Key Points

Competition title 'Mother Bhumi' marks a striking reinvention for Fan Bingbing, who plays a widowed village woman navigating farm work by day and employing sorcery by night to protect her community.

The world premiere drama sees her confront the truth behind her husband's death.

A high-profile gala is Peter Ho-sun Chan's 'She Has No Name,' which has previously played Cannes, Shanghai and Toronto, starring Zhang Ziyi as a Shanghai housewife accused of her husband's grisly murder in the 1940s, with Lei Jiayin co-starring. The film revisits one of China's most notorious unsolved cases, reported Variety.

TIFF had previously confirmed its opening, centrepiece and closing films, all by marquee directors.

Sakamoto Junji's 'Climbing for Life,' chronicling Everest pioneer Junko Tabei, opens the festival with Yoshinaga Sayuri leading the cast.

The centrepiece slot is reserved for veteran Yamada Yoji's 'Tokyo Taxi,' a human drama starring Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura.

Closing the edition is Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao's 'Hamnet,' toplined by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, which dramatises the loss that inspired Shakespeare's 'Hamlet,' reported Variety.

The Competition Section in the TIFF blends emerging voices with seasoned auteurs.

Nakagawa Ryutaro closes his trilogy with 'Echoes of Motherhood,' while Amos Gitai will unveil the hybrid docu-fiction 'Golem in Pompei,' reported Variety.

Hailey Gates' 'Atropia,' produced by Luca Guadagnino, offers a satirical look at U.S. war training grounds, while Hungarian provocateur Gyorgy Palfi delivers 'Hen,' a fable shot in Greece.

Further titles include Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis' 'Heads or Tails?,' and Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir's epic 'Palestine 36,' reported Variety.

Cambodian master Rithy Panh returns with 'We Are the Fruits of the Forest,' a documentary shot over four years in northern highlands communities.

Nippon Cinema Now section at TIFF spotlights the current landscape of Japanese filmmaking, from rising independent voices to established auteurs and international collaborations.

According to Variety, this year's lineup includes Keiko Tsuruoka's 'Saikai Paradise,' Yukari Sakamoto's 'White Flowers and Fruits,' Shigeru Kobayashi's 'In Their Traces,' Yang Liping's Japan-China co-production 'Echoes of the Orient,' and Akio Fujimoto's multinational project 'Lost Land.'

TIFF's Asian Future platform introduces works from emerging regional filmmakers, including Roh Young-wan's Korean coming-of-age drama 'Halo,' Michael Kam's 'The Old Man and His Car' from Singapore, Park Young-jae's sports-themed 'Tomorrow's Min-Jae,' and Kangdrun's Tibetan feature 'Linka Linka.'

Gala Selections feature global auteurs such as Ari Aster with 'Eddington,' as well as Korean genre fare like Lim Dae-hee's 'Holy Night: Demon Hunters', reported Variety.

World Focus brings a broad international spread, including Alejandro Amenabar's 'The Captive,' Michel Franco's 'Dreams' and Vivian Qu's 'Girl on Wire.'

Tokyo Film Festival 2025 will run from October 28 to November 5. It will screen at venues across central Tokyo, including Toho Cinemas Hibiya, Humantrust Cinema Yurakucho and Marunouchi Piccadilly.

- ANI