Welcome to Rainbow Reel Tokyo.

For the last few years, the situation that can be called the LGBT boom has continued, and various
films have been released to the theaters. It’s good that many people see sexual minorities in
those films and feel something.

On the other hand, the word LGBT is an easy-to-use word that can express a wide range of sexual
minorities in a single word, so we tend to overlook the world spreading between the four letters.
There is a limit to understanding this vast world only by a few, available works. That’s why we
want more works to be seen.

The theme color for this year’s film festival is red. According to a book, the red on the rainbow
flag, which is a symbol of sexual minority, is given the meaning of “life”. Is it red full of
life or red that swings with a miserable feeling? Even for one color, each person has a different
shade, and there’s no same red.

There is a vast world spreading between the four letters of LGBT and six colors of a rainbow flag.
This year we gathered a lot of interesting films in the hope of filling the gaps a little. Our
film festival is a place where we can all enjoy films together beyond the boundaries of sexuality.
Why not come here and fill the gaps a little with the various people around you?

Hideki Miyazawa
Committee Director, Rainbow Reel Tokyo

‘Rainbow Reel Tokyo’ is a film festival which screens films with the theme of people who identify as sexual minorities. It was first held in 1992 with the name ‘Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Movie Festival’, and this year will be the 27th.

Rainbow Reel Tokyo does not screen films only about lesbian and gay people, but through the showing of films about people with different sexual minorities such as transgender, intersexual, and bisexual people, it aims to provide space to create a more diverse and free society, and because there is little opportunity for films about sexual minorities to be shown in major film theaters, it also aims to contribute to creating image culture by introducing these films from both Japan and overseas.

While it is a ‘festival’ for people who identify as sexual minorities to enjoy, it is open towards people of all kinds of sexual identities, and it has established itself as a ‘film screening event’ to casually experience the rich culture developed by people of sexual minorities.

The committee operating Rainbow Reel Tokyo started in 1991 as a non-profit organization affiliated with ‘ILGA Japan’, which is a support group and part of International Lesbian & Gay Association. Since the Rainbow Reel Tokyo was first held in 1992, it has expanded each year, along with the improvement in quality of films being shown.

Rainbow Reel Tokyo is organized by volunteer staff; the staff choose films from both Japan and foreign countries, negotiate for rights to screen the films, as well as preparing the venue and planning related events.

In 2015, an incorporated non-profit organization ‘Rainbow Reel Tokyo’ was established as the managing organization. Along with the founding of the organization, the name of the movie festival has been changed from ‘Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival’ to ‘Rainbow Reel Tokyo’, and it will keep making efforts to become a bridge connecting sexuality and cultural activities.