Tokyo Festival Sets Mizoguchi Retrospective, Anime Award Talks and Teens Events

The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival will honour director Mizoguchi Kenji with a 13-film retrospective seventy years after his death. The tribute runs Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 at the Nagase Memorial Theatre Ozu at the National Film Archive of Japan. It is staged as TIFF/NFAJ Classics in collaboration with the archive, Variety reported.

Twelve programmes. Thirteen films. All will screen with English subtitles.

The line-up includes "The Water Magician" (1933), which will screen in Japan for the first time in a new digital restoration backed by the Yanai Initiative, a joint project of Waseda University and UCLA. Silent titles will play with live benshi narration, a performer voicing dialogue and narration beside the screen, plus musical accompaniment and guest talks.

The festival's market arm is also looking to the future of animation. TIFFCOM, the market where rights to films and series are bought and sold, will host a one-hour session on Oct. 30 titled "Toward the Launch of a New Anime Award in 2027."

It is organised by Tokyo Anime Next. The panel brings together Shimizu Akira, director of the Association of Japanese Animations and president of A-1 Pictures, with TIFF animation programming adviser Fujitsu Ryota moderating.

Young film-makers get their own spotlight. The TIFF Teens Cinema Workshop reaches its 10th year with a special event on Nov. 3 at Toho Cinemas Chanter. Former mentors Suwa Nobuhiro (2017), Sugita Kyoshi (2019), Seta Natsuki (2021) and Hayakawa Chie (2022) will join screenings and discussions.

The workshop is moving from its usual August slot to March from now on. TIFF also plans a new companion TIFF Teens Cine Club, and both youth programmes are co-hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Film teaching is on the agenda too. The fourth TIFF International Symposium on Film Education meets Oct. 31 at the National Film Archive of Japan under the theme "Developing Educators and Building Support for Film Education."

The wider festival runs Oct. 26 to Nov. 4, with TIFFCOM running Oct. 28 to 30. The festival has already unveiled Gala and Animation selections for its 39th edition, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

For audiences, this means a week that moves from 1930s classics with live voices to talks about where anime prizes and classroom screenings go next.