• EN
• JP

Application

“The Image Forum Festival,” the largest festival of moving image art in Japan, is accepting submissions of original moving image works. There are no restrictions whatsoever on genre (art films, documentaries, animated works, dramas, and so on), techniques used, or length. We are looking for works that go beyond existing concepts to expand the horizon of visual expression.
 
Application period: January 31st (Sat) to April 11th (Sat), 2026
*The results of the first and second rounds of evaluation will be released as the shortlist on our official website by early August, 2025.
 
Application section: East Asian Experimental Competition
Application guidelines
Application form（PDF） *For by mail/in person application
Application form（Online） *Recommended

What is the Image Forum Festival’s “East Asian Experimental Competition”?

The Image Forum Festival is a festival of moving image art that brings together for screening works with a high degree of expression, artistry, and creativity. A successor to “New Works of Underground Cinema” (1973-1975) and “Experimental Film Festival” (1981-1985), this festival, which expanded to include more international content and an open competition section, began in 1987 and is being held for the 40th time this year.
The festival’s open competition section has come to be known as a gateway to success for groundbreaking young filmmakers in Japan, and in previous years has featured works by filmmakers and artists who have gone on to international success such as YAMAMURA Koji, KAWASE Naomi, IGUCHI Noboru, ISHIDA Takashi, and WADA Atsushi. Last year we have expanded this section (formerly known as the “Japan Tomorrow” section) that had been restricted to Japanese works and relaunched it as the “East Asian Experimental Competition.”
Starting this year, we are establishing a new “Japan Experimental” section under the main competition to highlight the expanded potential of the Japanese experimental film scene.

Previous year : 39th Image Forum Festival
Previous year : The awarded films and Jury comments

What does it mean to be nominated?

The (approximately 25) works that make it through the first and second rounds of selection will be screened at this year’s festival along as works nominated for prizes. The final selection will begin when the festival opens and the six winners of the following prizes and audience choice prize will be announced at the Award Ceremony.
 
　●Grand Prize (1): ￥300,000 + Prize certificate
　●TERAYAMA Shuji Prize (1): ￥100,000 + Prize certificate
　●Excellence Prize (3): ￥30,000 + Prize certificate
　●Japan Experimental Prize (1): ￥30,000 + Prize certificate
　・・・From among the Japanese works that pass the first and second rounds of selection for the East Asia Experimental Competition, selected films exploring new forms of moving-image expression will be selected and screened in the festival’s “Japan Experimental” program. One work will receive an award.
 
Nominated works will not only be recommended to various film festivals in Japan and overseas, but Image Forum also have been curating selected programs from recent nominated works for the film festivals and institutions overseas, includes;

 
– Moscow International Experimental Film Festival (Moscow, Russia)
– Guangdong Times Museum (Guangdong, China)
– Asia Culture Center (Kwangju, Korea)
– EXiS (Seoul, Korea)
– Jumping Frames — Hong Kong International Movement-image Festival (Hong Kong)
– South Taiwan Film Festival (Taiwan)
– Bali International Short Film Festival MINIKINO FILM WEEK (Bali, Indonesia)
– Wathann Film Festival (Yangon, Myanmar)
– SeaShorts Film Festival (Penan, Malaysia)
– Thai Short Film & Video Festival (Bangkok, Thai)
– Ann Arbor Film Festival (Michigan, USA)
– Binghamton University (New York, USA)
– California Institute of the Arts (California, USA)
– Festival Accès Asie (Montreal, Canada)
– Vancouver Film Festival (Vancouver, Canada)
– CINEMATEK, The Royal Film Archive of Belgium (Brussels, Belgium)
– International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam, The Netherland)
– Student City Cultural Center (Belgrade, Serbia)

Final evaluation jury

Schedule・Outline

40th Image Forum Festival
 
■Venue, Date：
・Tokyo: September 19th ( Sat ) to September 25th ( Fri ), 2026 / Theatre Image Forum
・Other cities: TBA
 
■Main Program：
East Asian Experimental Film Competition
Experimental Panorama
Filmmakers In Focus
 
■Organizer：
Image Forum