Tokyo International Film Festival (2014)

Tokyo's top cinematic extravaganza will be back in late October as usual, and this year's edition promises to take things in a slightly different direction: Roppongi Hills will still be the main venue, but major screenings are also to be held at Toho Cinemas Nihonbashi and Ginza's Kabukiza Theatre (e.g. Chaplin's 1931 classic City Lights will be shown at the latter). As for the content, the focus will be on animation, particularly through a special program highlighting the work of Hideaki Anno, the man behind smash hit Evangelion. The festival's also managed to secure the world premiere of Disney's robot story Big Hero 6 as its opening film, while Takashi Yamazaki's sci-fi manga adaptation Parasyte will close out the celebration. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn heads the jury, which will choose from 15 competition entries including Daihachi Yoshida's embezzlement tale Pale Moon, NYC drug drama Heaven Knows What and Italian mystery Ice Forest. TIFF is always unmissable for film buffs who don't have advanced-level Japanese reading skills, as practically all films are shown with English subtitles.

Tickets go on sale October 11 at 12 noon.