Tokyo opens its film festival.

The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival opened on Monday, Oct. 26, and runs through Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Tokyo's Hibiya, Yurakucho, Marunouchi and Ginza area. The festival lists 204 films across 11 sections. It opened with Sukiyaki, directed by Zeze Takahisa, and closes with Colony, from Korea.

Fifteen titles compete for the Tokyo Grand Prix in the International Competition, drawn from 1,892 submissions from 112 countries and regions, the festival said. The competition jury is led by the Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer, with the producers Alex Lo and Oh Jungwan, the actor Watanabe Makiko and the colorist Yov Moor.

At the jury's press conference on Oct. 27, de Heer said the most important thing for him is "what I feel. Not what I think." The festival headlined its report on the session with the jury's theme: a festival's ranking matters less than a film's power to move viewers.

The opening also carried an industry message. Japan's economy minister, Akazawa Ryosei, said overseas sales by the country's content industry have grown to about 6.1 trillion yen and that the government aims for 20 trillion yen by 2033, the festival reported. He said fiscal 2027 budget requests include about 250 billion yen to support growth in the sector.

The screenings are in person, in Tokyo. The festival pages checked for this issue do not give release dates outside the festival for the competition films; this issue has not seen any of them.