Rolf de Heer to Lead Tokyo Film Festival Competition Jury
Rolf de Heer will head the international competition jury at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival.
The Dutch-Australian director takes the jury presidency for this year's edition, which runs Oct. 26 to Nov. 4 in Tokyo, according to Variety. The jury president leads deliberations that decide the competition prizes.
De Heer trained at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and has built a long career as a writer and producer, Variety reported. He has written or co-written 14 screenplays produced as feature films. He has produced or co-produced 16 fiction films and five documentaries.
His festival record stretches across Venice, Cannes and Berlin. His 1993 feature Bad Boy Bubby won both the Special Jury Prize and the Fipresci Prize, the award voted by international film critics, at the Venice International Film Festival. Four of his films have made the official selection at Cannes.
That Cannes run includes Ten Canoes (2006), which won the Special Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard, the festival's section for original and distinctive work. His Charlie's Country (2013) earned actor David Gulpilil the best actor award at Cannes, according to Variety.
Berlin has also featured his work. Alexandra's Project (2003) screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. His later film The Survival of Kindness (2022) was a competition entry at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival and won the Fipresci Prize there.
Tokyo audiences will get a chance to see that film again. The festival's World Focus programme will include Australia Spotlight, a showcase of Australian cinema organised with the Australian Embassy in Japan. The selection will screen The Survival of Kindness.
De Heer is no stranger to jury duty. He previously served on the competition jury of the 2024 Shanghai Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
For festivalgoers following the business side, TIFFCOM, the festival's industry market where buyers and sellers meet, will take place Oct. 28 to 30 alongside the main event.
What makes this appointment sit neatly is the overlap. A film-maker with wins and selections at three major European festivals now oversees Tokyo's main competition in a year when the festival is also spotlighting Australian cinema.
