In Nagasaki, 1964, the death of a yakuza leader sets his orphaned son Kikuo on a fateful course. Adopted by a famous Kabuki actor, Kikuo finds both a kindred spirit and intense rival in the actor’s other son, Shunsuke, as both children dedicate themselves to mastering this traditional form of theatre. Over the course of five decades, Kikuo (played in adulthood by Ryu Yoshizawa, who spent a year studying Kabuki for the role) and Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama) ascend to Japan’s grandest stages while perfecting the craft of onnagata (men playing women on stage)—but only one of them can be ordained ningen kokuho (“national treasure”).
Currently breaking Japanese box office records, Kokuho is an epic film and passion project 15 years in the making for its director, Sang-il Lee. Lee’s love for Kabuki is evident in the film’s resplendent visuals, from the immaculate set design and impeccable costumes to the precision of its mesmerizing Kabuki performances. Monumental in its ambition and intricate in its dynamics, Kokuho is a work to be treasured.
Oscar Submission: Japan
Media Partner
Ryō Yoshizawa, Ryusei Yokohama, Mitsuki Takahata, Shinobu Terajima, Ken Watanabe
Japan
2025
In Japanese with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Atsuhiro Iwakami, Nobuhiko Ito, Hiroyuki Araki, Minami Ichikawa, Akihito Watanabe, Shinzo Matsuhashi
Producer
Shinzo Matsuhashi
Screenwriter
Satoko Okudera
Cinematography
Sofian El Fani
Editor
Tsuyoshi Imai
Production Design
Yohei Taneda
Original Music
Marihiko Hara
Sang-il Lee 李相日
Born in 1974, Sang-il Lee is a Japanese director of Korean descent. He studied at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, a film school founded by Shōhei Imamura. His 2000 graduation film, Chong, received widespread acclaim. Since then, he has directed ten feature films, including Unforgiven (2013), a remake of Clint Eastwood’s western, which was presented at the Venice Film Festival.
Filmography: Hula Girls (2006); Villain (2010); Unforgiven (2013); Rage (2016); The Blue Hearts (2017); The Wandering Moon (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Orwell: 2+2=5
Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck reimagines 1984 in this urgent essay on power, language, and control. With narration by Damian Lewis, it’s a chilling portrait of how Orwell’s warnings became our reality.
Cover-Up
Oscar-winner Laura Poitras and Emmy-winner Mark Obenhaus turn their lens on legendary journalist Seymour Hersh in a riveting film that unpacks how one reporter exposed the truths behind My Lai and Abu Ghraib — and what it takes to hold power to account.
Image: © The New York Times
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
Cutting Through Rocks
Winner of Sundance's World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Cutting Through Rocks follows Sara Shahverdi — motorcyclist, midwife, and first-ever councilwoman elected in her Iranian village. A vérité triumph by Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni.