JAPAN ON THE BIG SCREEN, ZAMBIAN CREATIVES, COME WATCH, CONNECT AND DISCOVER WHAT WE CAN CREATE TOGETHER
There are moments when attending a film festival should be about more than watching a movie.
It should be about learning, networking, discovering another culture, studying another film industry and beginning conversations that could eventually lead to collaboration.
The Japan Film Festival 2026, organised through the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Zambia, presents exactly that kind of opportunity for Zambia's filmmakers, producers, actors, writers, animators, students and the wider creative industry.
And importantly, admission to all the film screenings is free.
The festival will take place at Ster Kinekor, Manda Hill, with five Japanese films screening between 25 September and 4 October 2026.
For the Zambian creative community, our message is simple:
Please take advantage of this opportunity. Attend. Watch. Interact. Learn. Network.
IT STARTS WITH JAPAN DAY
The programme begins with another important opportunity for cultural interaction, Japan Day, taking place on Friday, 25 September 2026, from 09:00 to 16:30 at Manda Hill Shopping Centre, Shoprite Entrance.
Japan Day provides an opportunity to experience Japanese culture beyond cinema.
The programme includes a traditional Yukata experience, Kendama, Origami, Japanese calligraphy, Japanese food tasting and a Japanese tea experience.
Why should this matter to filmmakers?
Because filmmaking begins with understanding people.
Culture influences costume, production design, language, music, performance, storytelling, food, architecture, traditions and the way communities understand themselves.
If we want to create stories that travel internationally, we must also become curious about other cultures.
THEN JAPAN COMES TO THE BIG SCREEN
The Japan Film Festival itself presents a fascinating selection of Japanese cinema, ranging from live action comedy and horror to anime, fantasy, romance and stories about filmmaking itself.
The festival opens on Friday, 25 September at 18:00 with One Cut of the Dead, directed by Ueda Shinichiro. The comedy horror follows a film crew shooting a zombie movie before things take an unexpected turn. Particularly interesting for filmmakers is its use of a 37 minute one take sequence before revealing what happened behind the scenes.
On Saturday, 26 September at 16:00, audiences can experience Attack on Titan Movie Part 1, Guren no Yumiya, directed by Araki Tetsuro.
On Sunday, 27 September at 14:00, the festival presents A Samurai in Time, directed by Yasuda Junichi, a comedy about a samurai transported 140 years into the future who finds himself on a modern samurai film set.
The programme continues on Saturday, 3 October at 16:00 with Mamoru Hosoda's anime Summer Wars, followed on Sunday, 4 October at 14:00 by Makoto Shinkai's internationally recognised animated film Your Name.
All five screenings are free.
FILMMAKERS, DON'T JUST WATCH THE FILM, STUDY IT
For our filmmakers, attending a festival like this should not be passive.
Go there as a student of cinema.
Look at the cinematography.
Study the editing.
Listen to the sound design.
Observe how characters are developed.
Study production design.
Look at how culture is embedded within storytelling.
For our animators, there is an especially valuable opportunity to experience Japanese anime on the cinema screen and consider what Zambia can learn from an industry that has successfully transformed culturally rooted storytelling into internationally recognised intellectual property.
The question should not be, "How can Zambia copy Japanese cinema?"
The better question is:
"What can we learn from Japan about turning our own culture, characters, histories and imagination into creative products that can travel around the world?"
THIS IS ALSO ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS
NAMA would particularly like to encourage filmmakers and other creative professionals to look beyond the screenings themselves.
Interact.
Meet representatives where opportunities arise.
Introduce yourself.
Talk about what you produce.
Ask questions.
Exchange contacts.
Learn about Japanese cinema and creative institutions.
Explore where Zambia and Japan might find common ground.
A collaboration does not always begin with a signed agreement.
Sometimes it begins with a conversation.
Sometimes it begins with watching somebody else's film.
Sometimes it begins with two filmmakers discovering that they share an interest in the same kind of story.
And sometimes a cultural event creates the relationship from which a much bigger project eventually develops.
IMAGINE ZAMBIA AND JAPAN CREATING TOGETHER
Why shouldn't we eventually explore Zambian and Japanese co productions?
Why shouldn't our filmmakers explore animation collaborations?
Why shouldn't Japanese filmmakers discover Zambia's landscapes, cultures and stories?
Why shouldn't Zambian film students interact with Japanese filmmakers and institutions?
Why shouldn't we explore knowledge exchange in cinematography, animation, technology, post production, sound, distribution and film education?
These possibilities begin when creative communities meet each other.
That is why attending cultural events matters.
OUR INDUSTRY MUST BECOME MORE INTERNATIONAL
If Zambia wants to grow its film industry, our filmmakers must increasingly expose themselves to international cinema and international creative communities.
Film festivals are classrooms.
They are marketplaces.
They are networking spaces.
They are cultural bridges.
And sometimes they are the places where the next idea is born.
The Japan Film Festival gives us access to another filmmaking culture without leaving
Zambia and without paying for a cinema ticket.
That opportunity should not be wasted.
NAMA ENCOURAGES THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY TO ATTEND
To our NAMA members, filmmakers, producers, actors, writers, cinematographers, editors, animators, film students and everyone working within Zambia's creative sector:
Come to Japan Day.
Attend the screenings.
Watch Japanese cinema.
Meet people.
Ask questions.
Exchange ideas.
Explore collaboration.
And above all, come with an open creative mind.
We spend a great deal of time asking how Zambia can access international markets.
Sometimes the international market comes to our doorstep.
When it does, we must show up.
Japan Day takes place on Friday, 25 September 2026, from 09:00 to 16:30 at Manda Hill Shopping Centre, while the Japan Film Festival screenings run from 25 September to 4 October at Ster Kinekor, Manda Hill.
Admission to the film screenings is FREE.
Let us watch.
Let us learn.
Let us connect.
And perhaps, from these interactions, the next Zambia, Japan creative collaboration can begin.
Morgan Mbulo
President, National Association of Media Arts, NAMA Media Consultant
NAMA 2026 ©
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