May 31 - June 9

TIFF became the first international film festival to be held in Japan, filling a significant gap in the world cinema calendar. The festival opened with Akira Kurosawa's Ran, one of 140 films screened during the festival's duration. Messages to the festival sent by prominent film industry members from around the world demonstrated the level of expectation that people held for this event.

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September 25 - October 4

TIFF was moved to the autumn this year. The International Competition section was also introduced, a foundational event which established it as an international film festival. The festival opened with Kon Ichikawa's Princess from the Moon and closed with Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, a lineup that proved symbolic of the festival's emphasis on filmmaking in Japan and the rest of Asia. A major collaboration venture of TIFF was "The Best of Asia Pacific Films" featuring films from as far west as Iran and as far south as Australia and New Zealand. This project sought to identify cinematic and cultural regions of the world according to its oceans as opposed to its landmasses.

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September 29 - October 8

TIFF this year was held primarily at the Bunkamura complex, which had opened earlier in September. New programs for the festival included "Nippon Cinema Now", with its focus on young Japanese film directors, and the "Asian Film Week", with its emphasis on providing an overview of Asian cinema, and were indicative of the great strides the festival had taken in its desire to speak with a specifically Asian voice.

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September 27 - October 6

The world was marked by the reorganization of some notable national boundaries this year. In the International Competition section, a film directed by Rajko Grlic of Yugoslavia made its second consecutive appearance, and the director himself attended the festival. Prominent film critic Andrei Plakhov from the Soviet Union was one of the jury members for the International Competition, while The Flying Dutchman from the same country was entered in the Young Cinema Competition. It was later in the year that the Soviet Union disintegrated, and the Tokyo International Film Festival, in retrospect, was a reflection of such turbulent times.

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September 25 - October 4

TIFF became an annual festival beginning this year. The festival received congratulatory messages from Harrison Ford, a guest at the 1st festival, Catherine Deneuve, appearing in one of the films chosen for the Special Screening section, and Gerald Depardieu, appearing in the closing film.

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September 24 - October 3

TIFF this year was marked by first-time entries from such countries as Burundi, Latvia, Armenia, Croatia, and Luxembourg in both the International Competition and Young Cinema sections.

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September 24 - October 2

TIFF was held in Kyoto this year to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of the city's founding. Kyoto, in addition to being one of the centers of Japanese tradition, was the birthplace of Japanese films.

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September 22 - October 1

This year marked cinema's centenary. It also marked TIFF's 10th anniversary. The seminal French film Les Enfants de Lumiére was chosen for a special screening to mark this occasion. Just prior to the festival, Krzysztof Kieślowski, who was chosen as the president of the jury for Young Cinema Competition, became ill; and Henri Verneuil stepped in to replace him at short notice.

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September 27 - October 6

This year marked the centenary of the first showing in Kobe of Edison's "Kinetoscope." This memorial year prompted many important screenings for Nippon Cinema Classics. The French film The Danger Line, featuring the husband and wife combination of Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuruko Aoki, was shown for the first time in seventy years with the cooperation of the Centre National de la Cinematographie of France. Also shown were Chushingura, The Casebook of Umon: His Third Achievement, and The Unrivalled Hero, which had all been partially preserved on 9.5 mm film and restored on 35 mm film.

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November 1 - November 10

Guests to the opening ceremonies of this year's TIFF included Harrison Ford and Leonardo DiCaprio. A special tribute program focused on Marcello Mastroianni, who died the previous year.

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October 31 - November 8

Akira Kurosawa, whose film Ran opened the 1st TIFF, died on September 6. A special memorial program was quickly prepared for Nippon Cinema Classics upon this news, showing all 30 films directed by Kurosawa. TIFF received messages from Theo Angelopoulos, George Lucas, Abbas Kiarostami, Martin Scorsese, Nikita Mikhalkov, and other prominent directors from around the world.

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October 27 - November 7

The subsidy program that began in 1995 targeting young Japanese film directors supported works like Donten Seikatsu by Nobuhiro Yamashita the same year. The program was expanded into the Tokyo Film Creators Forum targeting not just young directors but any filmmakers in Japan and other Asian countries as well.

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October 28 - November 5

In this the last year of the 20th century, TIFF attempted to provide an overview of the past century through film. Nippon Cinema Classics presented Document 20th Century, showing prominent feature-length documentaries made after WWII.

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October 27 - November 4

This year's TIFF opened with a requiem for the victims of 9.11. For the centenary of Walt Disney's birth, ten featurelength Disney films were shown. This year marked the first time the Korean Cinema Week was scheduled in recognition of the great interest shown in Korean culture. With the World Cup 2002 fast approaching, anticipation was high for greater cultural exchange between the two countries.

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October 26 - November 4

The opening ceremonies for the 15th commemorative anniversary of TIFF featured fleeting shadows of past cinema masterpieces flickering to the theme song from Cinema Paradiso. A mini concert was given by composer Joe Hisaishi and the New Japan Philharmonic. Special guests at TIFF included Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. In view of recent world developments, TIFF screened War and Peace in its commitment to furthering world peace. One of the longest films ever made, this film was 8 hours 27 minutes long at its Moscow premiere and 6 hours 13 minutes when first shown in Japan. The version screened at this time was a special director's cut version lasting 7 hours 10 minutes.

