Seasoned US director of theatre, opera and motion pictures, Julie Taymor, will preside over the competition jury at the Tokyo International Film Festival, next month.
A small committee led by Taymor (The Lion King) will choose the winners from 15 competition films that will premiere in Tokyo between October 24 and November 2, 2022. The jury’s other four members will be revealed later.
Helmed by festival director Yuma Nakamura, the Tokyo Film Festival is best known for featuring underrated films in the Asian and International categories. The film festival primarily focuses on independent films dealing with refugees, immigrants, women and the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Asian section highlights the kinds of cinema which dwell in chaos, and Middle-eastern conflicts while shedding light on movies from the Far East. As of now, the 35th TIFF has announced Taymor as its jury president. Other jury members include Anastasia Vasileva, Ronald Ryan Zajac, Dylan Mohan Gray and the like.
Taymor succeeds Isabelle Huppert as the second female jury chair in as many years as in 2021. Due to COVID-19, there was no competition in 2020. And in 2019, Zhang Ziyi of China presided over the jury.
Taymor’s work as the director of the immensely popular stage adaptation of The Lion King, which has run nonstop for 25 years in more than 100 cities across 20 countries, is perhaps best known on a global scale. She has directed several movies, including the Gloria Steinem documentary The Glorias, the Oscar-nominated biopic Frida (2002), the Beatles jukebox love drama Across the Universe (2007), and the Shakespeare adaptation Titus starring Anthony Hopkins (2020).
The festival also summoned the return of the prestigious Kurosawa Akira Award, in honour of renowned Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa. The recipient of the honour will be a director, “making outstanding contributions to world cinema and is expected to help determine the future of the film industry.” Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Yamada Yoji and Steven Spielberg were among the honorees in the past.
“Taymor has directed not only musical theatre but also many excellent films. She has a particularly strong connection with Japan, having studied Ningyo Joruri, traditional puppet theatre here as a student and later applied it to her works. She is also a big fan of Kurosawa Akira and is the perfect fit as jury president this year, as we revive the Kurosawa Akira Award,” expressed Ando Hiroyasu, festival president.
In a statement, speaking about the significance and the sense of fulfilment given by the arts and cinema, Taymor said, “The arts are the beacon that brings us out of the chaos, leading the way. In a darkened theatre the images flickering before us draw us both deeply into and also out of ourselves, our isolated and single selves. Hold onto the film theatres, the palaces that bring us together to cross the boundaries of what we don’t know at all, what we think we know and what we have personally experienced. Become the lives and loves of others and let them inspire and torment you.” The whole lineup for the festival will be revealed on September 21.
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