Japan is mounting its strongest presence at the Berlin Film Festival in years, with seven films spanning competition, Forum, Panorama and Classics sections. It’s a range that mirrors the country’s record-breaking theatrical year in 2025 and signals what producers describe as a genuine renaissance for Japanese cinema.
The 76th Berlinale lineup features Yoshitoshi Shinomiya’s animated debut, “A New Dawn,” competing for the Golden Bear; Yusuke Iwasaki’s socially critical supermarket horror “AnyMart” in Forum; Takuya Uchiyama’s identity-search-focused “Numb” in Panorama; and Nao Yoshigai’s meditative documentary “Masayume” in Forum. The Berlinale Classics section will present restored editions of Shōhei Imamura’s 1966 satire “The Pornographers” and Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s influential 1993 anime “Ninja
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