The motto for this year's Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) could well be 'Business as usual', or more accurately 'More business as usual'. 'This year's festival is similar to last year's in its programme sections and budget,' says festival director general Yasuyoshi Tokuma, 'but we have increased the number of screenings in the International Competition, The Young Cinema Competition, and the Best of Asian Films. This way, we hope to give the public more opportunities to appreciate the movies.'
The festival began as a biennial event in 1985; it went yearly and introduced the market suspended last year in 1992. Festival sections include the International Competition, the well-regarded Young Cinema Competition, Best of Asian Films, and the retrospective Nippon Cinema Week. The festival, which runs 27 September to 6 October, will screen 69 films in eight official programmes, along with a further 53 films in three sponsored sidebar events 122 films in all. This year's budget is ¥600 million (US$5.6 million), the same as last year.
The Tokyo festival has often been difficult to categorise. Past International Competitions have seen resolutely art-house films like Garin Nugroho's And The Moon Dances rubbing shoulders with commercial ventures like Dolores Claiborne. The Special Screenings section where Japan's distributors trumpet their blockbuster US releases nestles next to the Best of Asian Films. Tokuma, however, thinks that this variety is the strength of the festival: 'When we're making the preliminary selections, we try to finds a balance between countries, subjects and genres,' he says. 'We like to include a wide range of films from art-house to pure entertainment.'
The fact that Tokyo falls so late in the year has often caused problems for the International Competition programmers. This year, however, the quality of selections has improved significantly. Two excellent China/Hong Kong productions head the field, Huang Jianxin's satirical Signal Left, Turn Right in its festival debut, and Wu Tianming's masterful return to film-making, The King of Masks. Indeed, Tokuma says that the festival has now patched up the problems that arose with the Chinese authorities when it awarded Tian Zhuangzhuang's controversial 'unauthorised' The Blue Kite the Grand Prix in 1993. 'Now we have a friendly relationship,' he says. 'There were five entries from China, and two of them will be screened during the festival.'
The 13-film International Competition also features Alex Cox's Borges adaptation Death and the Compass, Michael Winterbottom's Jude, Vicente Aranda's Spanish Civil War drama Libertarias, and Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Gabbeh.
The Best of Asian films section features two from Taiwan's acclaimed New Cinema directors, Edward Yang's hip Mahjong (which was in competition in Berlin) and Hou Hsiao-hsien's Cannes entry Goodbye South, Goodbye, produced by Japan's Shochiku. Filipino filmmaker Raymond Red's Sakay, the story of a revolutionary who resisted the American presence, is also on show. 'I think we are reaching the point where Asian films will be treated on equal terms with film from the US and Europe,' says the section's director Shozo Ichiyama. 'Films which concentrate on social and political problems but are lacking in cinematic ability will soon be dismissed. This year we are screening 16 films. I dare say that some of the films have problems, but it is obviously apparent that the film-makers are challenging themselves.'
Perhaps the best-known section of the Tokyo Film Festival is the Young Cinema competition. This offers substantial cash prizes (¥20 million [US$186,000] for gold, ¥10 million [US$93,000] for silver, and ¥5 million [US$46,500] for bronze) to directors born after 1961 who have up to three or fewer features, or first-time directors of any age.
'The idea of the Young Cinema competition is to discover young, talented filmmakers and bring them to the public's attention,' says Tokuma. Previous winners include Tierra's Julio Medem for Vacas (Cows) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro for Delicatessen.
'We hope to make the Young Cinema Competition the gateway through which young filmmakers become known to the world,' says Tokuma. Entries this year include John Schultz's Bandwagon, Paul Hills' Boston Kickout and Lin Cheng-sheng's A Drifting Life.
The Tokyo Film Market is once again absent from the festival. The market opened in 1992, but was cancelled last year. 'Most of the Japanese buyers have direct contact with the main sellers in the States and Europe, so few of those sellers need to participate in a Tokyo market,' says Tokuma. 'If these sellers don't attend, it makes things difficult for buyers from all parts of the world.'
The past few years have seen some new festivals debut in Asia, including the biennial Shanghai Film Festival in China, and September 1996's Pusan Film Festival in Korea. Some are worried that the scene is becoming overloaded. Tokuma, however, sees no threat from the competition. 'I don't think these film festivals will affect the TIFF,' he says. 'However, if the time slot of the festivals is close or overlaps, there will be competition to get both films and participants. Therefore, the festival organisers have to take care with the dates.'
Perhaps with an eye to these conflicts, next year's 1997 festival will see the Tokyo International Film Festival moving further toward the end of the year. 'We will move the date to the end of October/beginning of November,' says Tokuma. 'We're also planning to expand the Young Cinema Competition, and introduce a tribute to a respected filmmaker and a major retrospective.'
Richard James Havis
