On November 1, the legendary Hong Kong actor-director-producer-action choreographer Sammo Hung appeared at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival to lead a Masterclass following a screening of his 2016 film My Beloved Bodyguard. Still brimming with confidence and humor at 72 years old, Hung regaled a captivated audience with stories of his pioneering martial arts films and costars over the past 60 years, with the Masterclass a rare chance for fans to relive history in the making.

The 37th Tokyo International Film Festival Award Winners

Just after the Tokyo International Film Festival announced the lineup for its 37th edition in late September, an email arrived from Alfonso Cuarón, the Oscar®-winning filmmaker of Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018). He said he would be visiting Tokyo during TIFF for the promotion of his Apple TV+ series Disclaimer (2024), and asked if the festival would be interested in screening a little Christmas film he produced. Would they ever! TIFF quickly secured a venue on November 4.

The two recipients of the 37th Tokyo International Film’s Festival Kurosawa Akira Award sat down with the press on November 5, ahead of the official award ceremony at the Imperial Hotel, just steps away from TIFF’s main venue in Hibiya. Miyake Sho of Japan and Fu Tien-yu of Taiwan are both mid-career filmmakers, and have already received attention and awards for their work. But neither imagined they would be honored with the Kurosawa Akira Award, which promotes the renowned auteur’s…

This year again, Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will publish the “TIFF Times” Daily during the festival period from October 28 (Mon.) to November 6 (Wed.) to deliver valuable articles and information about the festival.

Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai’s Traffic, which had its Asian premiere in the Competition section of the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, is based on a true story that made world headlines in 2012. During a post-screening Q&A session on November 4, Mihai pointed out that she and her screenwriter, acclaimed director Cristian Mungiu, took many liberties with the original story as related in the press. “It was meant to be very symbolic,” she said. “It uses tragicomedy to reach an audience…

Billed as a Western, Adios Amigo often reminds one of the grimy visual textures of Sergio Leone’s films, and in a late scene, borrows from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with a tableau that’s usually referred to as a “Mexican standoff.” During a post-screening Q&A session on November 4 at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, where the Colombian film is playing in the Competition section, an audience member said that he had bought a ticket expressly because of the movie’s poster,…

Directors Gints Zilbalodis (Flow), Ahn Jae-huun (Gill), Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat (Olivia & the Clouds), and Yoshiura Yasuhiro (Sing a Bit of Harmony) sat down with Animation Programming Advisor Fujitsu Ryota to discuss their careers, perspectives, and joys at the Road to Becoming an Animation Director symposium held on November 4 at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival.

One of the highlights of the new Women’s Empowerment section, launched with deserved fanfare at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, was a full day of screenings and discussions addressing the past, present and future of female filmmakers. Entitled Women Directors Keep Paving the Way and hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government with co-host UNIJAPAN, the symposium attracted a huge crowd and opened up a much-needed dialogue celebrating women’s achievements, considering the ongoing challenges faced by women in film, as…