36th Tokyo International Film Festival explained

36th Tokyo International Film Festival
Opening:	Perfect Days
Closing:	Godzilla Minus One
Location:	Tokyo, Japan
Founded:	1985
Number:	15 (in Competition)
Date:	23 October–1 November 2023
Main:	Tokyo International Film Festival
Previous:	35th
Next:	37th

The 36th Tokyo International Film Festival is film festival that took place from October 23 to November 1, 2023.^[1] German filmmaker Wim Wenders served as jury president.^[2]

The official poster for the festival was created by fashion designer Koshino Junko and features actor and filmmaker Eiji Okuda alongside his daughter, director Momoko Ando and pays homage to Yasujirō Ozu's film Tokyo Story on the 120th anniversary of his birth. The festival organisers plans to honour Ozu and showcase his films throughout the festival.^[3]

The festival opened with Wim Wenders' Perfect Days and closed with Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus One.^[4]

Juries

The juries consists of the following members:^[5] ^[6]

Main competition

Wim Wenders, German filmmaker, writer and photographer – Jury president
Albert Serra, Spanish director
Kunizane Mizue, Japanese producer
Trần Thị Bích Ngọc, Vietnamese producer
Zhao Tao, Chinese actress and producer

Asian Future

Markus Nornes, American Professor of Asian Cinema at University of Michigan – Jury president
Raymond Red, Filipino director
Takei Miyuki, Japansese President of Film Distribution Company MOVIOLA

Venues

The following 8 venues will host the festival screenings.

Marunouchi TOEI
Marunouchi Piccadilly
Hulic Hall Tokyo
Tokyo Midtown Hibiya
Toho Cinemas Chanter
Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho
Humantrust Cinema Yurakucho
Cine Switch Ginza

Official Selection

Competition

The following films were selected to compete for the Tokyo Grand Prix.^[7]

English Title	Original Title	Director(s)	Production Country
(Ab)normal Desire	正欲	Kishi Yoshiyuki	Japan
Air	ВОЗДУХ	Alexey German Jr.	Russia
Blind at Heart	Die Mittagsfrau		Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg
Dwelling by the West Lake	草木人间		China
A Foggy Paradise	曖昧な楽園	Kotsuji Yohei	Japan
Gondola			Germany, Georgia
The Gospel of the Beast		Sheron Dayoc	Philippines
A Long Shot	老枪	Gao Peng	China
The Persian Version			United States
Roxana			Iran
Sermon to the Birds	Quşlara Xütbə	Hilal Baydarov	Azerbaijan
The Settlers	Los colonos	Felipe Gálvez	Chile, Argentina, Netherlands
*Snow Leopard*	雪豹	Pema Tseden	China
Tatami			Georgia, United States
Who Were We?	わたくしどもは	Tomina Tetsuya	Japan

Asian Future

The following films were selected to compete in the Asian Future section, which features films from Asian directors who have directed a maximum of three feature films.

English Title	Original Title	Director(s)	Production Country
Fly Me to the Moon	但願人長久	Sasha Chuk	Hong Kong
La Luna		M. Raihan Halim	Singapore, Malaysia
Madina	Мадина	Aizhan Kassymbek	Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India
Maria		Mahdi Asghari Azghadi	Iran
Real State		Anat Malz	Israel
Redlife	เรดไลฟ์	Ekalak Klunson	Thailand
Rosinante	Balık Kırgını	Baran Gunduzalp	Turkey
Sumo Didi		Jayant Rohatgi	India
Take Me to Another Planet	違う惑星の変な恋人	Kimura Satoshi	Japan
Tatsumi		Shoji Hiroshi	Japan

Gala Selection

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Gala Selection.

English Title	Original Title	Director(s)	Production Country
All of Us Strangers			United Kingdom
			United States
Full River Red	满江红		China
Gold Boy	黄金少年		Japan
Green Night		Han Shuai	Hong Kong
Kidnapped	Rapito		Italy, France, Germany
Kubi	首		Japan
Lumberjack the Monster			Japan
The Movie Emperor	红毯先生		China
My (K)Night		Nakagawa Ryutaro	Japan
Next Goal Wins			United States
Poor Things			United Kingdom
The Pot-au-Feu	La Passion de Dodin Bouffant		France
Shadow of Fire	ほかげ		Japan

World Focus

The following films were selected for the World Focus section, which focuses on international films.

