Tokyo Takeaways: Five Themes From the Film Festival and Market
Soaked by several days of rain, the by-product of a nearby typhoon, the Tokyo International Film Festival and its accompanying TIFFCOM industry event might have been forgiven for being a little soggy. But spirits were rarely dampened. And, as the rains eased off at the festival’s midpoint, a handful of largely positive themes had been washed clear.
CHINESE HOTSPOT
The Tokyo festival represents a surprising springboard for Chinese films to make their international festival comeback – Chinese and Japanese political relations remain testy at best – but for the second year in a row there were three mainland Chinese indie pics in Tokyo’s main competition. Add in “Papa,” a divisive Hong Kong drama that had been offered to Cannes and Venice, but was turned down, and a Taiwan-Japan co-production and the Chinese influences were hard to escape.
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That is no accident in the sense that Tokyo’s artistic director Ichiyama Shozo is deeply embedded in and familiar with the Chinese indie scene. And that the Tokyo event has in recent years largely worked with Chinese authorities to select only those indie films which have received the ‘Dragon Seal’ stamp of official approval.
But, the chance workings of the international festival calendar and the bureaucratic vagaries of China’s censorship-approvals system may have deprived Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian of some new Chinese works and tipped the scales in Tokyo’s favor.
(Asia’s other big autumn festival, Busan gives scant room to Chinese titles. That is hardly a surprise since Korean film and TV content is subject to a semi-official ban in mainland China.)
Whatever the background the net effect is that Tokyo has now become a reliable place to connect with Chinese indie film and filmmakers.
Ahead of the awards it is not possible to know the full impact of this year’s selection. But Ichiyama points to the circumstances. “Last year we saw the emergence of a series of films dealing with subjects that would not have passed censorship before, resulting in three films entering the competition, two of which won awards,” he said.
GOVERNMENT LOVEFEST
Voter disillusionment and shifting party alliances make it difficult to determine the direction of the most current political winds in Japan – an inconclusive general election was held just a day before the Tokyo festival kicked off – but it seems that there may be cross-party support for development of the film industry.
That was evidenced again by a video pledge to the industry in the middle of the festival’s opening ceremony from the new Prime Minister. Belatedly, political classes (and some of Japan’s huge industrial conglomerates) are realizing the economic value, employment potential and soft power impact of a less hidebound and risk-averse film and TV industry.
This realization is beginning to trickle down as a series of policy measures. These include encouragement for cross-border cooperation (a Japan-Italy coproduction treaty, that entered into effect in August and was celebrated throughout the festival, is a rare addition to Japan’s statute book), a new talent-support scheme and meaningful improvements to the country’s location incentive scheme (see below).
Still, the anime industry wants more help from government to overcome other structural limitations such as labor costs and only minimal export support. But growing international interest in Japanese-themed content (“Shogun,” “Tokyo Vice” and anime) should make this a straightforward winner for Japan’s political classes to get behind for the next few years.
YOUNG TALENT
The festival’s Nippon Cinema Now strand had a focus on young talent, who are either from Japan or with strong connections to the country. Artistic director Ichiyama Shozo shone a spotlight on some of the emerging talent at an event where they shared the stage with Christian Jeune, director of the film department at Cannes Film Festival.
The talents talked up by Ichiyama included Tokyo-born Kim Yunsoo, an alumnus of the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts, whose feature debut “Or Utopia” premiered in the strand. Kim previously won the Amazon Prime Video Take One Award for best short at the 34th TIFF in 2021; 2023 Amazon Prime Video Take One Award winner, Yang Liping, who graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media, directing course, and whose “Ashes” showed at the strand; the U.K.’s Oscar and BAFTA-nominated Mark Gill, whose Japan-set, Japanese and English-language “Ravens,” headlined by “Shogun” star Asano Tadanobu, and another highlight of the strand; and Takino Hirohito whose “The Bear Wait” premiered at Nippon Cinema Now.
“If I go back to six, seven years, I was a bit desperate to find new voices [from Japan], and I got the impression that there was nobody really, or maybe young directors had difficulties to finance or even to cross over,” Jeune said. “I must say, for the last three, four years, [I’ve been] very optimistic, because we have seen, not only at Cannes but other festivals, we see this new generation emerging.” Jeune provided the example of Hayakawa Chie and her film “Plan 75” which bowed at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2022.
“Japanese films should be helped much more by the country itself, by the institutions. My feeling is that they should be pushing much more,” Jeune added.
JAPAN AS LOCATION
Japan’s location incentive scheme, which offers reimbursement of up to 50% of qualifying expenditure in the country, with an upper limit of JPY1 billion ($6.66 million) on each disbursement, is now operational. The TIFFCOM market was awash with literature touting the beauty of virtually every prefecture in Japan.
Alex Boden, who spent nearly two years in Japan producing both seasons of “Tokyo Vice,” said at an Motion Picture Association (MPA) event during the festival, “There’s absolutely no doubt that JLOX Japan location incentive program is a game changer.” Boden reports near-weekly inquiries since the incentive’s introduction.
Current JLOX-backed productions include projects featuring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, and Brendan Fraser and a Bollywood film. James Cameron is developing “The Last Train from Hiroshima.”
“The wheels are turning in the right direction, and they can carry on in this direction and make Japan a really top destination for all scales of projects,” Boden said.
ASIA LOVES AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was at the core of Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in June and there was a day-long focus on the emerging technology at the Busan International Film Festival in June. Tokyo followed suit with AI being a hot topic at both the festival and the market.
At the MPA event, filmmaker Nakajima Ryo noted the contrasting responses to his generative AI film “Who Said Death Is Beautiful?” at Annecy in France, where there was a backlash against AI and Bucheon in South Korea, which was appreciative. He said that James Cameron joining the board of Stability AI was because the “Avatar” filmmaker had an eye deep into the future. Oscar-winning VFX supervisor George Murphy said that AI integration in production is inevitable: “It’s a freight train coming down the road, and whether we like it or agree whether its right, it is going to become a part of the reality of production.”
The Japanese government is taking steps to support AI adoption in content creation. Norihiko Saeki, director at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, revealed that the ministry has launched the GENIAC (Generative AI Accelerator Challenge) program and is developing guidelines for AI use in content production.
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