A Scarred Life

Tale on Tokai Chivalry(ja)

The film is set in Fukagawa in the early Showa period and depicts a fateful confrontation between two men who rise and fall in a black stream, trying to live a real human life, violating the cruel laws of the passing generation.

Fate Deals the Card of Death(ja)

Seijiro and Shizue meet in Niigata and fall in love. Seijiro has to go back to Tokyo soon after, and they promise each other to meet again a year later. However, Seijiro gets jailed for five years. Unable to find him, Shizue gets married to a yakuza boss who can help her family business.

ゆがんだ月(ja)

A Family(ja)

Taken in by the yakuza at a young age, Kenji swears allegiance to his old-school boss, pledging to adhere to the family code amid ever-changing times.

Tale of the Last Japanese Yakuza(ja)

Yakuza drama with Meiko Kaji directed by Masahiro Makino

The Elder Sister(ja)

Follows the struggles of a yakuza wife after his husband gets hurt in a knife fight.

Gambler's Farewell(ja)

The story of men devoted to the yakuza lifestyle and their struggles during a time of fading yakuza power.

AKP: Job 27(en)

A Yakuza hitman travels to North America for his 27th job, only to find lingering memories of lost love through a chance encounter with a beautiful prostitute.

Unfinished(ja)

The yakuza have their best days behind them and are only a shadow of themselves. The old rituals seem out of date and their tattoos make them outcasts of society. The inexperienced student Ryō stumbles into their ranks by chance, and before he knows it, he becomes entangled in dark machinations. He quickly succumbs to the fascination of omnipotence fantasies and hedonistic decadence and sinks deeper and deeper into a parallel world of prostitution, blackmail and violence. However, there is one thing that Ryō has not considered in his naivety: once yakuza, always yakuza!

The Pinkie(ja)

Since they were both five, Ryosuke has been stalked by Momoko - the ugliest girl in the village. Her love for Ryosuke is so boundless that she has her face surgically altered to suit his taste - but still he wants nothing to do with her. Ryosuke goes in for fleeting romance - for example, with the girlfriend of a gangster boss. But when he finds out about their affair, he has Ryosuke's little finger hacked off. Magically, the finger falls into Momoko's hands, and she uses it to clone Ryosuke, so she can finally have him (or almost him) for herself. And this is just the first five minutes of Lisa Takeba's short-but-powerful feature debut. Just like in her previous short films, the director - who cut her teeth in the advertising world and as the writer of a video game - throws a lot of genres and techniques into the mix: from science fiction to gangster films, from hospital eroticism to animation. Hectic and absurd, but with its heart in the right place. © IFFR

Account of the Ando Gang: Tale of a Scarface(ja)

“Gunro no keifu” is known as “Tale of a Scarface.” It follows the life of Kumoro, a yakuza member, who recently is released from prison after serving 14 years for his Family. Upon his return he finds the various yakuza syndicates on the brink of war. Kumoro is, at first, removed from the dealings of the families by his Boss, but slowly he is drawn back into his old ways.

Rogue(ja)

Coal miner Isamu Oba is forced to quit his village and leave his mother and siblings behind. Mining buddy Ichiro accompanies him to Tokyo, and the pair enjoy several "fish-out-of-water" sequences before finding employment at a boxing gym with trainer Sawada and his spunky sister Tomoko. The boys also find part time night jobs as roving minstrels in the club district courtesy of benevolent gang boss Asakawa. Of course, they run afoul of boss Karasawa's cruel gang. Karasawa also has it in for Asakawa, and this indirectly throws a spanner into the works as far as Isamu's burgeoning success as a kickboxer. When Asakawa 's HQ is burned to the ground by Karasawa's men, Asakawa tries to kill Karasawa - which, of course, leads to his own gruesome death. Isamu goes on the rampage with his sword, wiping out Karasawa and men.

Yakuza Ladies: Blood Ties(ja)

Turbulent life of Kiwa, the successor of the most prominent yakuza in Osaka, the Domoto Clan.

Like a Rolling Stone(ja)

Tanaka is a yakuza who collects 'protection money' from establishments. He has just been released from jail, where he had spent eight years, and finds out that his boss wants to get rid of him. Tanaka is not an archetypal yakuza; he travels by public transport. But he does have two mistresses: Ayumi, who runs a nightclub, and Yoshie, a brothel-keeper. When Tanaka's boss ends up in hospital, second man Kurauchi exerts increasing pressure on Tanaka. Tanaka deliberately has himself wounded by a fighter to dodge several of Kurauchi's demands.

Jirocho' s Days of Youth: Whirlwind on the Tokaido(ja)

Adventures of famous yakuza boss Jirocho and his disciples who settle in Kofu.

Dead or Alive 2: Birds(ja)

Two contract killers cross paths in the middle of the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decided to team up and use their talents in killing for good... much to the upset of the crime syndicates.

