JIFF Japan Indies Film Festival

Japan Indies Film Festival 2025 – Award Winners
Best Music Video
*NAND – SOS - Aleksandr Irinarkhov
Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Short
*Tokyo Kaitensu - Guillaume Beinat Prunet, Jeremy Delhuvenne
Best Documentary Short
*Searching for Kurosawa - Richard Rowland
Best Feature Documentary
*God As My Witness - Lindsay Q. Pitre
Best Narrative Short
*The Apple Tree - Navid Negahban
Visual Elegance Award
*The Missing Post Office - Clement Lefer
Excellence in Storytelling
*Paper Cranes & Blue Frog - Chavo
Jury’s Choice – Narrative Short
*The Orange of Daydreams - Kenjo McCurtain
Best Screenplay
*SHISHI -Mainichi Maru
Jury Award
*COME BACK Irina Velez Crespo, David Gelay & Mostafa Belbacha
Grand Prize – Narrative Feature
👑 No Time For Goodbye Don Ng

JIFF (Japan Indies Film Festival)
An international film festival in Tokyo, partnered with Raindance, showcases acclaimed independent films worldwide and introduces a special award for Japan-related works.

Admission Ticket & Limited Edition T-Shirt (JIFF2025)
https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/JYRW5PHN5JWSQ

X: @JIFFjapanfilm

Japan Indies Film Festival 2025
An international indie film festival accredited by the UK Raindance Film Festival.
On November 26 and 27, join us at Theater Guild Daikanyama for two days of screenings featuring carefully selected indie films from around the world.
One nominated director plus one guest will be invited.

The JIFF2025 Screening Program is Now Available on Our Official Blog!
📣 We’re excited to announce that the full screening schedule for Japan Indies Film Festival 2025 has been published on our official blog.

👉 https://japan-indies-film-festival.blogspot.com/2025/11/jiff2025-screening-program-announced.html

JIFF 2025 Nominees
Movie Script
• Questwalker - Reverend's Journey – Dalton Chase Crawford
• Yokohama – Yakiv Karchev
Music Video
• NAND – SOS (Germany) – Directed by Aleksandr Irinarkhov
• Nivatak – “New Romance” (United Kingdom) – Directed by Ignatius Rake
• To-ma – Gor’kaya (Russia) – Directed by Nikolai Sidorov-Frantsuzov
• 全人類ヒューマノイド We are to be Humanoid Beings (Japan) – Directed by Daisuke Fujita
Micro Mini
• Sights on Scene (Sweden) – Joakim Ekström
Sci-Fi & Fantasy Short
• Alien Guy Tim (United States) – Scott Simerly Jr.
• Tokyo Kaitensû (France) – Guillaume Beinat Prunet, Jeremy Delhuvenne
• Until Death Do Us Part (United States) – Leonardo Daccarett
Documentary Short
• Searching For Kurosawa (Japan) – Richard Rowland
• The Missing Post Office (France) – Clement Lefer
• United Crafts of America (United States) – Sergio Camacho
Feature Documentary
• God As My Witness (United States) – Lindsay Q Pitre
• “Sharing Aloha” (United States) – Blair Treu
• Turtle Walker (India) – Taira Malaney
Narrative Short
• Clout (United Kingdom) – Jordan Murphy Doidge
• DEI (United States) – Jill V. Dae
• PAPER CRANES & BLUE FROG (Japan) – Chavo
• Silim (United States) – Alexander Cruz De Ocampo
• Spaceman (Canada) – Dan Abramovici
• The Apple Tree (United States) – Navid Negahban
• The Orange of Daydreams (Japan) – Kenjo McCurtain
Narrative Feature
• COME BACK (Belgium) – Irina Velez Crespo, David Gelay, Mostafa Belbacha
• Final Broadcast (United States) – Davide Ippolito
• Home, Sweet Home (China) – Tianyi Chen
• NO TIME FOR GOODBYE (Hong Kong) – Don Ng
• SHISHI 四志 (Japan) – Gekikan Mainichi Maru

JIFF 2025 Official Selections
Movie Script
• 4th and Going Home – Steven John Antonuccio
• Almighty (United States) – Stu Baltazar
• The Samurai Ghost and Ms. Jones – Nancee LaFayette
Music Video
• Here Comes Something Good (United Kingdom) – Directed by Stuart Warren-Hill
• Reality Games (United States) – Directed by Serkan Sokmen
• Raspberries (Japan) – Directed by Andrew Paul Davis
• School (Germany) – Directed by Rolf Eckel
• Tokyo23 (China) – Directed by DIAN WANG
Micro Mini
• Tokyo Tea Tango (Poland) – Robert Chmielewski
Sci-Fi & Fantasy Short
• (H)EARTHQUAKE (United States) – Xavier Michael Griffiths
• Bippy the Little Robot (United States) – Glenna C Burmer
Documentary Short
• Childhood (Ireland) – Cian Geoghegan
• Ice Breath (Romania) – Leonard Alecu
• NOTHING BEFORE YOU WERE HERE. (United States) – DAICHI YANAI.
Feature Documentary
• Children in the Fire (United States) – Evgeny Afineevsky
• Children of Yamato (Japan) – Jennifer LaDue Miyagawa
• Our Life is Here (Marshall Islands / UK / US) – David Buckland
• The Absolutely Amazing, Wonderful, Frightening, Threatening Edge of Tomorrow (United States) – Springna Zhao, Hayden McComas
• The River At The Bottom Of My Garden (France) – Guillaume Mazille
Narrative Short
• Abja and Her Pickled Eggs (India / UAE) – Rita Heer
• In Pursuit of the Loong (China) – Jacky Xiao
• Love’s Greenting (Japan) – Akira Iwamatsu
• REDDER (Canada) – Kian Marandi
• Santa Catalina (United States) – Alexander Alexandrov
• THE FIRST FILM (India) – Piyush Thakur
• The Quirky Residents メゾン平凡 (Japan) – Natsuko Aratama
• Under Heaven’s Sky (Australia) – Ben O’Sullivan
Narrative Feature
• Love and Lies Born from Sin (Japan) – Soujun Isobe
• SONGS OF ADAM (Iraq) – Oday Rasheed
• The Fisherman (Ghana) – Zoey Martinson

