This year’s selection features 10 distinctive films spanning a wide range of themes, each offering vivid and creative portrayals of Japanese life through unique cinematic perspectives.

The festival will open with “Love Letter,” the iconic romantic film directed by Iwai Shunji. Re-released in Japan earlier this year, the film once again topped the box office nearly three decades after its debut, reaffirming its status as one of the nation’s most beloved love stories.

Vietnam will screen the film for the first time on the big screen, presented in a newly restored 4K remaster.

Another highlight is “Seven Samurai,” the 1954 masterpiece by legendary director Kurosawa Akira, regarded as one of cinema’s most influential works and a window into Japan’s feudal era.

Other titles to be featured include “Showtime 7,” “Angry Squad: The Civil Servant and the Seven Swindlers,” “Six Lying Students,” “Cells At Work!,” and “Sunset Sunrise.” Two animated films — “The Imaginary” and the cult classic “Ghost in the Shell” — will also be screened.

Hanoi is the first place to screen those films. The festival will run from December 12 to 27 at the National Cinema Centre.

It will then travel to Hai Phong from December 26 to 28 at Galaxy Hai Phong, before reaching Ho Chi Minh City from January 9 to 24, 2026, at Galaxy Nguyen Du.

The final stop will be Da Nang, where screenings will be held from January 23 to 25, 2026 at Metiz Cinema on September 2 Street.

Japanese film fest kicks off across four major cities

VOV.VN - The 16th annual Japanese Film Festival in Vietnam opened on November 1, introducing 11 popular Japanese films in the country’s four largest cities, namely Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, and Hanoi.