‘The Image Forum Festival’ is a festival of moving image art that brings together for screening works with a high degree of expression, artistry, and creativity. A successor to ‘New Works of Underground Cinema’ (1973-1975) and ‘Experimental Film Festival’ (1981-1985), this festival, which expanded to include more international content and an open competition section, began in 1987 and is being held for the 37^th time this year. The festival’s open competition section has come to be known as a gateway to success for ground-breaking young filmmakers in Japan, and in 2018  the Festival have expanded this section (formerly known as the ‘Japan Tomorrow’ section) that had been restricted to Japanese works and relaunched it as the ’East Asian Experimental Competition’ which accepts submissions from the East Asian regions, including Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Korea.