KOTATSU 2025: Japanese Cinema at Innis Town Hall

Our annual winter film showcase is returning to Innis Town Hall! This year’s edition offers a perfect blend of five contemporary Japanese films, running from morning to night on Saturday, January 25. We open and close with stunning anime films, with a diverse selection of hidden indie gems in between.


The kotatsu (炬燵 or こたつ) is a signature piece of furniture and the centre of Japanese homes during cold seasons. The modern kotatsu features a low table frame covered by a special quilt or heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits. Underneath is an electric heater often built into the table itself. Before modern electricity, charcoal was used to heat a hearth set into the ground.


Saturday, January 25, 2025
Innis Town Hall

Co-presented by the Japan Foundation, Toronto and the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto

All films presented in Japanese with English subtitles • Free Admission • In-Theatre Screenings • RSVP Required (register below)


Children of the Sea
海獣の子供

Saturday, January 25, 11:00AM (ET)

Directed by WATANABE Ayumu • 2019 • Anime/ Fantasy • 111 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles • Trailer

When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her father works. Now she feels drawn towards the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. Both of them have a supernatural connection with the sea and the strange events happening around the world.


I Am What I Am
そばかす

Saturday, January 25, 1:25PM (ET)

Directed by TAMADA Shinya • 2022 • Drama / LGBTQIA+ • 104 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles • Trailer

Kasumi is aromantic and asexual, meaning she does not have any feelings of romance. Due to her sister’s marriage, her mother arranges a matchmaking session without her permission. At the meeting, she meets a man who feels the same about love as she does.


Jesus
僕はイエス様が嫌い

Saturday, January 25, 3:45PM (ET)

Directed by OKUYAMA Hiroshi • 2018 • Comedy / Drama • 78 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles • Trailer

When Yura’s family moves from Tokyo to the countryside, he enters a Christian school, a religion he knows nothing about. As Yura struggles to understand his new and unfamiliar environment, a miniature Jesus enters his life.


Japanese Girls Never Die
アズミ・ハルコは行方不明

Saturday, January 25, 5:35PM (ET)

Directed by MATSUI Daigo • 2016 • Comedy / Drama • 101 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles • Trailer

While a gang of high school girls randomly beats lone men at night, the photo of a missing young woman is graffitied on the walls across a small suburban town. Both incidents coincide and become a viral sensation.


Inu-Oh
犬王

Saturday, January 25, 7:50PM (ET)

Directed by YUASA Masaaki • 2021 • Anime / Fantasy / Musical • 99 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles • Trailer

A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan, in this electrifying anime rock opera.


Co-presented by: