The UK’s Biggest Japanese Film Festival Is Coming To Liverpool’s Picturehouse at FACT This March

Liverpool is set to welcome the UK’s largest annual celebration of Japanese cinema this March, as the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026 (JFTFP26) arrives at Picturehouse at FACT.

Running from 1–31 March 2026, the festival brings an ambitious programme of films spanning classics, contemporary hits and UK premieres — including the UK premiere of a brand-new film by legendary director Takashi Miike.

Exploring identity through Japanese cinema

This year’s programme is curated around the theme “Knowing Me, Knowing You: The True Self in Japanese Cinema”, using film to explore how identity, truth and self-perception are shaped, questioned and reconstructed.

From social realism and psychological drama to comedy, sci-fi and horror, the selection reflects the many ways Japanese filmmakers have grappled with the idea of the “true self” — often revealing how fragile and subjective it can be.

One of the earliest examples included in the programme is Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950), a landmark film that introduced Japanese cinema to international audiences. Its conflicting eyewitness accounts famously challenge the notion of objective truth, setting the tone for a festival that encourages audiences to question what they see.

Major highlights coming to Liverpool

Among the standout screenings is Sham (2025), the latest film from internationally acclaimed filmmaker Takashi Miike, shown as a UK premiere. Best known for his genre-defying work, Miike takes a more restrained, realist approach here, adapting journalist Masumi Fukuda’s investigative report Fabrication: The Truth Behind the Fukuoka ‘Murderous Teacher’ Case.

The film follows an elementary school teacher accused of violent discipline by a pupil’s mother, charting the media frenzy and legal battle that ensue. It offers a sharp social critique, questioning trust, public image and how easily narratives about others can be distorted.

Also screening as UK premieres are:

• The Hotel of My Dream (Dir. Yukihiko Tsutsumi, 2024), a semi-autobiographical and satirical portrait of a young novelist striving for success in 1980s Japan, based on the life of Butter author Asako Yuzuki.
• Hakkenden: Fiction and Reality (Dir. Fumihiko Sori, 2024), a visually ambitious reimagining of the epic Japanese novel Hakkenden, blending the real-life story of its creation with spectacular mythological fantasy.

A programme spanning decades

Alongside new releases, the festival includes celebrated classics such as Conflagration (1958) and Like Asura (2003), offering audiences a rare chance to see defining works of Japanese cinema on the big screen.

The full programme features more than 25 films, with many titles receiving their first-ever UK screenings, reinforcing the festival’s reputation as a vital showcase for Japanese filmmaking past and present.

Liverpool dates and tickets

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme will tour venues across the North West, but Liverpool audiences can catch the full run at Picturehouse at FACT from 1–31 March 2026.

Tickets and full programme details are available via the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme website.