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November 1 - November 9

A red carpet covered the street in front of Bunkamura on the first day and many fans gathered to watch their favorite guests make their way to the festival.

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October 23 - October 31

This year's TIFF was held in Roppongi Hills as well as Bunkamura. On October 22, dubbed Opening Eve, Wong Kar-wai's 2046 was the featured screening. Takuya Kimura, who appeared in the film, paid a visit to the Roppongi Hills Arena. On opening day, a red carpet covered the Roppongi Keyakizaka Dori. The 17th TIFF was the highest-attended edition to that point.

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October 22 - October 30

TIFF opened in Roppongi Hills and closed in Bunkamura. Beginning this year, Tokyo Grand Prix, given to the most outstanding film in the Competition section, was renamed Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix in recognition of the symbolic role which cherry blossoms play in Japanese culture.
The film festival opened with Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles and closed with RIKIDOZAN, both films a result of collaboration among multiple Asian nations. These and other films at TIFF reflected the increased exchange of people and ideas among these countries.

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October 21 - October 29

The 19th TIFF was held together with TIFFCOM, a film market which promotes Japanese content overseas and AKIHABARA-ENTA MATSURI which was held in Akihabara, the heart of animation, games, cartoons and character goods.

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October 20 - October 228

This year, Tokyo International Film Festival celebrated its milestone 20th edition. The WORLD CINEMA section was launched this year, and a special project, Tokyo in Focus, was held. Also, Her Imperial Majesty attended the The Invitation from Cinema Orion shown in the Special Screenings section.

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October 18 - October 26

The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival adopted the slogan "Action for Earth" in order to transmit the theme of "Protecting the Earth=Ecology" and as the symbol of this theme, we unrolled the Green Carpet instead of the traditional Red Carpet on the opening day in the Roppongi Keyakizaka Dori.
Recycled PET bottles were used for the Green Carpet, and all the screening theaters used "green" power for electricity. Events such as the Green Tie Gala Dinner and the Earth Conference were held as well.

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October 17 - October 25

The 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival continued with the theme of Ecology implemented in the previous year, and established the GCC Green Carpet Club, providing further opportunities to think about the Earth‘s environment through film. Employing the slogan, “Film has the power to change mankind, mankind has the power to change the Earth,” TIFF became the film festival that brings film, Earth and mankind together.

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October 23 - October 31

TIFF, since 2008 under the theme of “Ecology,” has introduced various ideas such as the Green Carpet Welcome, Green Power and Green Charity. The 23rd TIFF had a related theme, “Sustaining for the Future,” aiming to make another leap forward.

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October 22 - October 30

Films have the power to bring dreams and inspiration and reach deep into people's hearts. They are the supreme form of cultural art. The mission of TIFF is to seek out and present the finest films from the world. Under the slogan of "Believe! The power of Films," the 24th TIFF offered a variety of exciting premiere films. Through the power of films, interactive exchanges, and information dissemination, we hope to make the TIFF a world-class event.

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October 20 - October 28

This memorable 25th Tokyo International Film Festival was aimed to convey the fascination of movies to younger audience by welcoming actress Atsuko Maeda as TIFF Ambassador and actor Takumi Saitoh as TIFF Supporter.
In addition, TIFF took a retrospective glance of its history over a quarter of a century. TIFF Special Appreciation Award was presented to Hong Kong film producer Raymond Chow to show the appreciation for his continuous support to nurture young filmmakers since the TIFF’s inauguration in 1985.

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October 17 - October 25

Welcoming Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama as the Festival Muse, the 26th Tokyo International Film Festival opened on a beautiful autumn day after a typhoon. This year, a Green Carpet Ceremony on a weekday was added to the Festival’s event calendar with arrival of many film stars like Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Vicki Zhao and so on. French actor Mathieu Amalric managed to take a moment away from his busy shooting schedule to visit Japan. After the screening the film he starred, he had an autograph session which made audience very excited.

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October 23 - October 31

The 27th TIFF celebrated its opening with great splendor on a red carpet for the first time in seven years, with Arashi, one of the most prominent artist group in Japan, as Special Ambassador and actress Miki Nakatani as Festival Muse.
This year, in addition to Roppongi Hills, TOHO CINEMAS Nihonbashi which had just opened then was also selected as the venue, aiming to raise awareness among a wide range of people by showcasing films from Competition section and special feature The World of Hideaki Anno. Meanwhile in Ginza, a screening event titled Special Night at Kabukiza Theatre was held.

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October 22 - October 31

Extending the festival duration to 10 days from 9 days, and adding some Shinjuku theaters and the Kabukiza Theatre for screening venues, TIFF was able to show more than 200 films in total.
The focus of this year was Japanese films. To serve as the international gateway of Japanese films, TIFF launched the Japan Now section. Programs focusing on present and past Japanese films and the special program of Japanese Anime, which receives a lot of attention around the world, were held along with the Japan Now section and the Japanese Classics section.

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October 25 - November 3

The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival took place at Roppongi Hills and Ex Theater Roppongi as main venues to screen major sections. On the red carpet of the opening, Meryl Streep for Florence Foster Jenkins appeared. There was a blissful moment where the great actress in a chic dress with a design of a crane received a warm welcome from the Festival Muse, Haru Kuroki, who dressed up in a long-sleeved kimono also with the design of cranes.

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