BOSTON (April 4, 2025)—With an electrifying selection of bold new releases, the UNIQLO Festival of Films from Japan returns to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), from May 22 through June 1, 2025. This year's festival marks the eighth-annual showcase of Japanese cinema made possible through the MFA’s 10-year partnership with global apparel retailer UNIQLO.

This year’s festival spans genres and generations, from Shinya Tsukamoto’s haunting war drama Shadow of Fire (2023) to the heartwarming journey of grief and reconciliation in Cottontail (2023). Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s Look Back (2024), adapted from the beloved manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, explores artistic passion and collaboration, while Bushido (2024) delivers a thrilling samurai epic infused with social critique. The festival also features the inventive time-loop comedy River (2023) and the nostalgic, jazz-infused biopic Between the White Key and the Black Key (2023).

Tickets for all screenings are available beginning April 14: $12 for MFA members and $15 for nonmembers. Tickets are $5 for University Members.

Films

Sunset Sunrise

Directed by Yoshiyuki Kishi (Japan, 2025, 139 min.)
May 22, 7:00 pm

Set in the early days of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, this bright comedy follows Shinsaku (Masaki Suda), a fishing enthusiast and office worker from Tokyo, who discovers a spacious four-bedroom apartment in the coastal town of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, with an unbelievably low rent of 60,000 yen per month. Seizing the opportunity to work remotely, Shinsaku relocates, spending his free time fishing by the sea. His arrival causes a stir among the locals, who view city folk with suspicion, but with his infectiously optimistic nature, Shinsaku gradually earns their trust. As he settles into his new life, an unexpected journey of self-discovery and community unfolds, filled with humor, heart, and personal growth.

Between the White Key and the Black Key

Directed by Masanori Tominaga (Japan, 2023, 94 min.)
May 23, 7:00 pm

Set over the course of a fateful New Year’s Eve in Tokyo’s Ginza district in 1988, Between the White and Black Keys is a surreal and playful reimagining of jazz pianist Minami Hiroshi’s memoir. As the young Minami works tirelessly on his demo tape, hoping to earn a spot at Berklee College of Music in Boston, he finds himself caught in a dreamlike loop where past, present, and future blur. As the night unfolds in the smoky jazz clubs and neon-lit alleys of Ginza, Minami crosses paths with an ensemble of eccentric artists, each offering glimpses of what success, failure, and artistic integrity truly mean.

Cottontail

Directed by Patrick Dickinson (Japan and The United Kingdom, 2023, 94 min.)
May 24, 2:30 pm

After his wife Akiko died from Alzheimer’s, Japanese novelist Kenzaburo embarks on a journey to England’s Lake District to fulfill his wife’s final wish—scattering her ashes in the place where she first fell in love with Beatrix Potter’s stories. Accompanied by his estranged son, Toshi (Ryo Nishikido), and his family, Kenzaburo struggles with the rigid itinerary imposed on the trip, leading him to break away and explore the countryside on his own. Along the way, he forms unexpected friendships, including with a widowed farmer and his daughter (played by real-life father and daughter Ciarán and Aoife Hinds), as the journey begins to mend old wounds. Expanded from his 2013 short film Usagi-san (Mr Rabbit), Patrick Dickinson’s Cottontail is a tender yet familiar meditation on grief, family, and reconciliation.

Shadow of Fire

Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan, 2023, 95 min.)
May 25, 2:30 pm

From visionary director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man; Tokyo Fist), Shadow of Fire continues his war trilogy following Fires on the Plain and Killing. Set in the ruins of postwar Japan, the film follows an orphan boy surviving on stolen food and a woman forced into sex work as they struggle to rebuild their lives. Their tenuous existence is upended by the arrival of a traumatized young soldier and a mysterious drifter. With Tsukamoto’s signature intensity, Shadow of Fire delivers a stark meditation on war’s lingering wounds and a society haunted by its past.

Look Back

Directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Japan, 2024, 90 min.)
May 29, 7:00 pm

Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a homeschooled recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing. Based on the acclaimed manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Man), Look Back captures the highs and lows of pursuing artistic excellence and the special bonds formed through creative collaboration. The heart-wrenching story is the stunning feature debut from former Studio Ghibli animator Kiyotaka Oshiyama.

