This year, the Osaka European Film Festival is celebrating its 15th anniversary and is very proud to welcome 3 times Oscar winner Maurice Jarre as its Honorary Chairman.

One of the largest and oldest film events dedicated to European cinema in the world, it is one of the very few to be organized by an independent organization, an NPO based in Japan. Over the last 15 years, the OEFF has become the best showcase for European films in Asia.

We hope you will appreciate the program we put up with our partners in Osaka (and Tokyo), as much as we enjoyed imagining it !

Back in 1994, there was hardly no occasion to see European films in Osaka and the Kansai.

It seemed unacceptable that the 20 million inhabitants of the region should be deprived of the possibility to enjoy one of the greatest cinematography of the world.

The Osaka European Film Festival was created to fill the need of all cinema lovers, from the Kansai and from Japan.

The audience could at last meet and discuss with invited European film directors, producers, actors and actresses about their work and their cultures, an opportunity still unique in the Kansai today.

A decade has passed, more than a hundred films premiered, and guests welcomed, and the Osaka European Film Festival is now established as the major European film event in Asia and, worldwide, among the few of its kind to be independently organized.

At a time when Europe is questioning itself about its identity, the Osaka European Film Festival promotes more than ever European cultures in their shared heritage and their fantastic variety, by always bringing to its audience a rich and ambitious variety of audiovisual creations.

Patrice Boiteau
Founder and Executive Director