English Title	Original Title	Director(s)	Production Country
All Ears	不虚此行		China
Anselm / Somebody Comes into the Light	Anselm – Das Rauschen der Zeit / Somebody Comes into the Light		Germany, Japan
Dante			Italy
Essential Truths of the Lake			Philippines, France, Portugal, Singapore, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom
The Fisher			Philippines
Love Is a Gun	愛是一把槍		Hong Kong, Taiwan
May	梅的白天和黑夜	Luo Dong	China
Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros			France, United States
Music			Germany, France, Serbia
Passages			France
20th Latin Beat Film Festival in TIFF
The Delinquents	Los delincuentes		Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg, Chile
Sorcery	Brujería	Christopher Murray	Chile, Mexico, Germany
Strange Way of Life	Extraña forma de vida		Spain, France
Tótem			Mexico, Denmark, France
Un amor			Spain
Taiwan Cinema Renaissance 2023
After School	成功補習班		Taiwan
Miss Shampoo	請問，還有哪裡需要加強
Old Fox	老狐狸
Who'll Stop the Rain	青春並不溫柔	Su I-Hsuan
Asian Cinerama - Hong Kong Focus
Tony Leung / 2046			Hong Kong
In Broad Daylight	白日之下	Lawrence Kan
Time Still Turns the Pages	年少日記	Nick Cheuk
Vital Signs	送院途中	Cheuk Wan-chi
Nomad (4K Restored Director's Cut)	烈火青春
Special Program: The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Franco Zeffirelli
La Traviata (Digitally Remastered Version)			Italy
Sparrow (Restored Version)	Storia di una capinera		Italy, Japan
Callas Forever (Digitally Remastered Version)			Italy, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Romania
Special Spotlight: Basque Cinema
20,000 Species of Bees	20.000 especies de abejas		Spain
A Deep Breath, Women Filmmakers	Arnasa Betean	Berha Gaztelumendi, Rosa Zufia
In the Company of Women	Las buenas compañías	Silvia Munt
The Rye Horn	O corno		Spain, Portugal, Belgium
Sultana's Dream	El sueño de la Sultana		Spain, Germany

Youth

The following films were selected for the Youth section.

English Title	Original Title	Director(s)	Production Country
Phantom Youth	Bota Jonë		Kosovo, France
Power Alley	Levante	Lillah Halla	Brazil, France, Uruguay
A Song Sung Blue	小白船	Geng Zihan	China

Nippon Cinema Now

The following films were selected for Nippon Cinema Now, which aims to introduce previously released Japanese films to international audiences.

English Title

Original Title

Director(s)

Production Country

Ichiko

市子

Toda Akihiro

Japan

Family

Sawa Kan

Following the Sound

彼方のうた

Sugita Kyoshi

99% Cloudy... Always

99%、いつも曇り

Sangoumi Midori

The Making of a Japanese

小学校～それは小さな社会

Ema Ryan Yamazaki

Japan, United States, Finland, France

Keep Your Left Hand Down

左手に気をつけろ

Japan

Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus]] || Sora Neo |-| Twilight Cinema Blues || 銀平町シネマブルース || rowspan="4"| Hideo Jojo|-| Believers || ビリーバーズ|-| Love Nonetheless || 愛なのに|-| On The Edge of Their Seats || アルプススタンドのはしの方|-|}
Animation

The following films were selected for the Animation section.

English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country
Art College 1994 艺术学院 China
Blue Giant Japan
Chicken for Linda! Linda veut du poulet! Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach France, Italy
The Concierge 北極百貨店のコンシェルジュさん Yoshimi Itazu Japan
Deep Sea 深海 Tian Xiaopeng China
Komada - A Whisky Family 駒田蒸留所へようこそ Yoshihara Masayuki Japan
Lonely Castle in the Mirror かがみの孤城 Japan
Robot Dreams Spain, France
Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light Tonda, Slávka a kouzelné světlo Filip Pošivač Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary
In This Corner (and Other Corners) of the World この世界の（さらにいくつもの）片隅に Japan
Lu Over the Wall 夜明け告げるルーのうた Japan
音楽 Kenji Iwaisawa Japan
Japanese Classics

The following films were selected for the Japanese Classics section.

