ishikawa (A Pale View of Hills), whose films have already captivated audiences at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals. Director Yoshiyuki Okuyama, who is also one of the most renowned Japanese photographers of his generation, will present his live-action adaptation of the anime classic 5 Centimeters per Second. In addition, actress Ami Chong (A Unique Country in Asia) and legendary independent director Sachi Hamano (Kaneko Fumiko) will be attending the festival. Director Baku Kinoshita, known for his anime series ODDTAXI, will celebrate the first German screening of his feature film debut, The Last Blossom.
The retrospective is dedicated to actor Tatsuya Nakadai, who passed away last November at the age of 92. In cooperation with the Japan Foundation, nine films will be screened on analog prints at the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, showcasing the extraordinary versatility of this exceptional artist. These films include Black River by Masaki Kobayashi, in which Nakadai played his first major role in 1957, as well as Harakiri by Masaki Kobayashi and Ran by Akira Kurosawa, which made him famous worldwide.
With a supporting program featuring over 80 events, the festival brings Japanese culture to life beyond the film screenings – through music, cuisine, art, and discussion. The music collective U-zhaan x Tamaki ROY x Chinza DOPENESS fuses traditional Indian tabla rhythms with Japanese hip-hop, while tenor Takumi Torio reinterprets Japanese film music in his crossover concert. The fine art of comedic storytelling is presented by Katsura Sunshine, an acclaimed comedian on the Tokyo and New York comedy scenes, who will give a rousing rakugo performance. The duo TAROeMAKI brings the samurai era to life in a dynamic sword dance performance, while the dance theater piece “Ordinary” by Tomoya Kawamura and Atsushi Takahashi combines elements of traditional Japanese Noh theater with modern dance.
In numerous workshops, visitors can learn how to make traditional paper, dye fabrics, or repair ceramics using traditional methods. In addition, cooking classes and tastings showcase Japan’s culinary diversity. Free lectures offer travel tips for samurai fans and insights into the translation of Japanese films and anime, among other things. The panel discussion “Documenting Reality?” explores how cinematic techniques influence the portrayal of reality in documentary film. The program is complemented by exhibitions by JUMPEITAINAKA, Kazuki Taguchi, Keiko Yamagiwa, and Hiroya Sakurai.
The festival also has a special program for children and teens: In workshops, they can design their own stickers, make Japanese sweets, or learn to write Japanese characters, for example. The charming animated film Sumikkogurashi: The Crispies Adventure in Fluffy Land will be shown in the original Japanese version with a live German voiceover and is great fun for the whole family.
The festival centers are the Mousonturm Künstler*innenhaus and Produktionshaus NAXOS. Other venues include: Eldorado Arthouse Kino, Cinéma Arthouse Kino, Kino des DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Mal Seh’n Kino, Pupille – Kino in der Uni, Internationales Theater Frankfurt, Theater Die Käs, Saalbau Bornheim, Dr. Arthur Pfungst Stiftung, NAXOS 2. OG, and SCHAUT! Ausstellungsraum.
The full program and tickets are available on the festival website, NipponConnection.com. Admission to the festival grounds and the Japanese market is free.
More Details About the Film Program
Extraordinary Love Stories
This year, the festival showcases just how diverse, surprising, and unconventional love stories can be in Japanese cinema. Chihiro Amano’s Sato and Sato begins where other films usually end: in the everyday life of a married couple. While Sachi pursues a career as a lawyer, Tamotsu, after repeatedly failing the bar exam, takes on the role of stay-at-home husband – an inversion of traditional gender roles that puts the couple to the test. Director Chihiro Amano will be in attendance for the German premiere of her film. Kenji Yamauchi’s intimate satire A Unique Country in Asia strikes a completely different tone, in which actress Ami Chong – also in attendance as a guest – plays a woman for whom the lines between care and sex work blur in a disconcerting way. In the international premiere of A Moon in the Ordinary by Nobuhiro Doi, a divorced man reunites with his childhood sweetheart. Despite some initial hiccups, the two grow closer once again until unexpected news puts their budding relationship to the test. Ayuko Tsukahara’s FIRST KISS is also about a second chance, albeit with a sci-fi twist: After the tragic death of her husband in a train accident, Kanna suddenly finds herself in the past and is given an unexpected chance to rewrite their shared history from their very first encounter. In his imaginative and musical anime The Obsessed, Wataru Takahashi tells the story of Giuseppe, who falls head over heels in love with a balloon seller, causing his world to revolve around someone other than himself for the first time.
Japanese Genre Films
This year’s selection of genre films ranges from nerve-wracking suspense to absurd horror and zany trash cinema. In the German premiere of SUZUKI=BAKUDAN by Akira Nagai, an unemployed man arrested for vandalism claims to possess psychic abilities. When a series of explosions shakes up Tokyo shortly thereafter, a tense game of cat and mouse begins. In her directorial debut MAG MAG, comedienne Yuriyan Retriever shamelessly turns the conventions of J-horror on their head while simultaneously paying homage to the genre’s classics. A wild mix of horror, punk, and pop culture awaits audiences in I Fell in Love With a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn. In the new film by indie director Kenichi Ugana, a bored Japanese actress ends up on the set of a horror film in New York and rediscovers her passion for the profession amid fake blood, chaos, and low-budget charm. In Taroman Expo Explosion by Ryo Fujii, the legendary “Tower of the Sun” sculpture from the 1970 World’s Fair comes to life to save humanity from an invasion of bizarre monsters in an outlandish trash spectacle.
