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 2024, the 21st 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 1,201 submissions, from 102 countries and regions.

After preliminary judges select 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), the 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, winner of Audience Award at the 2018 edition, the renowned Korean actor Kim Yoon-seok’s directorial debut Another Child, Midnight Traveler, the winner of Special Jury Prize at the 2019 edition, Lil’ Buck: From the Streets to the World, a documentary nominated for the International Competition at the 2020 edition (tentatively titled Lil’ Buck: Real Swan when screened at the festival) 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), Sea of Revival (19) and Lesson in Murder (22), and his latest film BUSHIDO (24) also created a buzz; he is emerging as one of the best directors in Japanese cinema.

Furthermore, 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 Prizes, 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. Kei Ishikawa, whose It’s All in the Fingers was nominated for the Japanese Film Short Competition in the 2009 edition, went on to release a series of high-profile films, including Traces of Sin (17), Listen to the Universe (19), and Arc (21), winning the Best Director award at the 46th Japan Academy Film Prizes for A Man (22).

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). Additionally, Shingo Matsumura of Striking Out in Love, the 2013 SKIP CITY AWARD winner and director of The Lump in My Heart (22), and Yusaku Matsumoto of Noise, the 2017 International Competition film winner and director of Winny (23), are among the many emerging filmmakers leaving their mark on the film industry.

Recently, Domains (18) by Natsuka Kusano, winner of the Best Director and SKIP CITY AWARD for Antonym in the 2014 edition, She is Alone (18) by Natsuki Nakagawa, winner of the SKIP CITY AWARD in that year, 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 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.

The number of films using the festival as a platform for theatrical release continues to grow, with several of those screened as part of the competitions in 2023, last year, having since seen wider release. Among them are Takeshi Kushida’s My Mother’s Eyes (23), Karin Takeda’s Till the Day I Can Laugh about My Blues (23), Yuta Noguchi’s Wandering Memories (23), Daichi Amano’s Don’t Go (23), which won an Audience Award (Japanese Short category), and Yoshiki Matsumoto’s Alien's Daydream (23), which won the Japanese Film Competition Best Picture Award (Japanese Feature category) and the SKIP CITY AWARD. Confetti (23), directed by Naoya Fujita, who won Best Picture (Japanese Short category) with Stay (19) in the 2020 edition, became a sensation after opening the festival and then received the Silver Mulberry Award at the Far East Film Festival in Udine.

As a gateway to success for emerging filmmakers, our festival remains committed to discovering and nurturing new and as 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.