A Film Festival to Discover and Nurture New Talent

Established in 2004 in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL was one of the first international competitive film festivals to exclusively feature digital cinema, which has now become the standard format for motion pictures. We remain committed to discovering and nurturing new talent, with the aim of helping these filmmakers seize new business opportunities that have arisen in the changing landscape of the film industry. In 2023, the 20th edition of the festival will be held.

The core programs of the festival are the International Competition and the Japanese Film Competition. The International Competition accepts submissions from all over the world. The Japanese Film Competition, which is divided into two sections, the Japanese Feature Film Competition and the Japanese Short Film Competition, accepts domestic submissions by emerging filmmakers. This year, we have received 1,246 submissions, the largest number ever, from 102 countries and regions.

After preliminary judges nominate the first round of nominees, the official jury members, who are esteemed domestic and international industry professionals, will judge the films, and the awards including the Grand Prize will be given out on the last day of the festival. In addition, the SKIP CITY AWARD is given to a Japanese film which displays promising talent for feature filmmaking.

Film Festival as a Springboard for Exciting New Talent

After screening their films at our festival, many of the festival graduates have gone on to build careers in and out of Japan. Looking at international cinema, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won the Grand Prize with Climates in the 2007 edition of our festival, scored three consecutive wins at Cannes Film Festival for Best Director with Three Monkeys (08), Grand Prix with Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (11), and the Palme d'Or with Winter Sleep (14).

In addition, after premiering at our festival, Simple Simon, the winner of the Special Jury Prize in the 2011 edition, Matterhorn, the winner of Grand Prize in the 2014 edition, The Way He Looks, the winner of Best Screenplay in the 2014 edition, The Last Suit, the winner of Audience Award at the 2018 edition, the renowned Korean actor Kim Yoon-seok’s directorial debut Another Child, a documentary from the 2020 edition, Lil’ Buck: Real Swan, Midnight Traveler, the winner of Special Jury Prize at the 2019 edition, and Luzzu, the winner of Grand Prize in the 2021 edition, were all released theatrically in Japan and became box office hits.

Regarding Japanese cinema, Kazuya Shiraishi, who won the SKIP CITY AWARD in the 2009 edition with Lost Paradise in Tokyo, has gone on to direct critically acclaimed films including The Blood of Wolves (18) and Sea of Revival (19), and his latest film Lesson in Murder (22) also created a buzz; he is emerging as one of the best directors in Japanese cinema.

Ryota Nakano, who won the Best Director and SKIP CITY AWARD in the 2012 edition with Capturing Dad, directed Her Love Boils Bathwater (16), which won two categories at the Japan Academy Film Prize, A Long Goodbye (19), and The Asadas (20), which received the NETPAC Award at the Warsaw Film Festival. Yuichiro Sakashita, who won the Special Jury Prize with Kanagawa University of Fine Arts, Office of Film Research in the 2013 edition, made his commercial debut with Any Way the Wind Blows (16); The Sunday Runoff was released in January 2022.

Shinichiro Ueda, who directed the sensational One Cut of the Dead (17), won the Special Mention in the Japanese Film Short Competition with Take 8 (15). Shinzo Katayama’s Siblings of the Cape (18), the double winner of Best Picture and Audience Award in the Japanese Film Feature Competition, became a critical and box office hit and received some awards for new directors including the Best New Director Award of Japan Movie Critics Award. He won the 47th Hochi Film Award Best Director with Missing (22). The film industry also enjoys outstanding performances by several more emerging directors, including Shingo Matsumura of Striking Out in Love, the 2013 SKIP CITY AWARD winner, who released The Lump in My Heart (22) in January; Yusaku Matsumoto of Noise, the 2017 International Competition film, released Winny (23) in March.

Recently, Any Crybabies Around? (20) by Takuma Sato, who participated in the 2019 edition, Runway (20) by Norichika Oba, who participated in the 2018 festival, the 2018 festival’s SKIP CITY AWARD winner She is Alone by Natsuki Nakagawa, the 2021 festival’s SKIP CITY AWARD winner Psychology Counselor by Zenzo Sakai, the 2021 festival’s International Competition film Make the Devil Laugh by Ryuichi Mino and the 2021 Japanese Film Competition Grand Prize and Audience Award winner Journey Beyond the Night by Takayuki Kayano were all released theatrically. Many talented directors have been discovered by the Festival.

As a gateway to success for emerging talent, our festival remains committed to discovering and nurturing new and yet unknown talent and looks forward to seeing them spread their wings around the world. We hope you will experience the birth of new talent again this year with us.