Name: Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
Director: Josef Kubota Wladyka
Released: 2026
Duration: 122 min

In this magic-realist charmer that won a Sundance Directing Award, a ballroom dancer struck down by tragedy gets her feisty, flirty groove back.

Middle-aged Haru and her husband Luis are serious about ballroom, performing the rumba, tango and paso doble in competitions all over Tokyo. But after enduring a catastrophic loss, Haru loses her spark. Nine months on, her sister and her cousin decide something must change, so they cajole her back into the studio. Enter: sexy new dance instructor Fedir (complete with open marriage!), who might just pull Haru out of her rut.

Josef Kubota Wladyka’s third feature is a refreshing spin on the grief drama, while Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, MIFF 2014) – as balletic on the dance floor as she is in her portrayal of emotional overload – delivers an affecting, multifaceted performance. Also starring Alejandro Edda, Alberto Guerra, You (Nobody Knows, MIFF 2004) and Yoh Yoshida (Like Father, Like Son, MIFF 2013), the film deftly moves between languages (English, Spanish, Japanese) and tones (melodramatic, soap-operatic, surrealist) – all of which are buoyed by magnificent choreography, vibrant production design and a joyous pop soundtrack. Dedicated to Wladyka’s dancer mother, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! shows that when life gets tough, all it takes is to get back on your feet.

“A delirious gem [that] has got it all: big laughs, poignancy, a tear or two, Dirty Dancing homages and some truly out-there twists.” – New York Post