A Film Festival Exclusively Featuring D-Cinema (Digital Cinema),
the Standard Format for Motion Pictures of the 21st Century

As digital tools become accessible, the range of expression for audio visual creators are expanding, transcending age, experience and nationality, and new business opportunities are now on the horizon.

SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL is an international competitive film festival exclusively featuring films shot and edited on digital.

The festival was launched in 2004 in order to discover new talent and develop a new type of audio visual industry. Now in its 13th edition, the festival has screened many innovative films from all over the world with high entertainment value that pushed the envelope for digital medium.

The Gateway to Success for Emerging Talent

The competition, a main categoriy of the festival, consists of three programs, Feature Length, where we accept entries from all over the world, Short Length and Animation, both of which we only accept entries produced domestically in order to support Japanese filmmakers. This year, we have received 919 entries from 88 countries and regions, the highest number to date.

We invite domestic and international industry professionals to be the jury members. After the preliminary judges nominate the first round of nominees, the official jury members will announce and give out awards on the last day of the festival.

During the festival, the jury members and industry professionals from all over the world participate in various events scheduled during the festival and network with the festival participants. In addition, we have Opening Film category where we world-premiere a film produced by the festival committee, Japan Premiere category, and many more where you can enjoy cinematic experience.

Our Talented Festival Graduates

After screening their films at the festival, many of the festival graduates have gone on to build careers in and out of Japan. For international cinema, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won Best Picture with Climates in the 2007 edition of our festival, scored three consecutive wins at Cannes Film Festival for Best Director with Three Monkeys (2008), Grand Prize with Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011), and Palme d'Or with Winter Sleep (2014). In addition, after premiering at our festival, Simple Simon, the winner of Special Jury Award in the 2011 edition, and Matterhorn, the winner of Best Picture in the 2014 edition, were released theatrically in Japan and became box office hits.

For Japanese cinema, Kazuya Shiraishi, who won the SKIP CITY Award in the 2009 edition with Lost Paradise in Tokyo, completed his brand new film Twisted Justice, which is set to open domestically in June 2016. Ryota Nakano, who won the Best Director and SKIP CITY Award in the 2012 edition with Capturing Dad, completed Her Love Boils Bathwater, which is set to open domestically in October 2016. Yuichiro Sakashita, who won the Special Jury Award with Kanagawa University of Fine Arts, Office of Film Research in the 2013 edition, will make his commercial debut with Tokyo Wind Orchestra, set to be released in January 2017. Many exciting new talents grabbed their opportunities after showing their films at our festival.

We continue to discover and nurture new and yet unknown talent with challenging spirits and expect them to spread their wings around the world.