Tokyo International Film Festival announces lineup
A1 Digital India News: The Tokyo International Film Festival announced its full 2024 slate on Wednesday, including a main competition program and an Asian Future section for emerging regional filmmakers, as well as a new Women's Empowerment section with films directed by women or with female-centric stories. Nine films are in the running. Tokyo's 15-title main program prioritizes securing world premieres over titles that have already been screened.
The section includes eight world premieres — including Big World and My Friend Ann Daly by China's Yang Lina and Dong Zijian, respectively; Pope by Hong Kong's Philip Yeung; English writing by Portugal's Sergio Graciano; and three Japanese features.
Other highlights include Midi Jade's The Unseen Sister and the international premiere of Huang Xi's recent Toronto Film Festival entry Daughter's Daughter, starring Sylvia Chang. As previously announced, the competition titles will be judged by a jury chaired by Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai.
Other jury members include Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Italian actress Chiara Mastroianni, Hungarian filmmaker Enid Ildiko and Japanese actress Ai Hashimoto.
All films in the Future Asia section will be world premieres. These include Afghan director Roya Sadat Sima Song, Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun Pawne’s For an Infant, Turkish director Emine Yildirim’s Apollon by Day, Athena by Night, Iran’s Mohammad Esmaili’s The Bora and Chinese filmmaker Ye Jingyu’s Three Castrated Goats.
In collaboration with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Women’s Empowerment section will present the Asian premiere of the Iranian drama My Favorite Cake, written by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaiha, who have been refused permission to leave their country by authorities in Tehran.
Other titles in the Progressive section, programmed by former Tokyo diplomat Andrijana Cvetkovic, include Ceylonese Turkish director Ozgun Ozcelik’s In Ten Seconds; Hong Kong filmmaker Oliver Chan's Montages of a Mother; Memories of a Burning Body by Costa Rican Antonella Sudaci Furniss; and Japanese director Naoki Tamura's Doctor-X The Movie. Tokyo has previously announced that the samurai thriller 11 Rebels directed by Kazuya Shiraishi will make its world premiere as the opening title of this year's festival, while French director Christophe Honoré Marcelo Mio, starring jury member Mastroianni, will close the program.
The Nippon Cinema Now section, which focuses on emerging trends in Japanese cinema, will showcase 12 titles, including a mini-retrospective of five films directed by this year's Tokyo Focus director Yu Irie. The Gala Screenings Festival, highlighting previously screened festival hits, includes Marielle Heller's Toronto favorite Nightbitch, Hong Kong blockbuster Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Audrey Diwan Emmanuelle, Guan Hu's Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Black Dog, Mark Foster's White Bird, The World. Spirit World, starring Indonesian filmmakers Mike Wiluan Orang Ikan and Eric Khoo, premieres in Tokyo.
The 2024 Tokyo International Film Festival will be held from October 28 to November 6 in the areas surrounding the Ginza district in the heart of the Japanese capital. Check out the full list of competition below.
Always a strong suit, the Tokyo-based animation section features: Kuno Yoko and Yamashita Nobuhiro's Ghost Cat Anju, Chris Sanders' The Wild Robot, Yakuza Shinnosuke's Toto Chan: The Girl in the Window, Gintas Zilbalodis' Flow, Adam Elliot's Memoirs of a Snail, Yasuda Gensho's Make a Girl, and a 4K restoration of Masuda Toshio's classic 1977 Yamato Space Battleship.