Greetings

Kyoto HISTORICA International Film Festival is a film festival centered around the topic of history.
Kyoto is a city with more than 1200 years of history, from which diverse cultures were birthed. Such cultural assets became the nourishment that nurtured jidaigeki (Japanese period films) and history films. Now, under the slogan of “History × Global × Cross-media”, we are aiming to become a film festival that looks towards the future, builds a transnational human network, and creates new business opportunities.
We have planned a variety of events through which you can enjoy the charm of jidaigeki and history films to the fullest. Examples include a special event commemorating the conclusion of the “Wanokuni” season of the anime series ONE PIECE, screenings of a variety of cinematic works, and talk sessions with diverse guests, such as staff and cast members who worked on the films we show as well as film studies scholars.
Other projects will also take place during the festival. Kyoto Filmmakers Lab is a space for nurturing young filmmakers from across the globe. HISTORICA X is a conference for discussing cutting-edge visual technology. We also have HISTORICA Ozashiki, a networking roundtable for creators. Along with the already completed Kyoto Film Pitching and Uzumasa Jōraku Matsuri, these are all aimed at expanding the horizon of jidaigeki through diverse related projects.
With the motto of “Reaching for the future through history films”, we will continue to strive for a festival that can deliver more filmmakers and new contents to the audience.

Kyoto HISTORICA International Film Festival Committee
Chairman Yuji Kojima (CEO of Shochiku Studio Co., Ltd.)

LOOKs Amazing!
Let the visuals be the key to the hearts; films are visual, after all. We’ve all had the experience of watching the first few moments of a film and instantly going, “Oh, this one’s different!” Shots in unforeseen touches, super-realistic camera work, unbelievable colors, outstanding worldbuilding. While the tactics are different, we definitely feel the passion of wanting to reach the audience with the visuals. In the world of films, sometimes the LOOK of a certain film remodels an entire genre. Akira Kurosawa’s The Bodyguard instantly made “lighthearted and fun” jidaigeki films obsolete. The horror and psycho-thriller films from hitmaker A24 are consciously focusing on LOOKs and design to gain a competitive edge.
In a time when we can create whatever background we want through virtual production, I believe we need to ask ourselves what sort of LOOKs we want to tell our stories through. We chose this year’s history films (a.k.a. HISTORICA) with an eye on challenging LOOKs that will inspire a new generation of creators.

Kyoto HISTORICA International Film Festival Committee
Program Director　 Ken Takahashi (Toei Studios Kyoto Studio Senior Executive Manager)

Event overview

Name: The 15th Kyoto HISTORICA International Film Festival(KHIFF)
Dates: January 23th – 28th, 2024
Venues: The Museum of Kyoto

Venues: The Museum of Kyoto
(https://historica-kyoto.com/)
(Kyoto Prefectural Government, The Museum of Kyoto, Toei Company, Ltd. Kyoto Movie Studios, Shochiku Studio Co., Ltd., Toei Kyoto Studio Co., Ltd., Iwamoto Metal Co., Ltd., Directors Univ,inc., Ritsumeikan University, Skeleton Crew Studio, General Incorporated Association Kyoto Historica)
Co-hosted by: KYOTO CMEX Executive Committee
With the Association of: Kyoto Crossmedia Promotion Agency / Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka /
La Biennale di Venezia-Biennale College Cinema / Cineteca di Bologna / NNW Film Festival / Polish Cultural Institute in Tokyo / Toei Animation

Presented Under the auspices of: Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Inc. / Foreign Film Importer-Distributors Association of Japan / Motion Picture and Television Engineering Society of Japan Inc.
Supported by: Japan Arts Council