German filmmaker Wim Wenders is to preside over the international competition jury of Tokyo International Film Festival, where he will also host a retrospective of influential Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu.
It will mark the first time Wenders has attended the festival since 2011, when his documentary Pina screened in the festival’s special screening section.
Wenders is known for features The State of Things, which won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1982; Paris, Texas, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984; and Wings Of Desire, for which he was awarded best director at Cannes in 1987. He is also a three-time Oscar nominee for best documentary with Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Pina (2011) and The Salt of the Earth (2014).
More recently, the German filmmaker made his 10th appearance in Competition at Cannes last month with Japan-set Perfect Days, which follows a toilet cleaner in Tokyo and won best actor for Koji Yakusho as well as the prize of the Ecumenical jury.
Wenders screened a film in TIFF’s inaugural edition in 1985 with Paris, Texas and closed the festival in 1991 with End Of The World, before serving as the TIFF Young Cinema Competition’s jury president in 1993.
He is also well versed in Japanese filmmaking. Since watching Ozu’s Tokyo Story, Wenders has been fascinated with the late director’s work and made acclaimed documentary Tokyo-ga in 1985 as an homage to the filmmaker. He visited Japan last autumn to receive Japan’s Praemium Imperiale, one of the world’s most important art prizes.
TIFF also announced it will screen a selection of Ozu’s films and stage a series of related events to mark the 120th anniversary the filmmaker’s birth, which will be hosted by Wenders. Titles have yet to be announced.
“I’m excited to be back at the Tokyo International Film Festival,” said Wenders. “I only have the best memories of my first jury presence and the jury members from that time are still in touch, still calling each other ‘Claudie-san’ and ‘Paul-san’ and ‘Wim-san’. [His fellow jurors included producer Claudie Ossard and writer Paul Auster].
“For this festival happening 60 years after the death and therefore 120 years after Ozu’s birthday, my declared master, makes the occasion very special to me.”
The 36th Tokyo International Film Festival is set to run October 23 to November 1, while market TIFFCOM will run October 25-27.
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