Tokyo Film Festival Opens With 'Sukiyaki' as Japan Restates Overseas Content Goal
Japan's government used the opening of the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival to restate a target: selling JPY20 trillion ($133 billion) worth of Japanese content overseas by 2033, Variety reported.
The festival opened on 26 October with a rain-soaked red carpet and a ceremony at Hulic Hall in Tokyo. The opening film was Sukiyaki, scheduled for an 18:40 screening at the same hall. The festival had priced adult tickets for that screening at 3,500 yen and student tickets at 2,700 yen, and its schedule lists a stage greeting for the screening.
Sukiyaki is about how a song's title tune came to be written. That tune topped the US Billboard chart in 1963. Zeze Takahisa directed the film. Okada Junichi plays composer Nakamura Hachidai, Matsuzaka Tori plays lyricist Ei Rokusuke, and Seino Nana plays Nakamura Junko.
In a video message, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae said her cabinet had named content, film included, a strategic priority under its Japan growth strategy. Economy minister Akazawa Ryosei said overseas sales of Japanese content have grown to around JPY6.1 trillion ($40.7 billion). The government is also seeking roughly JPY250 billion ($1.67 billion) across ministries in its fiscal 2027 budget request to support investment in the content industry.
The festival drew 1,892 film submissions from 112 countries and regions, according to Variety.
Japanese films have also been building big box-office runs. The fifth Kingdom film made the franchise the first series in film history with five consecutive instalments passing JPY5 billion ($33 million) at the box office. Its cumulative gross now stands above JPY30 billion ($200 million).
Next month, the festival's Centerpiece film, Godzilla Minus Zero, opens worldwide, including in Japan, Asia and North America. It is a follow-up to Godzilla Minus One, which won the Oscar for best visual effects. Yamazaki Takashi wrote and directed Godzilla Minus Zero and also handled its visual effects.
The competition jury is presided over by Rolf de Heer. The other members are Watanabe Makiko, Yov Moor, Oh Jungwan and Alex Lo.
For a general audience, the week's headline is simple. A film festival that opened in the rain now sits at the centre of a national push to sell more Japanese films, shows and music abroad, with a government budget request attached to it.
