The Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival is one of the most prominent Asian film festivals in the Rust Belt — featuring new and classic films coming out of Japan’s innovative and prolific film industry.
Hosted each spring at Row House Cinema in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, the festival features films from a wide variety of genres and popular events throughout its two-week run.
The 2025 festival will put a special focus on the Samurai genre through film selections and special events. Stay tuned for film selections and event announcements!
Ghost Cat Anzu
By Nobuhiro Yamashita & Yoko Kuno
Animation, 2024
OPENING NIGHT
Precocious tween Karin finds herself abandoned by her father in rural Japan. Living in a temple with her grandfather, she meets Anzu, a giant ghost cat and notorious layabout tasked with looking after her.
Distrustful of her new guardian, Karin sabotages Anzu’s odd jobs for the townsfolk and befriends the eccentric local forest spirits. In an effort to win Karin over, Anzu accidentally makes a deal with the devil, and all Hell breaks loose.
Cha-Cha
By Mai Sakai
Romantic Comedyish, 2024
PITTSBURGH PREMIERE
This cool new movie, freshly arrived in the US, starts as a cute little love story between the titular Cha-Cha, a free-spirited artist, and Raku, a boy with increasingly questionable tastes. It’s all silly and sweet… until it goes totally off the rails.
Baby Assassins: Nice Days
By Yugo Sakamoto
Action Comedy, 2024
PITTSBURGH PREMIERE
As long as they keep making the wild, fun, and cheeky Baby Assassins franchise… we’re going to keep showing it. In the third installment, teen assassins Mahiro and Chisato visit the coastal city of Miyazaki for a contract and a vacation when they unexpectedly cross paths with a legendary assassin who’s looking to add to his kill count.
Ice Cream Fever
By Tetsuya Chihara
Rom Com, 2024
PITTSBURGH PREMIERE
Don’t miss this fantastic queer rom com centering around four women and a charming ice cream shop where their lives intersect. Each of the character deals with dreams, timidity, inexperience with love, and personal pain over cool, frozen treats.
Look Back
By Kiyotaka Oshiyama
Animation, 2024
In this anime hit from last summer, popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.
Onibaba
By Kaneto Shindō
Horror Suspense, 1964
In this unnerving classic pieces of Japanese horror, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. When a love triangle forms between them, mother tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
Kill!
By Kihachi Okamoto
Action, 1968
SAMURAI SIDEBAR
From the director of Sword of Doom, comes a deadpan parody starring two down-on-their-luck swordsmen who get themselves tangled up in a local clan dispute. Their allegiances change and they ultimately side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.
Ghost Killer
By Kensuke Sonomura
Action, 2024
PITTSBURGH PREMIERE
SAMURAI SIDEBAR
In its Pittsburgh premiere, this new action packed thriller follows college student Fumika Matsuoka, who agrees to help the ghost of vengeful hitman who has possessed her body. His quest for revenge from beyond the grave is perfectly infused with crowd-pleasing action mastery and just the right amount of comedy.
Samurai Marathon
By Bernard Rose
Action Comedy, 2019
PITTSBURGH PREMIERE
SAMURAI SIDEBAR
In this charming action-comedy mashup, a feudal lord in the mid 1800s compels his samurai troops to compete in a marathon to prepare for the arrival of Americans soldiers. Unbeknownst to him, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.
The Colors Within
By Naoko Yamada
Animation, 2024
In this new anime feature, Totsuko is a high school student with the ability to see the ‘colors’ of others. Colors of bliss, excitement, and serenity, plus a color she treasures as her favorite. Kimi, a classmate at her school, gives off the most beautiful color of all.
Although she doesn’t play an instrument, Totsuko forms a band with Kimi and Rui, a quiet music enthusiast they meet at a used bookstore in a far corner of town. As they practice at an old church on a remote island, music brings them together, forming friendships and stirring affections.
Versus
By Ryûhei Kitamura
Zombie Horror, 2000
PITTSBURGH PREMIERE
SAMURAI SIDEBAR
A group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman, and an escaped convict have met, in The Forest of Resurrection, the 444th portal to the other side. Their troubles start when those once killed and buried in the forest come back from the dead.
13 Assassins
By Takashi Miike
Action, 2010
SAMURAI SIDEBAR
We are closing the festival with a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan’s feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.
Akira
By Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Animation, 1988
Set in 2019, Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a top-secret government project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists, and a powerful military leader. Considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Red Beard
By Akira Kurosawa
Drama, 1965
Kurosawa’s deep and moving saga follows the personal growth of a young physician working at a clinic in a rural Japanese village. Despite his petty rebellions, his mentor Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher and assigns him to care for a prostitute rescued from a brothel.
Yojimbo
By Akira Kurosawa
Action Comedy, 1961
SAMURAI SIDEBAR
In Akira Kurosawa’s classic film, a nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
Zatoichi And The Chest Of Gold
By Kazuo Ikehiro
Action Adventure, 1964
SAMURAI SIDEBAR
Ichi, the blind swordsman, travels to the village of Itakura to pay his respects at the grave of Kichizo, a man he killed two years ago. When some tax money is stolen while in transit to the governor he is accused and sets out to find the money and clear his name.