JIFF 2024 - Congratulations! List of Award Winners
Best Movie Scripts　　　　　　
- SACRED SUN – Michael Louis Gould
Best Music Videos　　　　　　
- Edge of the Earth – Chris Ianuzzi, Ethem Serkan Sokmen
Best Documentary Short　　　
- The Discoverer of the Discoverers – C. S. Nicholson　
Bonded Spirits Honor Award　
- Support Sake – Christopher Leyva, Alberto Sanchez
Best Documentary Feature　　
- Resynator – Alison Tavel　
International Friendship Award　
- The Chef & The Daruma – Mads K. Baekkevold　　
Best Narrative Short　　　　　　
- The Unreachable Star – Sharon S. Park　
Breakthrough Director Award　　
- EXTREME FLASHBACKER – Fumiya Hara　
　 Narrative Feature
Rising Creator Award　　　
- Lonely Nights in Chinatown – Ryan Storm
Special Jury Award　　　　
- PERFECT SHARED HOUSE – Ami Michelle Sakurai　
Grand Prize - Best Narrative Feature　　
👑- Chin Ton Shan – Riki OHKANDA

Here is the list of award-winning films at JIFF2023:
*Best Screenplay: "Wild Mind" written by Fujiyo Torikai
*Best Music Video: "Saturday Everyday" directed by Stephen David Brooks
*Best Music Video: "Monique Sonique" directed by Ingrid Heiderscheidt
*Best Short Film: "Third Wheel 晴れて成仏" directed by Kevin Haefelin
*Best Feature Film: "Indelible Memories/消せない記憶" directed by Shin Sonoda
*Special Jury Prize: "DUO/Two Souls" directed by Yuri Radkovski
*Audience Award: "Tsushima /対馬" directed by Takafumi Yamane
*JIFF2023 Grand Prize Winner: "Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel" directed by Dany Garcia
Congratulations to all the winners!

Theater Guild in Daikanyama is the best movie theater in all of Japan but few people know about it. Super high tech. No screen. LED light bank for showing movies. It's beautiful!
Sofas and EZ chair recliners. There are no theater-style seats. There's no sound! Everyone gets their own headphones! It's a silent theater!
A theater that looks like the lobby of a 5-star hotel! Nice bar too! This place seems like the perfect place for a first date or even a proposal of course, it is the most awesome place in Japan to watch a movie!

https://theaterguild.co/

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BIG NEWS! A film that had its Asia Premiere at JIFF Japan Indies Film Festival in 2022 has won an Emmy for 2023! Huge Congratulations to John Alexander and Sharon Preston Folta for the 2023 Emmy Award for "Little Satchmo!"
Also congratulations to Tatsuro Manno for the theatrical screening of Storage Man. This film World-Premiered at JIFF!!!

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JIFF VOTED #3 OF TOP FILM FESTIVALS IN ASIA by Raindance London!

JIFF Top 10 in Asia! 10 Best Film Festivals in Asia | Raindance Film School! JIFF Top 10 in Asia!: https://www.raindance.org/the-best-film-festivals-in-asia/

7 Reasons To Submit to the Japan Indies Film Festival by Elliot Grove. https://www.raindance.org/7-reasons-to-submit-to-japan-indies-film-festival/

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We are the official JIFF Japan Indies Film Festival.

The official JIFF Japan Indies Film Festival is a true independent international film festival supporting young talent around the world.

Creating dreams and hope through cinema is our vision. Returning Japan to the glory days of cinema for young filmmakers and independent artists the goal of the official JIFF Japan Indies Film Festival.

Our Jury includes some of Japan's top filmmakers and other famous filmmakers as well as industry leaders on the Arts as Jury members from around the world.

Jury Members:

*Suzanne Ballantyne - Jurist / Co-Founder / Vice President / Jurist - Program Director of Raindance

*Elliot Grove Jurist - Director / Writer / Founder Raindance

*Stephen David Brooks - Jurist / Director / Writer

*Hiroshi Matsumoto - Jurist / Founder of Fan Communications, inc. (E-Marketing company)

*Nikita Hattangady - Jurist / Director / Writer / head of programming with Indica Pictures

*Kenjo McCurtain- Jurist / Director / Writer

*Donie Ordiales - Jurist / artist /Director

*Catherine Scaillet Van Der Stappen - Jurist / music composer & producer

*Sheena Rogers - Jurist
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Organizers:
Universal Vision Ltd.（JIFF）

Office Hours:
Weekdays　10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturdays: 10:00 AM – 12:30 AM