The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026: She Taught Me Serendipity18+

Directed by OHKU Akiko | Japan | 2025 | 2h 7m | Japanese w/ English subtitles | Starring HAGIWARA Riku, KAWAI Yuumi, ITO Aoi, KUROSAKI Kodai

The university life of KONISHI Toru (HAGIWARA Riku) is plagued by tedium. Struggling to find his place, his only joys are the antics of his classmate YAMANE (KUROSAKI Kodai), his sole friend on campus, and Sacchan (ITO Aoi), his musically gifted co-worker. Everything changes when Toru meets SAKURADA Hana (KAWAI Yuumi), whose appearance and fearless attitude towards solitude captivates him.

“I want to feel that every day is fun. I want to feel that today’s sky is my favourite,” says Hana. The words echo those once spoken by his late grandmother, for whom he carries a deep sense of guilt. Hearing it, he is swept up in the fortunate serendipity of finding someone who is so like minded. But just as Toru starts to rediscover joy in everyday life with Hana, a shocking event strikes them both, transforming their destiny forever.

Acclaimed female director OHKU Akiko (Hold Me Back, JFTFP23; Tremble All You Want, JFTFP19) explores new horizons, delivering a beautifully captured, intensely authentic portrayal of contemporary youth and human connection.

Image credit: © 2025 “She Taught Me Serendipity” Film Partners

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We showed The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026: She Taught Me Serendipity between February 24, 2026 and February 24, 2026.

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Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!