26th Nippon Connection Film Festival – (Un)real Japan: Between Truth and Fiction

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26th Nippon Connection Film Festival
(Un)real Japan: Between Truth and Fiction

Nippon Rising Star Award Goes to Actress Anna Yamada /
Thematic Focus: “Shades Of Reality” /
From June 2 to 7, 2026 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Nippon Connection is getting ready for its 26th edition! From June 2 to 7, 2026, the world’s largest Japanese film festival will once again open its doors in Frankfurt am Main to transport its visitors into the fascinating world of Japanese film. With over 100 short and feature films, audiences can expect an extensive program that celebrates the diversity of contemporary Japanese cinema and offers a home to all those looking to discover stories beyond their usual viewing preferences. From visually stunning blockbusters and existential animated films to progressive independent films, Nippon Connection offers a diverse selection – including numerous German, European, and international premieres in the presence of the filmmakers. The festival also features a packed culture program, which includes fascinating lectures, informative workshops, and rousing concerts. At the two festival centers, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm and Produktionshaus NAXOS, a large Japanese market invites visitors to browse various market stalls and eat delicious treats.

Actress Anna Yamada Receives Nippon Rising Star Award

Japanese actress Anna Yamada is expected in Frankfurt to receive the Nippon Rising Star Award on June 7. With this prestigious award, presented by Kyocera Document Solutions Deutschland, Nippon Connection recognizes the work of young, up-and-coming talents in the Japanese film scene. Born in Saitama prefecture in 2001, Yamada made her debut as the lead actress in Eisuke Naito’s film “Liverleaf” in 2018 and has since appeared in various Japanese television dramas and film productions. 

Thanks to her sensitive acting style, Anna Yamada is one of a small number of up-and-coming actors and actresses in Japan moving effortlessly between major cinema productions and innovative independent films. Her performances have already been honored with various awards in Japan, including the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize and the 15th TAMA Film Award. Winning the Nippon Rising Star Award highlights the promising talents of this young artist beyond her own country’s borders and gives her well deserved international recognition.

Her latest film, NEW GROUP, will be presented at the festival as a German premiere. Yuta Shimotsu’s psychological horror film deals with hierarchical structures and confronts the lead actress, Anna Yamada, with a collective of students who have gone crazy and start forming a human pyramid.

Image from last year’s festival

Focus: Shades Of Reality – Between Truth And Fiction

This year’s thematic focus, Shades Of Reality – Between Truth And Fiction, is directed at the tension between staging and reality. The central question is how film constructs, interprets, and questions reality – for example, through hybrid forms between feature films and documentaries or subjective narrative styles in which memory and imagination play a central role. 

Amid global discussions about disinformation, digital image manipulation, and algorithmically curated realities, the relationship between fact and fiction is coming more sharply into focus than ever, opening up new perspectives on artistic explorations of reality. Nippon Connection provides space and stimulation for this discourse with a broad film and cultural program. The thematic focus is supported by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain.

Image from last year’s festival

First Film Highlights and New Award for Animated Short Films

The first films for the 26th Nippon Connection Film Festival have already been selected: In addition to NEW GROUP with Anna Yamada, the long-awaited live-action adaptation of Yoshiyuki Okuyama’s anime classic 5 Centimeters Per Second and Kei Ishikawa’s postwar drama A Pale View Of Hills, which celebrated its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes International Film Festival, will be shown in Germany for the first time. 

With the Nippon Animation Shorts Award, the festival is introducing its own competition for animated short films. The new award focuses on fostering young creative talent from Japan and is presented in cooperation with Wacom. The festival will curate three short film programs from numerous submissions. A three-member jury will decide the winning film, which will be announced at the award ceremony on June 6.

The complete festival program and tickets will be available on the festival website NipponConnection.com starting May 9, 2026.

Partner hotels are offering rooms at special rates for festival visitors.

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