Oscars Leaders Head to Tokyo for Festival Panel and Honour

The leaders behind the Oscars are heading to Tokyo.

Bill Kramer, chief executive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisation behind the Academy Awards, will attend the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival alongside Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor and Meredith Shea, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The three will take part in a panel discussion on Oct. 28 as part of a dedicated Academy in Tokyo programme announced by the festival.

That Oct. 28 panel is listed by the festival as Academy in Tokyo: Festival Panel. It will be moderated by Takeo Hisamatsu, Festival Director of the Tokyo International Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Kramer oversees all of the Academy's global operations and programmes, the festival said in its announcement, per the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Kramer will also be honoured during the visit. He will receive the Global Cinema Leadership Special Award on Oct. 28, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The award recognises leadership in world cinema. No other details of the presentation have been announced.

The trip includes two more closed and public dates on the calendar. A private reception for Academy members will take place on Oct. 28. Then Kramer will sit for a talk session with Toho President and CEO Hiro Matsuoka on Oct. 29.

Howell Taylor was re-elected president of the Academy by its Board of Governors, the Academy said on Oct. 13, per Oscars.org. She has produced more than 25 films in the last 20 years. Kramer leads a staff of more than 700 at the Academy.

For fans following awards season from afar, this means a rare public outing for the Academy's top team outside Hollywood. The Tokyo festival runs the panels as open industry events. Expect talk about how films travel, how festivals select them, and how the Oscars watch the world.