Gyorgi Palfi’s “His Master’s Voice” will line up against Fruit Chan’s “Three Husbands” and Veit Helmer’s “The Bra” in the main competition section of the Tokyo International Film Festival. Ralph Fiennes’ “The White Crow” will also receive its Asian premiere in competition.
The festival announced its full line up Tuesday in Tokyo. The festival will run Oct 25. – Nov. 3, 2018 at venues around the Japanese capital. It previously announced Japanese films, “Another World” and “Just Only Love” in main competition.
Another earlier announcement revealed that the festival will open with Bradley Cooper’s Lady Gaga-starring “A Star is Born.” The festival will close with “Godzilla: The Planet Eater,” the third and final part in the animated “Godzilla” trilogy. Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s “The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps” was Tuesday confirmed as a second closing film.
The 16-film competition selection is balanced between Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, though films from the U.S. are conspicuously absent. Also screening are Edoardo De Angelis’ “The Vice of Hope” and Michael Noer’s “Before the Frost,” which bowed at Toronto, Mikhael Hers’ “Amanda,” Sameh Zoabi’s “Tel Aviv on Fire” and Emir Baigazin’s “The River,” which premiered at Venice.
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The competition jury is headed by producer Bryan Burk, whose credits include “Cloverfield,” “Star Trek,” “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.” Together with J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy, he also produced “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” His fellow jurors are actress Taraneh Alidoosti, director/producer Stanley Kwan and actress Kaho Minami.
The festival’s other main sections are Asian Future (new Asian indie films), Japanese Cinema Splash (new Japanese indie films), Special Screenings (foreign and Japanese films set for release this autumn and winter), World Focus (foreign films that screened at world festivals, but as yet have no Japanese distributor) and Japan Now (notable Japanese films from the past year).
The festival will also present special sections on the films of actor Koji Yaksho, multi-talent Pete Teo, animators Masaaki Yuasa and Isao Takahata, and director Yuzo Kawashima, represented by three of his classics from the 1960s. There will also be a focus on Israeli Cinema.