The lineup for the 45th Pia Film Festival 2023, to be held at the National Film Archive in Kyobashi, Tokyo, from September 9 (Sat) to 23 (Sat), has been announced.
The “Pia Film Festival” (PFF) was launched in 1977 with the theme of “discovering and nurturing new talent in film” to promote the fun of independent film. The main program is the “PFF Award,” Japan’s first full-scale competition for independent films, and the festival also has an invitational film section that realizes special screening programs that can only be seen at the festival.
The competition section, “PFF Award 2023,” will screen 22 films selected from among 577 submissions, with a talk session with the filmmakers to follow the screenings. The Grand Prix and Runner-up Prizes will be screened on the following day, September 23. Selected films will also be distributed through DOKUSO cinema, an independent film subscription service, and online through U-NEXT.
In the Invitational Films section, “Cool! 70s and 80s” will feature Kazuki Omori, Hisashi Saito, Sachiko Hibino, and others. The other programs include “Arnaud Desplechin’s Special Feature,” which includes a screening with the director himself as a guest, Peter Barakan’s music film series “Black & Black,” and the world premiere of the 29th PFF scholarship film “Rennou Experiment,” directed by Shika Okada. The screening schedule and timetable for the Competition and Invitational sections can be found on the official website. This year’s festival will also be held at the Kyoto Culture Museum in Sanjo, Kyoto, from October 14 (Sat) to 22 (Sun). Tickets for Tokyo will go on sale at Ticket Pia from August 19 (Sat).
