Tokyo International Film Festival Begins Major Overhaul

On Saturday, Bill Murray appeared virtually to accept the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Maltin Modern Master Award.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentHara Masato, a producer and executive who worked with Kurosawa Akira, Oshima Nagisa and other leading Japanese filmmakers in a seven-decade career, died on March 17 at age 89 of heart failure, distributor Asmik Ace announced Monday.Hara was the company’s first president, starting in 1998.

With vaccines getting distributed pretty damn fast in the US, we’re starting to see some cities begin to recover and make plans for in-person events in the summer and fall. In the world of film festivals, it appears that the first event to really attempt a full in-person experience is going to be this year’s Tribeca.

The Tribeca Film Festival is moving ahead with its 20th-anniversary edition this June, moving screenings to outdoor venues and becoming the first major U.S. film festival held in person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.As part of the festival, outdoor screenings will be held in all five New York City boroughs using portable 40-foot LED screens that will travel to different venues; community screenings will be included as part of the program.

Jordan Moreau Cary Fukunaga is directing the film adaptation of the sci-fi comic book series “Tokyo Ghost” for Legendary.“Tokyo Ghost” is set in the year 2089, when humanity has become fully addicted to technology as an escape from reality.

In a crushing economic blow to Japan, the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will not have attendance from international travelers. Tokyo organizers made the decision along with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and the national and local governments in Japan.

Spike Lee, who was set to lead last year’s jury for the Cannes Film Festival that was ultimately cancelled by the pandemic, will preside over this year’s jury instead.

Japanese Breakfast made her late-night TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (March 15) – you can watch it below.The first of two performances saw Michelle Zauner deliver a one-take performance of her new single ‘Be Sweet’, featuring some familiar extraterrestrial faces that appear in the song’s video.She also shared an online performance of her track ‘Jimmy Fallon Big!’ from her 2017 album ‘Soft Sounds From Another Planet’.Originally written after a bandmate from her old

Japanese Breakfast was the musical guest on Monday night's episode of The Tonight Show. This gave Michelle Zauner the opportunity to perform new song "Be Sweet" as well as revive "Jimmy Fallon Big!" a song from her 2017 album Soft Sounds From Another Planet that references the show's host.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe pandemic has led to changes in production that could well be permanent, but its effect on content going forward is less clear.

Rebecca Davis editorThe Shanghai International Film Festival will take place this year from June 11 to June 19.The news comes less than two weeks after Gao Yunfei, the head of Shanghai’s municipal film administration and vice-minister of its propaganda department, stated at a press conference that the city was considering pushing the event back to July.Registration for the 24th annual event is now open to “Chinese and foreign filmmakers and industry people,” the festival said, implying a door

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJust weeks after Japan’s Olympic Games chief was forced to resign over his sexist comments, the Tokyo International Film Festival has become the first major festival in Asia to sign a gender parity pledge. The move was announced on Monday as part of a quartet of major shakeup development moves.The festival said that it will relocate to a new district in Tokyo for the first time in 16 years and rethink its competition section.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentFollowing his win of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the recently concluded Berlin Film Festival for “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” 42-year-old Hamaguchi Ryusuke suddenly finds himself catapulted to the directorial front ranks in his native Japan.It’s not that he’s exactly obscure there: Hamaguchi’s 2018 romantic drama “Asako I & II” was selected for the Cannes competition while his 2015 breakthrough, the five-hour-plus drama “Happy Hour,” won a group best

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe Japanese film industry has been relatively quick to recover from the pandemic, despite the slow rollout of vaccinations in Japan. So industry leaders are bringing lineups to FilMart packed with titles that will hopefully play to packed theaters at home in the coming months.One is Gaga Corporation, which is bringing “Junk Head,” a first feature by stop-motion animator Takahide Hori that has won kudos around the international festival circuit.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJapanese comedy-drama “Ito” (aka “Itomichi”) was named as the Grand Prix winner of the 16th edition of the Osaka Asian Film Festival. It also claimed the audience award.The festival ran March 5-14.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Sexual Drive,” a Japanese film about desire which premiered at January’s Rotterdam film festival, will be released in North America, following a licensing deal between sales agent Fortissimo Films and local distributor Film Movement. The deal was agreed following the recent European Film Market.Film Movement plans to show “Sexual Drive” at other festivals and also release it theatrically this year.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticWhen Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi made his return to fiction after time away in the realm of documentary, he dispensed with the idea that stories must conform to feature length.

Cannonballing down through the sky with a virtual gleam in its eye, the 12th annual TCM Classic Film Festival will run May 6-9 on TCM and HBO Max, kicking off with a 60th anniversary screening of West Side Story, it was announced Wednesday. "It is sure to be a memorable weekend, packed with everything you have come to love about the TCM Classic Film Festival, and we all get to experience it from the comfort of our home," TCM host Ben Mankiewicz says.

Editor’s Note: Brian Tee has become a notable face of Asian Hollywood, providing representation to a community that has been wildly been underrepresented and, on more than one occasion, misrepresented. He has appeared in big banner films such as The Wolverine, Jurassic World, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market had a successful 2021 online edition with the participation of 12,000 attendees from 131 countries. The industry event, which took place March 1-5, gathered 504 exhibitors — 215 of which were newcomers at EFM — from 60 countries.