Up-and-Coming Talents
Since its first edition, Nippon Connection has served as a platform for promising emerging talent in the Japanese film scene. This year, too, there are numerous debut films to discover. In his dry satire AnyMart, Yusuke Iwasaki tells the story of an indifferent supermarket employee whose monotonous work life is thrown into disarray by strange events and unexplained deaths. This extraordinary directorial debut has been honored with the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2026 Berlinale. Santa Ikegame’s first feature film, AT THE LOVEHOTEL, takes viewers into the microcosm of Japanese love hotels and celebrates its international premiere in the presence of the director and producer Ryu Yoshikawa. In his sensitive feature film debut LONG NIGHT, which is being shown outside Japan for the first time, Yui Kusakari tells a story of grief, agonizing uncertainty, and a young relationship put to the test by an unexpected turn of events. In the Tokyo University of the Arts Special, Nippon Connection presents two films by students of the Graduate School of Film and New Media: the world premiere of the short film The Stranger by Issey Filliquet Watanabe, in which a mysterious visitor disrupts a boy’s reality, and the international premiere of Yoshiaki Arai’s feature film debut Ando, about an office worker who coordinates criminal activities from his computer.
Women’s Perspectives
With a selection of recent films by female directors, Nippon Connection continues to highlight women’s perspectives this year – perspectives that still remain underrepresented in Japanese cinema. In How Dare You?, Mipo O examines the climate crisis from the perspective of children and raises questions about global responsibility, intergenerational justice, and political action with charming humor and keen observation. In Kaneko Fumiko, a young woman resolutely rebels against the existing political conditions in 1920s Japan. Director Sachi Hamano, who has become known as one of the most influential figures in the erotic pink film genre, will be attending the European premiere of her film in person. Director Yokna Hasegawa will also attend the festival as a guest, presenting Cosmo Corpus, a visually stunning episodic film set between the present and the distant future, which explores the question of what will remain of humanity. The subject of Yumiko Asano’s documentary Yuho No Border is 70-year-old Yuho Asaka, who was born with brittle bone disease and is now considered a pioneer for the rights of people with disabilities in Japan.
Queer Cinema
Queer realities are still rarely at the center of cinematic narratives in Japan. This makes it all the more important for Nippon Connection to give these films visibility. Inspired by a true story, Kasho Iizuka’s Blue Boy Trial tells the story of three transgender women who testify in court in 1960s Tokyo, sparking a national debate about gender and social norms. In TIGER, which director Anshul Chauhan will present in person at Nippon Connection, the camera follows gay sex worker Taiga through Tokyo’s nightlife through raw and intimate shots. When he learns of his father’s serious illness, family conflicts erupt and a bitter inheritance dispute begins. The painful search for the truth is the focus of The Deepest Space in Us by Yasutomo Chikuma: After the suicide of her first great love, Kaori is confronted with questions that have remained unanswered for years.
International Jury and Competitions
At the 26th Nippon Connection Film Festival, awards will be presented in a total of six competitions. In the Nippon Visions section, an international jury will decide on two awards. This year’s jury includes Barbara Wurm, head of the Berlinale’s Forum section; film critic Hayley Scanlon; and director Kei Ishikawa (A Pale View of Hills). The Visions jury presents the Nippon Visions Jury Award. The prize is sponsored by the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA) and includes a free film subtitling for the winner’s next film project. In addition, the jury presents the Nippon Storytelling Award for best screenplay, sponsored by the Storymaker public relations agency and endowed with €1,000.
In the following three sections, the audience decides on the winning films: The Nippon Cinema Award, sponsored by the Frankfurt-based Metzler Bank, includes a cash prize of €4,000, while the Nippon Visions Audience Award, sponsored by the Japanisches Kultur- und Sprachzentrum in Frankfurt am Main comes with prize money of €2,000. In addition, the festival presents the Nippon Docs Award for the best documentary film, endowed with prize money of €2,000.
The award ceremony for these five prizes will take place on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at 7:45 p.m. at the Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm.
With the Nippon Animation Shorts Award, Nippon Connection, in collaboration with Wacom, is launching its first ever competition dedicated to animated short films. The new award focuses on promoting young creative talent from Japan. A three-member jury will select the winning film. The jury comprises Waltraud Grausgruber, co-founder and co-director of the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities film festival; producer Fabian Driehorst; and filmmaker Thomas Stellmach. The prize money of €2,000 is sponsored by Wacom. The new animation award will be presented on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at the Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm.
Venues
Festival centers: Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm and Produktionshaus NAXOS. Additional venues in Frankfurt am Main: Eldorado Arthouse Kino, Cinéma Arthouse Kino, Kino des DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Mal Seh’n Kino, Pupille – Kino in der Uni, Internationales Theater Frankfurt, Theater Die Käs, Saalbau Bornheim, Dr. Arthur Pfungst-Stiftung, NAXOS 2. OG, and SCHAUT! Ausstellungsraum.
