The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival, TIFF ended today with pomp and pageantry. The 10-day film festival featured many films from across the world though participation by Africa countries is largely negligible.
The Tokyo Grand Prix Award went to The Bloom of Yesterday, directed by Chris Kraus. President of Jury, Jean-Jacques Beineix made a powerful comment. “Crimes against humanity are wounds that can’t be cured. Each and everybody keep the mark of it. Cinema transmitted the memory of these moments of disgrace many times. However, year after year the images fade. However great moviemakers go beyond that and put back into perspective the survival of past crimes.” A special kirin trophy was awarded to Mr. Kraus by Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo.
Chris Kraus’ words were, “This is surreal. I am standing on the same stage as Jean-Jacques. I am moved because it was hard to bring this film to life. Thank you for inviting us to TIFF. I want to use this moment to thank the actors and actresses. This film would not have worked without their unbelievable hard work.
The closing ceremony was concluded by Governor Yuriko Koike of Tokyo who expressed her enthusiasm of having hosted the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival. “This year, the Competition section saw films from 98 countries and regions with 1500 film entries. Today happens to be Cultural Day holiday in Japan and I believe that film is a concentrated form of culture. Japan has many different facets of culture which we’d like to transmit to the world. In 2020, we will be hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games which is a wonderful opportunity to transmit sports and culture to the world. I believe that TIFF will be a driving force in realizing that.”
Here are the names of big winners at the festival:
Tokyo Grand Prize: The Bloom Of Yesterday Directed by Chris Kraus
Special Jury Prize: Sami Blood Directed by Amanda Kernell
Best Director: Hana Jušić Quit Staring At My Plate
Best Actress: Lene Cecilia Sparrok Sami Blood
Best Actor: Paolo Ballesteros Die Beautiful
Best Artistic Contribution: Mr. No Problem Directed by Mei Feng
The Audience Award: Die Beautiful Directed by Jun Robles
Viiewers’ Choice Award: The Bloom Of Yesterday Directed by Chris Kraus
Samurai Award: Martin Scorsese and Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Hopefully, the next edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival will draw more participation from Africa. I was billed to attend this event but couldn’t due to unforeseen contingencies. Surely, I will be there in 2017.
