Rotterdam Film Fest Unveils Focus Program on Japanese V-Cinema Phenomenon

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Thursday unveiled a second focus program for its 2026 edition that will put the spotlight on the Japanese V-Cinema phenomenon.

It previously set a Marwan Hamed retrospective “in celebration of the prolific Egyptian director’s career.”

The 55th edition of IFFR, taking place Jan. 29-Feb. 8, will feature a showcase dedicated to V-Cinema, the Japanese direct-to-video trend that emerged in the late 1980s and “left a lasting mark on contemporary film culture,” festival organizers said. It will “feature early works by now-famous auteurs, through to discoveries that have rarely been seen outside Japan.”

The V-Cinema production model originated with Toei’s Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage (1989) and “responded to the rise of video rental by producing films that were not released in cinemas,” IFFR highlighted. “This approach allowed directors to work quickly, economically, and with remarkable creative freedom. It offered invaluable opportunities to an emerging generation of filmmakers who would go on to shape Japanese cinema – with Miike Takashi, Nakata Hideo, Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Aoyama Shinji all beginning their journeys here and testing the boundaries of genre, form and narrative in ways that still resonate today.”

IFFR’s V-Cinema Focus will screen a range of titles from Toei, including Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage, Crime Hunter 2: Bullets of Betrayal, and Crime Hunter 3: Killing Bullet, as well as Betrayal Tomorrow, Female Teacher: Forbidden Sex, and XX Beautiful Weapon.

The program will also spotlight the omnibus of ghost stories Scary True Stories: Second Night, the found-footage investigation into a haunted pop song Psychic Vision: Jaganrei, and Takashi’s “gleeful celebration of excess Fudoh: The New Generation.”

Additional titles include Tuff: Part I, described as “a violent, surreal gangland tale of a hitman’s rise,” Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s yakuza comedy Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! Vi: The Hero, the tale of a loan shark helping small business owners The King of Minami, and action movie A Weapon in My Heart.

“V-Cinema offered filmmakers the space to take risks, move fast and work with a freedom rarely possible within the traditional studio system,” said IFFR festival director Vanja Kaludjercic. “What emerged was a wild and inventive cinema embracing everything from anarchic yakuza tales and psycho-horror experiments to surreal hybrid pieces – work that still feels electric today.”