Japan has submitted Perfect Days by German filmmaker Wim Wenders for the best international feature film category at the 96th Academy Awards.
It represents the first time that Japan has selected a non-Japanese director in more than 70 years of submissions to the Oscars.
The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan chose the title from eight features, which is understood to have included strong contender The Boy And The Heron, likely the last feature of iconic animation filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, whose Spirited Away won best animated feature at the Oscars in 2003.
Perfect Days is set in Tokyo and follows a Japanese toiler cleaner who seems utterly content as he goes about his everyday routine as a series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
The Japanese-language film premiered in Competition at Cannes in May, where lead actor Koji Yakusho received the best actor award. It will screen at Toronto this month and receive its Asian premiere as the opening film of Tokyo International Film Festival on October 23 ahead of a local release through Bitters End. The Match Factory handles sales and Neon acquired North American rights out of Cannes.
Written by Takuma Takasaki and produced by Koji Yabai, it was produced by Japan’s Master Mind and Spoon as well as the director’s own Wenders Images.
Wenders, who is also set to preside over Tokyo’s international competition jury, has previously directed three films that were submitted by Germany for the international feature Oscar: The American Friend in 1977; Wings Of Desire in 1987; and Pina in 2011. Only Pina made it as far as the shortlist but did not make it onto the final list of nominations.
However, Wenders has been Oscar-nominated in the feature documentary category with Buena Vista Social Club in 2000, Pina in 2012 and The Salt Of The Earth in 2015.
Japan’s submission last year for the international feature film Oscar was Chie Hayakawa’s Plan 75, which did not receive a nomination. The previous year saw Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car win the Academy Award.
Under the rules for the 96th Academy Awards, films submitted for consideration in the best international feature film category must be theatrically released in the country of origin between December 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submission is October 2. The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024.
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