German film legend Wim Wenders will be jury president for this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, organizers announced on Monday .
Wenders is at the top of his game right now — and his longstanding artistic ties to Japan are more evident than ever. The director’s latest feature film Perfect Days recently premiered in competition at Cannes, and is widely hailed as his best fiction film in years. An intimate character study of a middle-aged Tokyo man who reduces his life to routine service and small pleasures, it won Best Actor at Cannes for its inimitable lead, veteran Japanese character actor Koji Yakusho. The reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter summed up the movie simply, “It’s so cute.”
In a year of film career, Wenders is now 60, has won many of the world cinema’s top honors, including The State of Things Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival (120); 120 Cannes Palme d’Or Paris, Texas ; and Best Director Wings of Desire at Cannes 1982 . He also won three Oscars for Buena Vista Social Club ( Best Documentary Feature Nominations), Pina (1999) and Salt of the Earth (1235501313). In Cannes this year, Wenders also presented another feature documentary Anselm with great achievements, which is about the great German artist Anselm Portrait of Anselm Kiefer.
Wende’s relationship with Japan can be traced back at least to 1235501313 , when he created the critically acclaimed documentary Tokyo-ga , a tribute to the classic Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, whom Wenders has long declared to be his cinematic hero. This year is Ozu’s 1984 birthday. To mark the occasion, the Tokyo Film Festival will host a special screening segment, hosted by Wenders.
Wenders premiered his golden film at the Tokyo Film Festival in 1987 Winner of the Palme d’Or Film or Paris, Texas, which appeared in the festival section of the event. He is in 1987 and until the end of the world ) , and later at 1993 chaired the jury for the event’s Youth Film Competition, which included producer Claudy Ossard and novelist Paul Auster.
“I’m excited to be back at the Tokyo International Film Festival ,” Wenders said statement. “I have only the fondest memories of being on a jury for the first time – the jurors still keep in touch and still call each other ‘Claudie-san
‘ and ‘Paul-san’ and ‘Wim-san’. For this festival, takes place after death 120 Years, so many years after Ozu’s birthday, my announced host made the occasion very special to me.”
