UniversalCinema Film & TV Journal’s Amir Ganjavie recently interviewed Shozo Ichiyama, the Programming Director for the Tokyo Film Festival. He worked for the festival previously (1992-1999) before leaving to start a small festival (TOKYO FILMeX). What follows, is part of that interview.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): What is the relationship between you and the festival programmers? Who makes the final decisions?
Shozo Ichiyama (SI): I have the final decision. Of course, there are several programmers and sections. I’m in charge of the International Competition and the Gala Selection.
There is also a competition called Asian Future which is about young filmmakers from Asia. In this section, there’s a senior programmer who’s in charge of the selection. Of course, I also work together with him. But I let him have the final decision. There’s also [a section for] Japanese animation, but this year we changed the regulations and maybe we will include some foreign animation. In this section, there’s one programmer who was in charge of the programming. Of course, in the final decision, I will ask the programmers to decide. But I work for all other sections, the main competition, gala screenings, World Focus which is a non-competition [section], and Nippon Cinema Now, which is a new [panoramic] cinema. In this section, I decide. Of course, there are several programmers working on each section, I’ll hear their opinions, but the final decision is mine.
(UM): How do you define a good movie for your festival?
(SI): The festival is open to everybody. We receive many submissions. Of course, I cannot watch all films. There were many collaborators outside of our office, young film critics, or sometimes [people from the] distribution companies. We pay [them] a very small salary, in return, they will give us some reports.
If I find good reports, I will watch the film by myself. Sometimes, I find a very good film that is graded low by the collaborators. So, I [also] will check the filmmakers’ names or the producer’s names.
This happened two years ago there was a Chinese film called One and Four. It was from a first-time filmmaker so I didn’t know the name of the director (Jigme Trinley). But it was produced by Pema Tseden. He is a very famous Tibetan filmmaker. And I actually, love his films a lot. So maybe, if he is a producer, [One and Four] must be good a film, so I watched it, and it was very good. But the collaborators did not give it a high grade. Sometimes that happens. So, I will check all the names of the filmmakers or the producer’s names. If I think that I must watch it, then I will watch it.
(UM): Do you give them criteria to follow, like a chart to checkmark?
(SI): No. Basically, these collaborators have rubrics. From 1 to 4, 4 being the best and 1 being the worst. Usually, I will try to watch a film over 2.5. Yes, better than the middle. But sometimes I can find a good film at only 2 points but it’s good. Usually, I will watch films that have high grades.
(UM): Does the race or gender of the director have an impact on your decisions?
(SI): I actually try not to think about it. Of course, we are thinking about the gender balance of the jury members. And so, we have 5 jury members for the competition and we usually ask 3 women and 2 men. But for the film itself, I don’t think about gender balance.
So during the selection, sometimes I was afraid, I would check if we included some women or not. Usually, several women filmmakers are included. But, of course, not the majority. The majority are men. But I don’t want to change it. So, last year, I think the main competition was 15, and women [made up] only four, I think. But, I don’t want to increase the number of women filmmakers. It’s not fair sometimes. I think I should decide, based on the quality of the films and not gender balance.
(UM): And how is it important for you to have a crowd-pleaser? Is that something you look for?
(SI): Yes, I can find a very good film for the crowd-pleaser. I will put it Out-of-Competition. We have the Gala Selection, which will be shown in the bigger cinemas for the Out-of-Competition. If there are some very interesting Hong Kong commercial films or Indian commercial films, we would rather show the film in this situation.
Most of the films are not like this. Sometimes comedy is included, but it’s a very satirical comedy. But if there is a very good, commercial film, we’ll show the film at the Gala Selection.
(UM): Are there any barred topics when you are selecting movies? For example, suppose that I am a filmmaker and I made a movie against abortion. Will you show movies about this kind of controversial topic?
(SI): Yeah, of course. In these two years, it didn’t show abortion in the film, but for example, last year, I showed one film from Sri Lanka, the title is, “Peacock Lament,” it’s about baby trafficking. There are young girls who are pregnant but don’t want to raise a child. Then there is some institution that sells these children to very rich and foreign people.
