World Premiere
Ten years after moving to Vancouver, struggling visual artist Kana Yamamoto (Mayumi Yoshida) returns to Tokyo to attend the funeral of her beloved grandmother. Arriving in Japan, she rekindles a tentative flame with her bashful ex-boyfriend, Hiro (Ryo Tajima), an aspiring thespian who vanished from her life a decade prior. As Kana digs deeper into her grandmother’s past, she uncovers a family secret that prompts her to reconsider everything she thought she knew about love, duty, and belonging.
A feature adaptation of writer/director/actor Mayumi Yoshida’s autofictional short film of the same name, Akashi’s largely black-and-white cinematography evokes the solemnity of Kana’s grief, with select scenes brought to life in vivid colour. Themes of identity, class struggle, and artistic aspiration coalesce as the film shifts between the past and present to explore contrasting tales of star-crossed romance. Awash in synth soundscapes and driven by emotionally resonant performances, this tender drama asserts love’s ability to bridge any and all distances.
Oct 5 & 9: Q&A
Presented by
Media Partner
Mayumi Yoshida, Hana Kino, Ryo Tajima, Sayaka Kunisada, Bun Kimura, Yuriko Onuma
Canada
2025
In Japanese and English with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Julie Waters, Evan Dyal, Mallory Schwartz, Tyler Hagan, Kathleen Hepburn, Nach Dudsdeemaytha, Justin Ambrosino, Mayumi Yoshida
Producer
Nach Dudsdeemaytha, Tyler Hagan
Screenwriter
Mayumi Yoshida
Cinematography
Jaryl Lim
Editor
Nach Dudsdeemaytha
Production Design
Neil Colango
Original Music
Andrew Yong Hoon Lee
Mayumi Yoshida 吉田真由美
Mayumi Yoshida is a director, actor, and writer born in Japan, raised in three continents, and currently based in Vancouver. Her international background brings a unique “in-betweener” point of view to her storytelling. She is an alumna of the Warner Bros. Discovery Access x Canadian Academy’s Writer/Director Program, TIFF Writer’s Studio, and Beyond Japan Filmmakers Program, where she was mentored by Hirokazu Koreeda. Her Juno-nominated music video “Different Than Before” won the Jury Award at SXSW and screened at Oscar- and BAFTA-qualifying film fests.
Filmography: Akashi (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Blue Trail
77-year-old Tereza makes a break for the Brazilian jungle in this trippy septuagenarian fantasy, the latest from Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro is a quirky picaresque, lushly photographed and filled with mordant humour.
Two Prosecutors
In the midst of Stalin’s purges, a naïve prosecutor sets out to investigate a prisoner’s innocence, unaware of the labyrinthine bureaucracy awaiting him. A Kafkaesque procedural thriller about the pursuit of justice in the face of corruption.
Image: © SBS Productions
Crepúsculo
A brain surgeon (Arturo de Córdova) begins to doubt his own sanity when the woman he's in love with (Gloria Marin) marries his brother — and he starts fantasizing about murder.
Victims of Sin
This movie is a hot scramble of piety and passion, sentimentality and sleaze. Ninón Sevilla plays Violeta, a rumba sensation who oversteps when she rescues a newborn from the trash. This gets her fired and wins the enmity of the pimp who fathered the kid.
Calle Málaga
Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.