Preceded by Magic Candies

Directed by Daisuke Nishio (Japan, 2024, 57 min.)

Nominated for Best Animated Short Film at this year's Oscars, Magic Candies follows Dong-Dong, a lonely boy who discovers a bag of magical, marble-shaped candies that allow him to have conversations with everyday objects.

Bushido

Directed by Kazuya Shiraishi (Japan, 2024, 129 min.) 
May 30, 7:00 pm

From acclaimed director Kazuya Shiraishi comes Bushido, a gripping samurai epic blending old-school action with a scathing critique of feudal honor. Tsuyoshi Kusanagi stars as Kakunoshin Yanagida, a ronin falsely accused of theft and exiled from his clan. Living in Edo with his devoted daughter, he finds solace in playing the strategic game of Go—until a scandal forces him on a quest for justice against the man who destroyed his life. As tensions rise, what begins as a quiet drama erupts into a breathtaking samurai showdown, with Shiraishi’s fluid camerawork and visceral fight choreography bringing each clash to life.

River

Directed by Junta Yamaguchi (Japan, 2023, 87 min.) 
May 31, 2:30 pm

In the tranquil winter landscape of Kyoto’s Kibune village, the historic Fujiya Inn becomes the setting for an unusual mystery. Guests and staff suddenly realize they are trapped in a two-minute time loop, forcing them to relive the same fleeting moments over and over. As they work together to uncover the cause and break free, their journey unfolds in real time through cleverly orchestrated single-take sequences. This delightful comedy celebrates human ingenuity and teamwork, both on-screen and behind the scenes, as the cast and crew craft a cinematic gem with remarkable resourcefulness on a modest budget.

My Sunshine

Directed by Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan and France, 2024, 100 min.) 
June 1, 2:30 pm

On a Japanese island, a young boy named Takura is compelled to join the local hockey team like the rest of his classmates—but his secret passion is for figure skating. When former skating champion Arakawa notices Takuya practicing spins, he decides to teach him the ways of the sport, pairing him with a promising girl named Sakura to compete in an upcoming ice dancing competition. As their training evolves, feelings grow, and the two children form a harmonious bond. But just as the seasons inevitably change, first love can turn cold with time. What at first seems like a simple, sentimental coming-of-age film cuts deeper as it begins to probe gender conventions and latent bigotry in the small island community.

About the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The MFA brings many worlds together through art. Showcasing masterpieces from ancient to modern, our renowned collection of more than half a million works tells a multifaceted story of the human experience—a story that holds unique meaning for everyone. From Boston locals to international travelers, visitors from across the globe come to experience the MFA. Through both art and audience, the Museum brings together diverse perspectives—revealing connections, exploring differences, creating a community where all belong. Plan your visit at mfa.org.

About UNIQLO LifeWear

Apparel that comes from the Japanese values of simplicity, quality and longevity. Designed to be of the time and for the time, LifeWear is made with such modern elegance that it becomes the building blocks of each individual’s style. A perfect shirt that is always being made more perfect. The simplest design hiding the most thoughtful and modern details. The best in fit and fabric made to be affordable and accessible to all. LifeWear is clothing that is constantly being innovated, bringing more warmth, more lightness, better design, and better comfort to people’s lives.

About UNIQLO and Fast Retailing

UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. UNIQLO is the largest of eight brands in the Fast Retailing Group, the others being GU, Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand and Helmut Lang. With global sales of approximately 3.1 trillion yen for the 2024 fiscal year ending August 31, 2024 (US $21.42 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2024 rate of $1 = 144.9 yen), Fast Retailing is one of the world’s largest apparel retail companies, and UNIQLO is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.

UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stores in some of the world's most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a global brand. Today the company has a total of more than 2,500 UNIQLO stores across the world, including Japan, Asia, Europe and North America. The total number of stores across Fast Retailing's brands is now over 3,600.

With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. For more information about UNIQLO and Fast Retailing, please visit www.uniqlo.com and www.fastretailing.com.