The 37th Tokyo International Film Festival got off to a memorably splashy start Monday night with the world premiere of filmmaker Shiraishi Kazuya’s frenetic and wildly bloody samurai action flick 11 Rebels. 

In recent years, Japan’s preeminent cinema event has been attempting to revitalize and rebrand itself as a not-to-be-missed cultural occasion in the Asia-Pacific region. After years of organizational drift, the festival, under the leadership of current chairman Hiroyasu Ando, is on a mission to boost its reach and reputation into something more commensurate with the country’s powerful cinematic past and the ever-growing appeal of Japanese culture around the globe. 

In that sense, 11 Rebels was perhaps the perfect pick for this year’s opening gala screening. A throw-back samurai slasher, the film is based on a decades-old screenplay by the late, great scriptwriter Kasahara Kazuo, best known for his cult classic yakuza film Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973). Over its 2.5 hour-plus runtime, 11 Rebels features a slew of young rising Japanese stars, relentless swordplay, improvised explosives, some very slashy beheadings and a complex plot involving political intrigue and more than a few double-crossings. 

Produced by Toei, 11 Rebels opens theatrically in Japan on Nov. 1, with a U.S. release expected sometime next year from specialty distributor Well Go USA. 

The film’s full cast walked the red carpet in the Japanese capital’s upscale Ginza district ahead of the festival’s official opening ceremony. Shogun star Tadanobu Asano, who will receive The Hollywood Reporter‘s Trailblazer award at a gala event Wednesday night, was greeted with a hero’s welcome as he stepped out in support of his indie feature Ravens, which will premiere later this week in an out-of-competition slot at the festival. Other local stars in attendance included Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Tokyo Vice), actress Ai Hashimoto, and Irie Yu, the fest’s director in focus for 2024. 

Major movie figures from elsewhere in Asia were also out in force. Hong Kong screen legends Tony Leung and Johnny To, both serving on Tokyo’s main competition jury this year, made an appearance, as did Sylvia Chang and Midi Z of Taiwan, and Zhao Liying of mainland China. 

The U.S. film presence was light on opening night, but Hollywood star power will be felt later in the festival when Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II makes its Asia premiere at the event on Nov. 5. The screening is a coup for the Tokyo fest, which used to regularly host Hollywood premieres but suffered a dry spell over the past decade as the major studios shifted their marketing efforts towards China’s once-booming box office. Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen are all expected to attend the Tokyo screening. 

Inside the Tokyo’s fest’s opening ceremony, guests were treated to welcome speeches from Ando and Kikuchi, and an overview of the film lineup presented by a giant anime character who appeared on a screening hanging over the stage. 

In the past decade, it has been customary for the sitting Japanese prime minister to send a statement of support to the festival. Muto Yoji, economy and trade minister, appeared in person at the ceremony and took the stage to hail the recent global interest in Japanese film and television, including last year’s Oscar winner Godzilla Minus One and Disney’s hit samurai series Shogun.

Japan held its general election over the weekend, resulting in a brutal set of results for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which lost its long-held coalition majority. Minister Muto comfortably held on to his seat in Sunday’s election but two of his cabinet colleagues lost their seats.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is now busy trying to form a new coalition government following the snap election he fatefully called after being chosen as ruling party leader last month, sent a video message to the film festival. 

Ishiba’s remarks were greeted warmly by the film industry figures at the ceremony, as they suggested the new administration intends to continue the national government’s growing recent interest in supporting the entertainment sector. 

“Japan’s content industry boasts exports on the scale of semiconductors,” said Ishiba, who also pointed to a Japan-Italy co-production treaty signed recently. “The government is working to lay the groundwork to further encourage the development of the Japanese content industry by supporting the growth of the next generation of creators and optimizing business transactions,” he added.