Modern-day misogyny gets an energetic, anarchic wake-up call – complete with schoolgirl gangs, cryptic graffiti and a missing woman.

Brimming with feminism and a fighting spirit, and unravelled at a freewheeling pace by director Daigo Matsui (Our Huff and Puff Journey, MIFF 2016; Wonderful World End, MIFF 2015), Japanese Girls Never Die launches a subversive attack on the country's male-dominated society across three intertwined tales.

Visibly unhappy 27-year-old office worker Haruko sits at the centre of the film. Scolded by her mother and mocked by her sexist colleagues, she's filled with despair at both work and home. Soon she'll be gone, her face plastered all over Tokyo by a graffiti crew grappling with their own gender imbalance-related issues. As the stencils pop up around the city, so do a spate of violent outbursts, with men warned to stay off the streets at night – and away from uniform-clad young women!

'Thought-provoking and in tune with a generation searching for meaning.' – Metropolis Japan