English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country
The Great White Tower (4K Digitally Restored Version) (1966) 白い巨塔 Japan
A Band of Assasins (1962) 忍びの者
Orochi (1925) 雄呂血 Buntarō Futagawa
TIFF Series

The following television series were selected for the TIFF Series section.

English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country
Ozu Hideo Jojo, Matsumoto Yusaku Japan
Why Try to Change Me Now 平原上的摩西 Zhang Dalei China
Shoulders of Giants

The following fifteen films (all with their 4K digitally restored version) were selected for the "Shoulders of Giants" section, destined to honor the 120th Anniversary of Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu.

English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country
Dragnet Girl (1933) 非常線の女 Japan
I Was Born, But... (1932) 大人の見る絵本　生れてはみたけれど
There Was a Father (1942) 父ありき
Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) 長屋紳士録
A Hen in the Wind (1948) 風の中の牝鶏
The Munekata Sisters (1950) 宗方姉妹
The End of Summer (1961) 小早川家の秋
Late Spring (1949) 晩春
Early Summer (1951) 麦秋
Tokyo Story (1953) 東京物語
Tokyo Twilight (1957) 東京暮色
Equinox Flower (1958) 彼岸花
Floating Weeds (1959) 浮草
Late Autumn (1960) 秋日和
An Autumn Afternoon (1962) 秋刀魚の味
Akira Kurosawa's Favorite Films

The following films were screened as a part of a section consisting of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa favorite films.

English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country
City Lights (1931) United States
The Lower Depths (1936) Les Bas-fonds France
The Quiet Man (1952) United States
The 400 Blows (1959) Les quatre cents coups France
Throne of Blood (1957) 蜘蛛巣城 Japan
Awards

The following awards were presented for the 36th edition:^[8]

Tokyo Grand Prix: Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden Special Jury Prize: Tatami by Guy Nattiv, Zar Amir Ebrahimi

Best Director: Kishi Yoshiyuki for (Ab)normal Desire

Best Actor: Yasna Mirtahmasb for Roxana

Best Actress: Zar Amir Ebrahimi for Tatami

Best Artistic Confibution: A Long Shot by Gao Peng

Audience Award: (Ab)normal Desire by Kishi Yoshiyuki

Asian Future Best Film Award: Maria by Mahdi Asghari Azghadi

Amazon Prime Video Take One Award: Gone with the Wind by Yang Liping

Amazon Prime Video Take One Award Special Jury Prize: Be Prepared by Yasumura Emi

References

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Notes and References

Web site: Frater . Patrick . 2023-08-17 . Ando Momoko Set as Ambassador for Tokyo Film Festival – Global Bulletin . 2023-08-18 . Variety . en-US.
Web site: 2023-06-12 . Wim Wenders named 2023 jury president at Tokyo Film Festival . 2023-08-18 . faroutmagazine.co.uk . en-US.
Web site: 36th TIFF Unveils Key Visual, Festival Mission and Festival Navigator ANDO Momoko . 2023-08-18 . Tokyo International Film Festival.
Web site: 36th TIFF to Open with “Perfect Days” and Close with “Godzilla Minus One” . 2023-08-30 . Tokyo International Film Festival.
Web site: Wim Wenders Set as Tokyo Jury Head as Festival Prepares to Honor Ozu Yasujiro – Global Bulletin. Variety. Patrick. Frater. 12 June 2023. 6 October 2023.
Web site: 26th Jury. Tokyo International Film Festival. 6 October 2023.
Web site: Tokyo Film Festival Aims to Boost Global Relevance With Bumper 2023 Edition. The Hollywood Reporter. Patrick. Brzeski. 27 September 2023. 6 October 2023.
Web site: Tokyo Film Festival Winners: ‘Snow Leopard’ By Late Tibetan Filmmaker Pema Tseden Takes Top Prize. Deadline. Zac. Ntim. 1 November 2023. 4 November 2023.