I think it’s based on a true story. It’s a serious problem. Sri Lanka is a very poor country.
(UM): Like the baby broker.
(SI): The baby brokers. Actually, it’s a baby broker. Sometimes I include these kinds of films in the competition. Not all of them are like this but some films are dealing with a very serious financial or political situation in each country. Last year we showed one Iranian film in the competition. It’s World War III.
(UM): Oh yes, I know it.
(SI): It’s a kind of comedy, but it’s a very satirical comedy. It won the special jury prize.
(UM): In terms of the relationship with Japan and its culture. Do you have any special section for Japanese cinema?
(SI): Yeah, we have Nippon Cinema Now, and also the Japan Classic. For Nippon Cinema Now we show the new films, which are not in the competition, but still, there are many good Japanese films. We will show 7 or 8 new Japanese films. We have some classic films (Japan Classic) which are newly restored.
(UM): Any movie that comes to your festival, I imagine, should have a Japanese subtitle.
(SI): For the foreign films, the festival will make Japanese subtitles by ourselves. For example, in World War III, we made Japanese subtitles while simultaneously showing. We rent the English subtitles to the DCP and we will show the Japanese subtitles on the outside screen.
If the distributor is decided, sometimes we will give the subtitles to the distributor. It depends on the translator. Sometimes the translator asks for money.
Not big money, small money. But basically, we do not claim our rights. If the translator is okay, the distributor can use the Japanese subtitles for the release of the film. Actually, several films are sold but the Japanese subtitles are finished at the end of the festival.
(UM): How is your relationship with the audience? Do you have any kind of audience award?
(SI): Yes, there is an audience award. In many cases, the audience award goes to Japanese films.
(UM): And given the fact that Japan has a very big tradition in cinema, your festival shows both Japanese films and international films.
(SI): Speaking about the number of films, we show more international films than Japanese films. We [do show] many Japanese films. For example, in the competition, we have three Japanese films. For the Asian Future Competition, two Japanese films. For Nippon Cinema, ten Japanese films. For the Gala screening, we are showing six or seven Japanese films. In each section, there are many Japanese animated films.
Actually, the Tokyo Film Festival is a very good place for Film Festival programmers to find good Japanese films.
(UM): And for you, how important is it to go to festivals like Cannes and Berlin to see films?
(SI): Actually, the most important thing, is that we can meet many people. Of course, we will pick up some films, but if we choose all our films from Cannes or Berlin, we cannot show the world premiere. Actually, our competition is open to Asian premieres. Some of the films are already shown at Cannes. World War III, it was premiered in Paris. But since it was shown on the horizontal sidebar, we selected a film for the competition. Some are from the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. But we prefer to watch more World Premieres.
One thing we are doing [at these festivals] is meeting the sales agents, producers, or some institutions. We find out which kinds of films are now coming out.
In Berlin, we didn’t start the selection of films yet. Of course, I can find some good films, like in the Chinese Film Competition. But after Cannes Film Festival finished, we started to send invitations. Maybe we will wait for some other new films that are completed after Cannes.
(UM): How do you differentiate yourself from, for example, the Busan Film Festival?
(SI): One thing we must think about is that all competition films should be the Asian premiere, which means there is some clash with the Busan. Last year, we invited a Vietnamese film, “Glorious Ashes, ” which was a very good film. After the Tokyo Film Festival was finished, it was selected for the Three Continent Film Festival and won big prizes. For this film, Busan also sent invitations. I know the producer, and the producer told me. There were several producers, Vietnam producers, and Singaporean producers, that discussed which is better. Finally, they chose to premiere at the Tokyo Film Festival. This happens every year, especially for Asian films. Especially for Asian films, Busan sends the invitation to the same films. But of course, we let the producer decide. But for this Vietnamese film, the producer decided to launch the film in Tokyo.
(UM): Do you have a special section to showcase, for example, a country, i.e., one year dedicated to France or one year to Iran?
(SI): It depends. Every year, there is a suggestion from some countries, so we have the budget to do the special section. We will discuss it with them. This year it is not confirmed. Actually, there were some offers, but we didn’t decide yet. It depends on how many films we can show altogether.
