Tokyo Opening Night: Ryuichi Sakamoto Tribute, Wim Wenders & Zhang Yimou Lifetime Honor
23.10.2023 - 13:57
/ deadline.com
Tokyo’s International Film Festival returned this evening for its first completely unrestricted, post-COVID-19 edition with a well-attended screening of Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days.
Fresh from an appearance at Thierry Frémaux’s Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, Wenders, who is also the head of the competition jury at Tokyo this year, was in attendance and introduced the pic alongside most of his cast, including leading man Koji Yakusho. Yakusho won the best actor award at Cannes for his performance in the pic.
During a comedic opening speech, Wenders told the audience inside Tokyo’s Takarazuka Theatre that he had long dreamt of completing a feature shot entirely in Japan, with Yakusho as the lead actor, and a premiere screening at the Tokyo International Film Festival. However, Wenders said there was one milestone he never thought the film would achieve.
“I didn’t dare dream that it was going to be the Japanese entry for the Oscar race,” he said.
Back in September, Japan announced Perfect Days as its selection for the best international feature race. The decision marked the first time a non-Japanese filmmaker had been chosen to lead the country’s Oscars push. The Tokyo-set pic is likely to have beat out Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron for the spot.
Wenders also received a shoutout from Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who sent a video message as part of the opening ceremony. Alongside Wenders, Kishida paid tribute to Yakusho for his win at Cannes and seminal Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, who is the center of a large-scale festival retrospective to mark the 120th anniversary of his birth. Kishida also highlighted the festival’s Spotlight On Italy industry strand. The tribute to Italian cinema has been
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