Tokyo International Film Festival unveils line-up

The Tokyo International Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup of its 25th edition, which runs October 20-28 in Tokyo’s Roppongi district.15 competition titles will vie for the Sakura grand prix, which carries a cash award of $50,000.

Five titles will compete as world premieres: Riri Riza’s Indonesian refugee drama Atambua 39° Celsius; Hiroshi Okuhara’s Beijing-set The Black Square; Wang Jing’s family chronicle Feng Shui; 3D music documentary Flashback Memories, directed by Tetsuaki Matsue and from Italy Elisa Fuksas’ debut feature Nina.

The remainder of the competition draws heavily on titles screened in Venice and Toronto. The lone international premiere in competition is Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s What Maisie Knew, which recently screened in Toronto and stars Julianne Moore.

Eight films compete as Asian premieres: Margarethe von Trotta’s Toronto title Hannah Arendt; Michael J. Rix’ South African HIV drama Accession; Venice Horizons title Somewhere In Between (Araf) directed by Yesim Ustaoglu; Tobias Lindholm’s Danish hijacking drama A Hijacking, which screened at Venice and Toronto; Korean family drama Juvenile Offender, directed by Kang Yi-Kwan; Pablo Larrain’s Pinochet-era thriller No, which screened in the Directors Fortnight at Cannes; Lorraine Levy’s Israeli-Palestinian drama The Other Son; Indian director Anand Gandhi’s debut feature Ship Of Theseus and Nick Cassavetes comic drama Yellow, which also premiered in Toronto.

Previously announced jury chairman Roger Corman is joined by British producer Luc Roeg, Departures director Yojiro Takita, and Italian writer-director Emanuele Crialese. One more jury member has yet to be confirmed.

The 20-film special screenings section offers Japan premieres of upcoming major releases. Titles include: Ben Affleck’s Argo, The Woman In Black, Lasse Hallstrom’s Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, Shall We Dance director Masayuki Suo’s A Terminal Trust and Farewell, My Queen. Sneak preview clips from upcoming Bond film Skyfall will also be shown.

As previously reported TIFF will open with James Cameron-produced Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away and close with Clint Eastwood’s Trouble With The Curve. Co-opening TIFF is the Ridley Scott-produced documentary Japan In A Day, a crowd-funded project of footage shot on March 11 this year chronicling recovery since last year’s natural and nuclear disaster.

The Winds Of Asia Middle-East programme offers recent titles from across the continent, including the world premiere of Tetsuo Shinohara’s China-Japan co-production Sweetheart Chocolate, international premieres of Iranian drama Lifeline and Chang Jung-chi’s Touch Of The Light. In addition to titles from Korea, Hong Kong, China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India are spotlights on Indonesian and Cambodian cinema.

This year’s 9-film Japanese Eyes programme screens films with themes touching on relevant topics such as the Aum cult and March 11 disaster. Makoto Shinozaki’s Since Then, Bunyo Kimura’s Where Does Love Go? and Yutaka Tsuchiya’s GFP Bunny are among the titles.

Other programmes include Natural TIFF and the World Cinema section, with retrospectives on Corman and Raymond Chow also announced.

TIFF and the TIFFCOM market (Oct 23-25) are the centerpieces of the 6th Japan International Contents Festival (CoFesta). 18 official CoFesta events and 11 partner events span from August 1 to December 16 including the in progress Pia Film Festival (Sept 18-28) and Tokyo Game Show (Sept 20-23), Tokyo International Anime Festival (Oct 23-25) and LA Eigafest in the US (Dec 14-16).

Tokyo International Film Festival Competition Lineup:

World Premieres:

Atambua 39° Celsius,  Riri Riza (Indonesia)

The Black Square, Hiroshi Okuhara (Japan)

Feng Shui, Wang Jing (China)

Flashback Memories, Tetsuaki Matsue (Japan)

Nina, Elisa Fuksas (Italy)

International Premieres:

What Maisie Knew, Scott McGehee and David Siegel (US)

Asian Premieres:

Hannah Arendt, Margarethe von Trotta (Germany)

Accession, Michael J. Rix (South Africa)

Somewhere In Between (Araf), Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey-Germany)

A Hijacking, Tobias Lindholm (Denmark)

Juvenile Offender, Kang Yi-Kwan (Korea)

No, Pablo Larrain (Chile-US)

The Other Son, Lorraine Levy (France)

Ship Of Theseus, Anand Gandhi (India)

Yellow, Nick Cassavetes (US)