Last year we had a retrospective with Tsai Ming-Liang a Taiwanese filmmaker. The Taiwan Cultural Center came to us. They had the budget for his retrospective. Tsai Ming-Liang’s won a prize at Tokyo Film Festival. I’ve known him for a long time. His first film won a prize in 1993. At that time, I was working for the 8th Asian program. We were very happy to do the retrospective.
So, it depends. Every year several countries offer and then we decide which countries we should do it.
(UM): This might be a general question. I remember that when Kurosawa emerged, he wasn’t very well received in Japan. It was at the Venice Film Festival that he got awards. It was the same with another famous Japanese director, I forgot his name. Embraced by the West first. I’m just curious if you think there are current Japanese filmmakers that appeal more to international audiences.
(SI): Well, because from the late 1990s to the beginning of 2000, so many Japanese filmmakers like Takeshi Kitano, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Naomi Kawase, and Kore-eda, films were selected in many film festivals. But after that, not so many young filmmakers emerged.
But recently, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director of “Drive My Car,” and Koji Fukada, several younger filmmakers were welcomed by audiences. And I don’t know why such films are so welcome. Because their film is not so exotic. They’re dealing with ordinary people in the present Japanese. But of course, I think they’re very talented. Their way of making films is very good. So maybe that’s why their films are selected.
But I’m not sure how the European Film Festival program sees their films. [As] representative of Japan, or just representative of the current cinema in the world. I have no idea. Maybe their film has some Japanese elements, I think.
But it’s different from Akira Kurosawa or Kenji Mizoguchi. Because their film is kind of exotic here. Mainly an epic drama or something. But the recent Japanese films which are welcomed by the film festival are dealing with the present people. Maybe there are some changes. But I myself would like to ask.
(UM): Maybe some Miyazaki elements.
(SI): Yes.
(UM): Perhaps some Buddhist elements.
(SI): Yeah, maybe something is in the film but I do not realize it.
(UM): You mentioned a little bit about the political culture. For example, there are movies made in countries with a political crisis. I’m just thinking like Ukraine or Iran. When these things happen, do you consider these political issues when selecting movies? For example, this movie is sponsored by the government, therefore, we should not show this movie. Do you have such criteria in mind?
(SI): Basically, the Japanese government did not say anything at all. They didn’t say that you shouldn’t show Russian films. And actually, last year we showed two Russian films. There was no conflict with the government. [Also], last year we showed one Ukrainian documentary called “Freedom on Fire,” which premiered in Venice. I selected it intentionally because it’s a very well-made documentary. The film is of very good quality. But I thought that we must show it now because it was made after the Russian invasion. It’s very new. Many new things are recorded.
The film was submitted very late after the deadline, but I included this film in the additional program because I thought the film should be shown to Japanese audiences. If there are films which I must show now, I’ll do them.
(UM): I talked with some programmers, and they told me that for example they have people from the new generation and they are very sensitive to some topics like, for example, issues of race, gender, or colonialism and they sometimes they want movies that don’t show any problematic issue related to gender or sex and stuff like that. I’m just curious if you have similar conversations among your programmers about that, for example, this might be a good movie but it showed some problematic aspects in relation to race and gender, or it’s a male-gaze movie, and we should not show it?
(SI): Yes, because there are several women programmers or women advisors, and sometimes they do not like [misogynistic] films. There is sometimes a discussion, but [ultimately], I would decide. If I gave the reason to them, they will agree. Maybe behind the film, there is big misogyny, but I think the film is very good. I’m sure of it.
Last year I don’t think there was this kind of film, but two years ago I think there was such a discussion. I didn’t select a film because it was somewhat weak and we found some stronger Japanese films. But sometimes there is this kind of film that causes some discussion.
(UM): I heard recently there was that there is too much sex or violence in the movies and we should, for example, work against this or reduce it.
(SI): Yeah, last year. Speaking for myself, I do not care if the film is strong. Two years ago, I chose Limbo (2021) which shows a police drama but it’s a very violent film. The woman was tortured to death but I selected that film because it was well-made. Last year there were no such films that caused a discussion.
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