TIFF announces full lineup

A cross-dressing 19th century butler, an Indian Tess of the d'Urbevilles and a fisherman escorting a pig through Gaza are just some of the tales in the competition section of this year's Tokyo International Film Festival. The full lineup for the fest, which is held from October 22-30, includes world premieres of films by directors as diverse as Oxide Pang (of The Eye fame) and The Chef of South Polar helmer Shuichi Okita. Local audiences will also get their first glimpse of upcoming flicks by Koki Mitani (A Ghost of a Chance), Gu Su-yeon (Hard Romanticker) and Yuya Ishii (Mitsuko Delivers), as well as a chance to see some of the movies that have been generating buzz on the festival circuit this year, among them Gus Van Sant's teen drama Restless, Na Hong-jin's brutal thriller The Yellow Sea, and Pina, Wim Wenders' stunning 3D tribute to the late choreographer Pina Bausch.

This being the movie world's most eco-minded festival, there's a strong selection of nature-themed features and documentaries, ranging from If a Tree Falls – a doc about radical environmentalist collective the Earth Liberation Front – to Land of Oblivion, Michale Boganim's wide-ranging drama chronicling the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Actress Kyoko Kagawa, a veteran of films by Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa, is being treated to a special retrospective, and there'll also be an all-night screening of three works by the late Juzo Itami, including his pseudonymous 1962 debut, Rubber Band Pistol. In a nod to more recent cinematic developments, TIFF will throw a spotlight on the oeuvre of Kiki Sugino, an actress and producer who has worked extensively with indie directors throughout Asia.

As we reported earlier in the month, the festival opens with Paul W.S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers and Jackie Chan's historical epic 1911 – though the latter risks being upstaged by big-budget kung fu flick Shaolin, which will also be screening. Things wrap up with Brad Pitt starrer Moneyball, a film that's so far struggled to generate much excitement at other festivals. And the films we mentioned at the start? Those would be Glenn Close starrer Albert Nobbs, Michael Winterbottom's Trishna and Sylvain Estival's When Pigs Have Wings.

Check the official Tokyo International Film Festival website for the complete lineup.