Nippon Connection is a festival for Japanese film which takes place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, every year in early summer.
As well, an exhibition was arranged in cooperation with the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and the Nippon Connection Newcomer Award for the best up-coming film production was introduced.
In 2013, the festival was extended to six days, and the main venues were moved to the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Theater Willy Praml in der Naxoshalle.
Also in 2013 the festival director Marion Klomfass received an honorary award for her outstanding commitment to the support and promotion of Japanese-German exchange from the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (Gaimu Daijin Hyosho).
The 15th edition of the festival in 2015 saw the introduction of the Nippon Honor Award for personalities who have made an outstanding contribution to Japanese cinema in their careers.
In 2020, due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID 19 pandemics, the festival took place exclusively online for the first time from 9 to 14 June 2020 using a video-on-demand platform provided by Shift72.
[7] Tokachi Tsuchiya received the Nippon Online Award for the documentary film An Ant Strikes Back for the first time.
Each year Nippon Connection shows more than 100 short and feature films, mostly as German, European or international premieres.
[11] This includes tea ceremony, taiko drumming workshops, Japanese calligraphy, dance and martial arts performances.
Sounds recorded in the Tokyo subway were used by German musicians to produce an imaginary soundtrack of the Japanese megacity.
In April 2005 the second CD album, Nippon Connection Exchanging Tracks, was released by das modular.
[12] Two traditional Japanese pieces of music were made available to 28 remix artists in Europe and the US, who then produced their own personal soundtracks.
In 2020, 2021 and 2022 Angela Dorn, Hessian Minister for Science and Art, Peter Feldmann, Mayor of the City of Frankfurt, and the Consulate-General of Japan acted as official patrons of the festival.