Dawn of the Felines is a haunting, empathetic journey through the nocturnal world of three sex workers navigating the neon-soaked street of Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Each night brings new encounters – eccentric clients, dangerous fetishes and the looming threat of police crackdowns – while each dawn finds them wrestling with loneliness, survival, and the search for meaning in a city that rarely looks back. Directed by Kazuya Shiraishi (The Devil’s Path, Twisted Justice, Bushido), Dawn of the Felines is a “suitably melancholy” (South China Morning Post) tribute to Noboru Tanaka’s classic Roman Porno film Night of the Felines. Modern and unflinching, Shiraishi’s update to the genre famously created by the Nikkatsu film studio in the 1970s offers a portrait of women living on the edge of society while negotiating their agency, connection, and dignity.