Fathers play a pivotal role in two Japanese features screening today, although it would be difficult to find more starkly different films, or the directors who made them.

Polish Days returns for a second edition. A major platform for new Polish films and projects in the works, as well as a chance for the international film industry to catch up with what has been happening within Polish cinema over the last year, it is now a key date in the film calendar.

The Final Cut – Walerian Borowczyk, Immoral Tales and the Censor

Blurring the line between art and pornography, Walerian Borowczyk was always destined to court the scrutiny of film censors. The eroticism of his early work, championed by critics and feted at festivals, developed into more explicit imagery as western societies' attitude to sexuality and its representation became more relaxed. Things finally came to a head with the release of Immoral Tales in 1974. A huge success with audiences in France, where the majority of the director's films were produced, its four tales of debauchery and excess proved too much for authorities and extensive cuts were made. New Horizons offers audiences a rare opportunity to see the original uncut version of the film.

The term Cyberpunk was first coined in the early 1980s and defined a marked shift in science fiction writing. It gained momentum with the publication of William Gibson's 'Neuromancer' in 1984. Although some saw Blade Runner (1982) as the genre's filmic equivalent, another strain of low-budget films began to appear around this time that channelled Cyberpunk's spirit of anarchy and focus on low-rent technology. A programme of these films shows how the sub-genre developed.

Cinéma du look is a term coined by critic Raphaël Bassan in 1989 to describe a collection of films by a group of French filmmakers who emerged earlier in the decade. Their films employ a striking visual style, frequently feature doomed or impossible love affairs and display a distrust of the establishment. They are also inventive in their use of Parisian locations, particularly the city's subterranean world. The three filmmakers most closely associated with the movement are Jean-Jacques Beineix, Luc Besson and Leos Carax, and the films that defined it are featured in a comprehensive retrospective screening over the course of the festival.

Despite the cerebral trappings of its story, Computer Chess is resolutely low-fi. It is also one of the more idiosyncratic American indie films of the last few years.

Mark Cousin's 2004 book 'The Story of Film' presented readers with an impressive overview of world cinema history. Through a complex web of parallel narratives, it detailed how innovation in film took place across the globe, highlighting the importance of all national cinemas. The Story of Film: An Odyssey, Cousin’s epic 15-part adaptation, which screens throughout this festival, is an even greater achievement.

The 13th edition of New Horizons Film Festival once again offers a rich line-up of new films, retrospectives and events for both the public and industry. There are also the nightly music slots at Arsenal.