"Kefi" Brings Aliens, Dinosaurs and a Father's Absence to Tokyo

Cinematographer Saito Kisin is making his feature directing debut at the Tokyo International Film Festival with "Kefi," a film that moves between aliens, dinosaurs and dream affairs. The film is a world premiere and plays in the festival's Nippon Cinema Now section, which showcases new Japanese work, according to Variety.

At its centre are three sisters, the oldest Kyo, the middle child Asumi and the youngest Kino. They learn that their father has died. He has been absent from their lives since his divorce from their mother, and the film mirrors Saito's own story. His parents divorced about ten years before his father died in 2024, and Saito had not seen his father for roughly that same decade.

Saito, born in 1988, is the youngest of three brothers. He first drew notice for his visual work as a director of photography, and this time he took on almost every behind-the-camera job himself. He is credited as director, writer, cinematographer, gaffer (the chief electrician who handles the lighting) and editor. The festival lists him as a tentative guest for a question-and-answer session after the screening.

The structure is unusual. Saito first planned "Kefi" as four short films, each with its own theme: ethics, hypocrisy, discrimination, and life and death. The final film mixes those short stories and several styles. It shifts between bright colour and black and white, and between jittery handheld camerawork and steadier shots. Saito has described it as "a very unique, strange film."

The festival's own programme team, through Ichiyama, has used the phrase "uniquely strange" to describe the debut. IndieWire included "Kefi" in its list of films to see at the festival and said it plays out like a sibling drama in the style of Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Japanese director known for quiet family stories.

Why does a debut like this matter beyond one festival? Festivals such as Tokyo are where many films first find an audience, and a premiere slot in a national showcase is often the first step for a new director. For a first feature, that means the film's reception will depend on which audiences and buyers see it in these screenings.

For viewers in Tokyo, the film gives a first look at a director who has spent years behind the camera. For everyone else, "Kefi" is a reminder that a personal story can be told in many forms at once: a family drama, a set of short films and a collage of strange images, all tied together by one absent father.