During the festival's star-packed opening ceremony, Japan's new prime minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared via video to express his commitment to boosting support for the country's film sector.
Film Festival got off to a memorably splashy start Monday night with the world premiere of filmmaker Shiraishi Kazuya’s frenetic and wildly bloody samurai action flick-Pacific region. After years of organizational drift, the festival, under the leadership of current chairman Hiroyasu Ando, is on a mission to boost its reach and reputation into something more commensurate with the country’s powerful cinematic past and the ever-growing appeal of Japanese culture around the globe.
The U.S. film presence was light on opening night, but Hollywood star power will be felt later in the festival when Ridley Scott’smakes its Asia premiere at the event on Nov. 5. The screening is a coup for the Tokyo fest, which used to regularly host Hollywood premieres but suffered a dry spell over the past decade as the major studios shifted their marketing efforts towards China’s once-booming box office.
In the past decade, it has been customary for the sitting Japanese prime minister to send a statement of support to the festival. Muto Yoji, economy and trade minister, appeared in person at the ceremony and took the stage to hail the recent global interest in Japanese film and television, including last year’s Oscar winner
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is now busy trying to form a new coalition government following the snap election he fatefully called after being chosen as ruling party leader last month, sent a video message to the film festival.
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