Hong Kong star Tony Leung is set to serve as president of the international competition jury at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).
The actor, who won best actor at Cannes in 2000 for his performance in Wong Kar-wai’s In The Mood For Love, will take part in the 37th edition, which runs from October 28 to November 6.
”From the age of 12, growing up in Hong Kong, I remember going to see all the classic Japanese movies from that time,” Leung recalled. ”These exciting trips to the cinema were the start of a great love affair between Japanese film, people and its culture for me, that has just grown and grown.
”I’m already expecting the festival to be full of surprises and a lot of fun to preside over, I’m sure. What I hope is that it will be a bit of an adventure, with an audacious line up of quality films. I just, ‘feel’, when it comes to judging, trusting fellow jurors’ feelings as well as my own, will make a positive contribution to the selection process.”
Leung’s association with TIFF goes back to the 2000, when In The Mood For Love played in the special screening section at festival’s 13th edition. He was back in 2008 with Red Cliff and returned after a 15-year absence in 2023 to participate in a masterclass and screening of 2046 in the world focus section.
Leung has amassed more than 100 credits since his on-screen career began in the 1980s. He has appeared in three films that won the Golden Lion at Venice: A City of Sadness (1989), directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien; Cyclo (1995), directed by Tran Anh Hung; and Lust, Caution (2007) by director Ang Lee. Last year, Venice honoured him with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
The actor also starred in the Oscar-nominated Hero (2002) and box office hits Infernal Affairs (2002) and Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021).
Leung was more recently seen in Felix Chong’s The Goldfinger, for which he won best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and is currently shooting Silent Friend by Oscar-nominated Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, which is due for release in 2025.
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