Festival Champ

A Gangster's Morals(ja)

Yakuza movie directed by Yasuharu Hasebe

Savage City: Angel Whisper(ja)

A corrupt cop teams up with an unlikely partner to protect the city from a gang of ruthless drug addicts.

Crying Freeman(en)

A lethal assassin for a secret Chinese organisation, who sheds tears of regret each time he kills, is seen swiftly and mercilessly executing three Yakuza gangsters by a beautiful artist. She is captivated by the grace of his kill and later falls in love with him. An intense power struggle for the leadership of the Yakuza Clans ensues as they seek vengeance for the death of their leader.

ゆがんだ月(ja)

Revenge(en)

Detective Tsukimoto kills his partner following a botched robbery and falls deep into debt and despair. After losing everything at the horse races, he is kidnapped by yakuza and offered a chance to clear his debts by putting his life on the line in a game called Cambodia Roulette.

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.

Jail Breakers(ja)

Kamiki (Sonny Chiba) is a career criminal who is given the chance to break out of prison for the 33rd time. Afterwards Kaimiki teams up with a bunch of thugs that engineer prison escapes for money.

An Ode to Yakuza(ja)

Tatematsu Minoru, a yakuza belonging to the Ishikawa group that runs the Shinjuku area, has a beautiful sister named Akane. He dreams of sending her to college and turning her into a perfect young lady. He's extremely fond of Akane. His fondness for her goes beyond how he feels about his mistress, Kanae. And yet, Akane feels alone. Now, a new tutor comes into her life that seems to have taken a liking to her...

Tale of the Last Japanese Yakuza(ja)

Yakuza drama with Meiko Kaji directed by Masahiro Makino

The Viper Brothers: 18 Extortion Threats(ja)

Part 4 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawachi) thinking too big of themselves. Sugawara tries to overcome a traumatic experience of getting in bed blindfolded with a girl who turned out to be an old granny. Later he and Kawaji try to settle down in a neighbourhood harassed by businessman yakuza Bin Amatsu.

The Viper Brothers: Jail - Living for 4 1/2 Years(ja)

Part 5 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawachi) thinking too big of themselves. After serving four and a half years in prison, Masa and his brother Katsuji leave Kobe to go to Nagoya to help a hostess get her daughter back from her mother. As they arrive in Nagoya, they get into a scuffle with the local yakuza affiliate. Sugawara and Kawaji's chemistry is even more evident here than usual, the storyline is alright if melodramatic. Delightful start with Tatsuo Endo as a nice guy prison guard! How many times have you seen that? And we got Kyosuke Machida (henchman) with cool beard and the always good Tsunehiko Watase (young hood) on board as well. One of the best films in the series.

The Scoundler vs. The Viper Brothers(ja)

A crossover between Wakayama's Gokudo and Sugawara Mamushi series. Gokudo runs a restaurant and makes Takuzo Kawatani his kitchen bitch. He tries to do the same for the Mamushi bros. but the boys don't play along, which pisses Gokudo off. Things get worse when he starts helping a young teacher and Bunta has a crush on a pretty girl... and unbeknownst to them it's the same woman! Yes, the film has not one but two romantic subplots! Of course it all ends in bloodshed.

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.

Dynamite Don-Don(ja)

Yakuza Gang War is at the height in North Kyūshū Area in the summer of 1950, particularly between the Okagen Group and the rising Hashiden Gang. Now with the mediation/interference of the Americans, they decide to settle it in a peaceful, *democratic* way, that is, to settle it with a baseball game. Now, with its money and power, The Hashiden group soon recruits a group of gamblers known to be good at baseball from the whole country. So, what is the Okagen Gumi gonna do?

Back Street Girls: Gokudols(ja)

Three male gangsters are forced by their boss into becoming a trio of female pop singers.

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

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.

Liberation: Direction of the Main Blow(ru)

This five part epic war drama gives a dramatized detailed account of Soviet Union's war against Nazi Germany during world war two. Each of the five parts represents a separate major eastern front campaign.

Return to Oz(en)

Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, finds herself back in the land of her dreams, and makes delightful new friends, and dangerous new enemies.

The Crow: Salvation(en)

Alex Corvis, a man wrongly executed for the murder of his girlfriend, returns from the dead and sets out to find the real killer.

El Topo(es)

El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man.

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor(en)

In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London's National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor's own dangerous past comes back to haunt him.

Best Man Down(en)

A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony.

Sisters(en)

Two disconnected sisters are summoned to clean out their childhood bedrooms before their parents sell their family home.

The Return of the Living Dead(en)

When foreman Frank shows new employee Freddy a secret military experiment in a supply warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, the two klutzes accidentally release a gas that reanimates corpses into flesh-eating zombies. As the epidemic spreads throughout the town, and the creatures satisfy their hunger in gory and outlandish ways, Frank and Freddy fight to survive with the help of their boss and a mysterious mortician.

Shane(en)

A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.

Dreamcatcher(en)

Four boyhood pals perform a heroic act and are changed by the powers they gain in return. Years later, on a hunting trip in the Maine woods, they're overtaken by a vicious blizzard that harbors an ominous presence. Challenged to stop an alien force, the friends must first prevent the slaughter of innocent civilians by a military vigilante ... and then overcome a threat to the bond that unites the four of them.

Halloween(en)

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock(en)

A surprise visit from Spock's father provides a startling revelation: McCoy is harboring Spock's living essence.

Son of Batman(en)

Batman learns he has a violent, unruly pre-teen son, secretly raised by the terrorist group known as The League of Assassins.

The Pit and the Pendulum(en)

In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.

This Is the End(en)

While attending a party at James Franco's house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse.

Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu(ja)

Koyomi Araragi was turned into a vampire by the legendary vampire, Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade, and he needs to revive the weakened vampire back to her complete form to return to being human again. The only way for Koyomi to achieve his goal is to fight the three vampire hunters – Dramaturgy, Episode and Guillotinecutter.

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero(en)

When Mr. Freeze kidnaps Barbara Gordon, as an involuntary organ donor to save his dying wife, Batman and Robin must find her before the operation can begin.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life(en)

Tasked by MI6 to find the mythological Pandora's Box, an ancient object supposedly containing one of the deadliest plagues on Earth, Lara Croft must beat evil Nobel Prize-winning scientist turned bioterrorist Jonathan Reiss to it.

Tremors II: Aftershocks(en)

Giant underground creatures that terrorized a desert town are now plowing their way through Mexican oil fields, gobbling up everything and everyone around - and only one man can stop them.

Pet Sematary II(en)

The "sematary" is up to its old zombie-raising tricks again. This time, the protagonists are Jeff Matthews, whose mother died in a Hollywood stage accident, and Drew Gilbert, a boy coping with an abusive stepfather.