Beloved independent filmmaker Tsukamoto Shinya gave a masterclass at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), speaking about the pivotal works of his career as well as his most recent film, the English-language feature “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” Perhaps most famous overseas for his 1989 feature “Tetsuo: The Iron Man,” Tsukamoto spoke candidly […]
Exploring the relationship between people and place, new documentary “Okinawa Saudade,” playing at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival as part of its Nippon Cinema Now selection, was born from director Matsubayashi Yoju’s time with a Brazilian community of Okinawan immigrants some 10 years ago. The film zooms in on the latest generation of Okinawan […]
A new Japanese anime awards program will be called the Nippon Anime Awards, with the first ceremony set for Nov. 21, 2027, at SGC Hall Ariake in Tokyo’s Ariake district. The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), the industry body behind the prize, announced the name on Nov. 2 at Tokyo Tatemono Brillia Hall. The reveal […]
German director and screenwriter Isabelle Stever’s “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming” has won the Tokyo International Film Festival’s Ethical Film Award. The award, set up in 2023 with sponsor Sumitomo Corporation, highlights films that shed light on issues such as the environment, poverty and discrimination. A jury picks the winner from three nominees drawn from […]
Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut,” starring Julianne Moore as a shy housewife who is cast in a community theater musical and transforms into a zealous Method actor, has been set as the opening film of the 23rd Marrakech International Film Festival. Eisenberg and Moore are both expected to be on hand for the out-of-competition gala. The […]
Japanese director Kadowaki Kōhei’s animated feature “We Are Aliens” has won the Kau Ka Hōkū (Shooting Star) Award at the 46th Hawai’i International Film Festival, which handed out its jury prizes at an awards reception at the Halekulani Hotel in Waikīkī on Nov. 1. Presented by Hawaiian Airlines, the prize is reserved for an international […]
Two directors with films at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival said they once kept impending or new motherhood hidden from the people they worked with, at a festival talk on raising children while making films. Belgium-based Teodora Ana Mihai, whose “Heysel 85” plays in competition, shared the stage with Japanese director Sode Yukiko, whose […]
Isabelle Huppert vampire film “The Blood Countess” lost as much as 20 minutes against the wishes of its director, Ulrike Ottinger, the veteran German filmmaker said at the Tokyo International Film Festival, which is hosting a retrospective of her work. In “The Blood Countess” (“Die Blutgräfin”), Huppert plays a vampire countess who resurfaces in present-day […]
Chinese artist and filmmaker Sun Xun never expected “Magic Atlas” to become the first animated feature selected for the Tokyo International Film Festival’s competition. “I never thought of ‘Magic Atlas’ as an animated film. To me, it brings together many art forms. Animation is simply the label we use for its form. I’m glad people […]