【Tokyo International Film Festival 2017】Members of the International Competition Jury: ASIA NEWS

【Tokyo International Film Festival 2017】Members of the International Competition Jury

2017年10月25日

Tokyo International Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival 2017

President of Jury, Tommy Lee Jones, Actor/Director

Rudyard Kipling, the man who wrote "East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet" was wrong about that, and he knew it. The best of modern art, architecture, design and cinema have occurred precisely at the point where east meets west and I am, for that reason, delighted to be here now. All film makers are indebted to each other. We are, above and beyond film schools, one another's education. I am honored to be part of this year's jury at the Tokyo International Film Festival because of the forum for learning it provides. We intend to celebrate all of these films with particular attention to the ones that offer emotional and intellectual understanding to all people about all people. And, of course, the jury will bring sharp eyes to bear on technical film craft. Personally, Japan is very dear to my heart. I feel at home here and I am happy to serve the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Jury, Reza Mirkarimi, Director/Writer/Producer

When I participated in Tokyo International Film Festival for the first time, I deeply felt that art and film could easily stand somewhere above the political tensions and prejudices. It was 2001, more than one month after the tragic events of September 11. All the media heralded anti-Islam propaganda. I was in Tokyo with my second feature film, Under the Moonlight , a sympathetic look into the life and the dilemmas of a young Muslim seminarian. As a young filmmaker, I was thrilled to see that despite all the controversy, the audience, as well as the jury members, found the film accessible and warmly welcomed it. This year I am coming back to Tokyo as a jury member, which I find as hard as filmmaking, since on different juries, I have always believed that one must be capable of understanding a film, uninfluenced by all the non-artistic, non-aesthetic, non-cultural measures, heralded regularly by propagandist media all around the world.

Jury, Zhao Wei, Actress/Director

Films are dreams, Federico Fellini once said, "The visionary is the only true realist."
In films our true attitudes can hardly hide, they become sincere, accurate, can't help but reveal genuine cruelty and wounds, and they embrace the endless bewilderment and compassion of humanity. Yet, it is a splendid process, a unique method of communicating with others in the world. Dreams may be woken up, but dreams of film can sleep through eternity for love.

Jury, Martin Provost, Director

My discovery of Japan is directly linked with my films. Violette brought me there the first time, in 2015, then The Midwife which is scheduled to be released in Japan by the end of this year, and each visit was for me a much-too-brief but exceptionally intense moment of rapt immersion in this country's cultural life and history that so fascinates we Europeans. Indeed I was entranced by the quiet spiritual beauty of the temples and gardens of Kyoto, and by Naoshima Island and its striking celebration of contemporary art, but maybe for me one of the most moving and personal experiences was my pilgrimage to the grave of Yasujiro Ozu in Kamakura. There, I was completely lost in the lush vegetation of a labyrinthine temple garden, a space out of time, and it took me quite a while to find his tomb. It was covered with neat alignments of opened sake bottles, an ashtray with discarded cigarette ends, and one still-lit cigarette was smoking quietly in the morning air. So there were other pilgrims like me, coming here to stay a moment with him. It was a strangely solemn but joyous affair, a touch of friendship in the air...

Jury, Masatoshi Nagase, Actor

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