Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has hit its stride in the last few years since Hiroyasu Ando joined as chairman and started to restructure the event.
Moving to the Hibiya-Ginza district and bringing in a new programming team, the festival embarked on a much more progressive and outward-looking trajectory, coinciding with a growing international focus in the local Japanese film biz.
One of Ando’s innovations, the TIFF Lounge series of talks, devised with leading Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, is attracting major talent; while the festival’s Competition line-up and other sections are drawing more world premieres and international guests.
In the spirit of creative exchange, TIFF Lounge features in-depth conversations between Japanese filmmakers and their international counterparts. This year’s line-up includes a session with Kore-eda and Chloe Zhao, whose Hamnet is playing as TIFF’s closing film; while veteran Japanese director Yoji Yamada will be talking with Lee Sang-il, whose Kokuho is Japan’s Oscars submission and a sleeper hit at the Japanese box office this year.
Zhao and Lee will also be presented with TIFF’s Kurosawa Akira Award, while Yamada’s Tokyo Taxi, a remake of the French movie Driving Madeleine, has been set as the festival’s Centerpiece film.
“We want to continue focusing on international exchange, which we have been enhancing for the past few years,” Ando tells Deadline.
“Especially in this time when divisions and conflicts are deepening around the world, we believe it’s the mission of the film festival to gather filmmakers from Japan and across the world; to deepen conversations through cinema, as well as deepen understanding of different perspectives to contribute to building a harmonious world.”
Other TIFF Lounge sessions include an exchange between Lost Land director Fujimoto Akio and Thailand’s Pen-ek Ratanaruang, whose latest work Morte Cucina has been selected for TIFF competition; as well as a conversation between Locarno Golden Leopard winner Sho Miyake (Two Seasons, Two Strangers) and Cambodia’s Rithy Panh, whose documentary We Are The Fruits Of The Forest is also in competition. In addition, Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-sun Chan, who will be showing Zhang Ziyi starrer She Has No Name in the festival’s Gala Selection, will deliver a masterclass.
Other international guests attending the festival include Ari Aster and Oliver Laxe, who have recent festival hits Eddington and Sirat playing in Gala Selection, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and French actress Juliette Binoche. TIFF is also welcoming artistic directors from other major international film festivals, including Cannes’ Christian Jeune, Berlin’s Michael Stutz, Rotterdam’s Vanja Kaludjercic and Busan’s Park Kwang-su.
As previously announced, Junji Sakamoto’s Climbing For Life, a biopic of Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei, will play as the opening film of the festival. The film’s star, veteran Japanese actress Sayuri Yoshinaga, will receive the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Meanwhile, the festival’s Competition section is continuing to attract a growing number of world premieres, this year including Amos Gitai’s Golem In Pompei, Chong Keat Aun’s Mother Bhumi, Zhang Lu’s Mothertongue, Pengfei’s Take Off and Mário Patrocínio’s Maria Vitoria, in addition to Panh’s new documentary.
Two Japanese films will also receive world premieres in competition – Sakashita Yuichiro’s Blonde, about a middle school teacher embroiled in a scandal, and Nakagawa Ryutaro’s family drama Echoes Of Motherhood. Ando points out that last year Daihachi Yoshida’s Teki Cometh won the festival’s top award, the Tokyo Grand Prix, marking the first time a Japanese film had won the honour in 19 years.
TIFF Programming Director Shozo Ichiyama says the festival asks for an Asian premiere for its main competition, and doesn’t prioritise world premieres, as the festival takes place quite late in the year. But for this year’s edition, he received several interesting submissions directly from producers and directors.
“The line-up also includes films in which the director gave priority to a Tokyo premiere over invitations from European film festivals,” Ichiyama says. “I believe that if we aim to increase the number of world premieres, it’s essential to build connections with influential directors and producers.”
Asian premieres in the competition line-up also include Annemarie Jacir’s historical drama Palestine 36, which recently premiered in Toronto; US director Hailey Gates’ Atropia, starring Alia Shawkat and Chloë Sevigny; and Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi’s Hen, starring eight real-life Hungarian chickens.
Ichiyama adds that the line-up is deliberately eclectic, including both mainstream and experimental films, as well as documentaries: “While it’s difficult to summarise an overall trend, looking at the selection I think it reflects the current chaotic world situation in various ways.”
Carlo Chatrian, former artistic director of the Berlin and Locarno film festivals, is heading the competition jury, which also includes Taiwanese actress Gwei Lun-Mei, French film editor Matthieu Laclau, Japanese actor and filmmaker Takumi Saitoh, and Chinese filmmaker and producer Vivian Qu.
Among other sections, the Asia Future competition for first, second and third features from Asia and the Middle East will screen 11 features, all world premieres. The section will open with Mizuho Terasaki’s Journey Into Sato Tadao, a documentary about the late film critic who was instrumental in launching an Asian section at TIFF. The Asian Future jury is headed by Ellen Y.D. Kim, director of Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), and also includes Japanese director Daishi Matsunaga and Tokyo Theatres programming manager Nishizawa Akihiro.
TIFF’s popular Animation section will screen 12 new Japanese and international works, including Annecy fest Jury Award winner ChaO, while the Women’s Empowerment section will screen seven films and host three panels on women filmmakers and women-focused film festivals. Other major sections at the festival include Nippon Cinema Now, World Focus, Youth, TIFF Series and Japanese Classics.
Ando says that tackling gender equality issues and developing new talent, across Asia and not just in the Japan market, are both major goals of the festival. “This year we’ve launched a new section, Asian Students’ Film Conference, as one of our projects for youth talent development,” he explains.
Backed by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the competition will screen 15 live-action and animated films under 60 minutes from film schools across Asia. Rithy Panh is heading the jury which also includes Cannes’ Christian Jeune and Japanese actress Tao Okamoto.
Helping emerging Japanese talent reach international markets is another major aim of the festival. In the past few years, a new generation of Japanese filmmakers has started to make waves on the international film festival circuit, which for many years was focused on a small group of Japanese masters.
Ichiyama says that while the world has recently discovered younger filmmakers such as Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Koji Fukada, there are “many hidden gems in the younger generation, who are waiting to be discovered. Our festival strives to introduce such talents’ films to the world in programmes like Nippon Cinema Now.”
Although pleased with the festival’s progress, Ando says there’s still work to be done: “Our challenge remains to attract more general audiences, not just cinephiles,” he says.
“We’re still a young and developing festival compared to the three major international film festivals in Europe. We aim to grow while highlighting our unique characteristics as a film festival located in Asia. We’ve implemented reforms but we’re still far from our ideal state. I believe we need to strive for even greater heights.”
Tokyo International Film Festival is taking place in the Hibiya-Ginza district from October 27-November 5, while the TIFFCOM contents market will run October 29-31 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center.
The post How Tokyo International Film Festival Is Seeding International Exchange & Next Generation Of Asian Filmmakers appeared first on Deadline.