Daughter of Time(ja)

A member of the jieitai ("Self-Defense Force"; i.e. Japanese military) is on leave and finds a woman giving birth in a graveyard in the former Yoshiwara district. He takes her to an inn to gove birth, and stays on a few days as she recovers, but becomes fascinated with the strange people he meets there, particularly the owner, who visits a house in his courtyard every day to talk and give food to his mother. He says she is very sick and can't leave bed, but no one else has ever been inside or seen her.

Three Pretty Devils(ja)

A trio of teenage tarts try to earn money through shoplifting and prostitution scams and get into deep trouble.

Glorious Fights(ja)

A young leader of the Yamazaki family of Nagasaki, Takida (Ken Takakura) is an A-bomb survivor. He fiercely battles violent elements in southern Japan like there is no tomorrow.

Under the Open Sky(ja)

Mikami, an ex-yakuza of middle age with most of his life in prison, gets released after serving 13 years of sentence for murder. Hoping to find his long lost mother, from whom he was separated as a child, he applies for a TV show and meets a young TV director Tsunoda. Meanwhile, he struggles to get a proper job and fit into society. His impulsive, adamant nature and ingrained beliefs cause friction in his relationship with Tsunoda and those who want to help him.

Projota - AMADMOL (A Milenar Arte de Meter o Louco)(pt)

Overlord: The Dark Hero(ja)

The second recap film of season 1 of the anime TV series Overlord, covering episodes 8 to 13.

Cuento de Primavera-A Spring Tale(es)

Black and Bitter(en)

Jennifer's husband determines for her to get a pregnant, however, she wants to leave with the man she loves.

Mater Private Eye(en)

Detective Mater is hot on the trail of a dastardly car-napping! When Tia's sister goes missing, Mater is the only car she can turn to. With this tow truck on the case, anything can happen.

WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko(en)

Set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a joyful game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers' chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climatic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.

The Stranger(en)

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.

Panda(fr)

Two teenagers are playing by night in a dirty parking lot. After they are driving on an empty road, they start to tease each other on the way to the sea, but they seem to be too young to drive and the road is a bit strange.

The United Monster Talent Agency(en)

A short comedy spoof about Universal Monsters and their everyday unconventional work done at their very own talent agency for their movies.

Destination Anywhere(en)

This film captures the essence of Jon Bon Jovi, the lead singer of one of the prime players in the legion of pop-metal bands that took '80s radio by storm. Most of the film is a short narrative loosely based on the songs from his 1997 solo album Destination Anywhere, and features Jon Bon Jovi and Demi Moore as a young couple struggling with alcoholism and the death of their young child.

The Trapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave(th)

In this compelling documentary, members of the Thai youth soccer team tell their stories of getting trapped in Tham Luang Cave in 2018 — and surviving.

Python 2(en)

A man, his business partner, and his wife are enlisted to transport an unknown object from a Russian military base, only to discover that the object is a giant, genetically-altered python.

Blackout bei Wellmanns(de)

Thomas Wellmann is an electrical engineer at the municipal utilities in a small town and is replaced by an AI in his mid-50s. Then a prolonged power cut becomes the trigger for Thomas to prepare himself, his wife and his two daughters for an emergency...

LUPIN THE 3rd vs. CAT'S EYE(ja)

Lupin III competes with the Kisugi sisters to steal a triptych of paintings that once belonged to their father, and which hold the key to a long-unsolved mystery.

We(en)

A short, graphically dynamic work contrasting contradictory views of perception and interpretation, by way of society's assumptions vis-a-vis phallocentrism and fetishism.

Sex and Zen II(cn)

Wealthy Sai Moon-Kin works hard to please as many women as he possibly can. When marrying off his mentally handicapped son, he finds himself attracted to his new daughter in law, so he takes her for his own, unaware that she is the evil Mirage Woman, who wields fantastical "sucking" abilities.

The Battle of Normandy: 85 Days in Hell(en)

On the morning of June 6, 1944, thousands of ships reached the French coast of Normandy as part of an Allied operation to take back France from the Germans. For the next 85 days, U.S., British, and Canadian soldiers engaged in conflicts of unimaginable violence, conquering and liberating the region's cities, but at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. From the D-Day invasion to the final Nazi surrender in Argentan, this is the definitive story of the three-month Battle of Normandy as it's never been seen before.

R.M.N.(ro)

A few days before Christmas, having quit his job in Germany, Matthias returns to his Transylvanian village. He wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son, Rudi, left for too long in the care of his mother, Ana, and to rid him of the unresolved fears that have gripped him. He’s also eager to see his ex-lover Csilla and preoccupied about his old father, Otto. When a few new workers are hired at the small factory that Csilla manages, the peace of the community is disturbed, underlying fears grip the adults, and frustrations, conflicts and passions erupt through the thin sliver of apparent understanding and calm.

Man(en)

A short video by Kyle Canterbury.

The Way Back Home(en)

Life affirming spiritual drama about love and loss set in the lush surroundings of Central Florida. Spencer Krane has returned to the town where he was raised. It is the news that his grandmother has suffered a debilitating stroke that prompts his visit. What starts as a simple visit home becomes so much more. It becomes a journey of consequence.