The highly anticipated live-action adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師) will kick off the 30th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival (October 25th to November 3rd).

Based on the immensely popular comic book and subsequent anime series, the Fumihiko Sori film follows the adventures of two alchemist brothers on the search of a magic stone to restore their bodies’ original forms. Warner Brother Japan will release the sci-fi adventure on December 1st in Japan.

Fullmetal is the first Japanese film to open the festival since Midnight Eagle (ミッドナイト イーグル) in 2007. Over the past decade, TIFF has generally opened with a foreign film and closed with a high-profile local title. That’s being reversed this year, with documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power closing the festival.

The opening day will also see a special presentation of Chen Kaige’s special effects extravaganza Legend of the Demon Cat (妖貓傳). The China-Japan-Hong Kong co-production is based on a Japanese novel, co-produced by Kadokawa, and features Japanese actors Shota Sometani, Keiko Matsuzaka and Hiroshi Abe.

The festival also announced its special screenings slate, which includes a mix of high-profile fall foreign titles and premieres of upcoming local films. The Japanese selections are Masafumi Nishida’s The Stand-in Thief (泥棒役者), Gu Suyeon’s Miko Girl (巫女っちゃけん。), Hiroshi Sugawara’s Shashin Koshien Summer in 0.5 Seconds (写真甲子園 0.5秒の夏), Garo – Kaminokiba – (牙狼＜GARO＞神ノ牙-KAMINOKIBA-) and SABU’s Mr. Long (ミスター‧ロン).

The foreign selections include Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky and documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda.

The festival’s full line-up – except for the Japan Now section – will be announced at a press conference on September 26th.