39th Tokyo International Film Festival opens with rain-soaked red carpet and 'Sukiyaki'

Left · 2The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival opened on Monday 26 October with a rain-soaked red carpet and a ceremony at Hulic Hall Tokyo. 1 2 Left · 2The festival runs until 4 November. The Hollywood Reporter says the programme is expanded, with 204 films from 112 countries and regions, including 35 world premieres. Variety says there were 1,892 submissions from 112 countries and regions. 2 1 Left · 2The opening film was "Sukiyaki", directed by Takahisa Zeze. It is a music biopic about the creation of the song "Ue o Muite Arukō", which topped the US Billboard chart in 1963 as "Sukiyaki". Junichi Okada plays composer Hachidai Nakamura, Tori Matsuzaka plays lyricist Rokusuke Ei, and Taiga Nakano plays singer Kyu Sakamoto, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 2 1

Left · 1Zeze said the film's founding idea is the war and what peace means to its characters, and hoped the festival "can become a festival of peace". 1 Left · 1Takeo Hisamatsu, returning as festival director after Hiroyasu Ando's departure earlier this year, declared the festival open. The Hollywood Reporter says Hisamatsu, who also held the post from 2017 to 2021, wants a stronger entertainment focus and a more celebratory atmosphere while keeping the commitment to independent and international cinema. 2 Left · 2In a video message, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said film can connect people across countries and cultures. She restated a goal of raising Japan's overseas content sales to 20 trillion yen by 2033, with public-private investment to accelerate. Variety adds that the government plans production support for Japanese films and efforts to attract foreign location shoots. 2 1

Left · 2Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa cited Godzilla Minus Zero as an example of homegrown intellectual property. Variety reports he said overseas sales of Japanese content have grown to about 6.1 trillion yen, and that ministries have requested roughly 250 billion yen in the fiscal 2027 budget to support growth investment in the content industry. 2 1 Left · 2Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer walked the carpet with Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor and chief membership, impact and industry officer Meredith Shea, in Tokyo for the festival's Academy in Tokyo programme. Kramer told Japanese fans to "Go and support your filmmakers. Go to the cinema." He also said this is the first time the Academy has taken part in an international film festival. 1 2 Left · 2Other carpet guests included Tadanobu Asano, Kento Nakajima (host and festival "navigator"), Mei Nagano and Takumi Kitamura. Director Milcho Manchevski carried a replica manhole cover as an umbrella for his competition film "Sister Brother Manhole Cover". 2 1

Left · 2Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer heads the five-member competition jury, which also includes Oh Jungwan, Alex Lo, Makiko Watanabe and Yov Moor. The jury will assess 15 films for the Tokyo Grand Prix and other honours. De Heer said the jury is privileged to work in the land of the Japanese masters. 2 1 Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter lists further plans: Godzilla Minus Zero screens as the centrepiece on 1 November, and Cate Blanchett is expected later in the week. Competitive awards for Nippon Cinema Now, the CROSSCUT ASIA+ programme, and a new Kashiko Kawakita Award (first recipient: Sahoko Hata) are also new this year. The Kurosawa Akira Awards go to Mohammad Rasoulof and Mipo O, and the TIFFCOM market runs 28–30 October. 2 Left · 1Variety's programmer interviews cover the festival's sections. Shimizu Yu, who programmes the Women's Empowerment section (now in its third year, seven films including Manuela Martelli's "The Meltdown" and Zou Jing's "A Girl Unknown") and the Youth strand, says the films follow people who "fall through the cracks of an unstable political climate or social systems"; she adds that addressing structural problems in a short window is very difficult, and that the section has a related event, "Her Gaze", on women cinematographers from Japan and Taiwan. 3

Left · 1The Youth section has three titles, and the TIFF Teens filmmaking workshop marks its 10th anniversary this year. 3 Left · 1Asian programmer Ishizaka Kenji, who has programmed Asian cinema at the festival since 2007, says family dramas run through this year's Asian selection, which he links to "today's geopolitical volatility". He also oversees Asian Future, the competition for young Asian filmmakers, which has 10 titles this year, including Katski Flores' "Edjop", Kim Hyun-min's "On the Heights" and Chezhiyan's "The Paper Flower". 4 Left · 1Ishizaka also says an emerging wave of filmmakers from China's autonomous regions (Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang) is stepping into the spotlight, and that a festival premiere in Tokyo can lead directly to a domestic distribution deal. 4