French actor Chiara Mastroianni and the iconic Hong Kong director Johnnie Para are among a group of heavyweight names joining Tony Leung Chiu-wai on this year’s main competition jury. Tokyo International Film FestivalThe festival will take place from October 28 to November 6.
Completing the jury are Hungarian screenwriter and director Ildiko Enyedi and Japanese star actor Hashimoto Ai.
The full festival lineup of films and events will be detailed at a presentation in late September.
The choice of Enyedi, who won the 2017 edition of the Berlin film festival with “On Body and Soul,” cannot be a coincidence. She is directing Leung in her upcoming film “Silent Friend,” a film that marks Leung’s first role in a European film.
“Being part of a jury is always an exceptional, very intense experience. This is not a place for small talk. Jury work consists of a series of unusually deep and revealing meetings,” said Enyedi.
Hashimoto, who was previously an ambassador for the festival, said she never dreamed of the day she would switch roles and become a jury member. “The responsibility of influencing someone’s life is quite scary. However, I hope to approach each film with sincerity, engage with it seriously, and fully immerse myself in the cinematic experience,” she said.
Mastroianni, best known for her role in the 1994 film “Ready to Wear” and for her appearance in the groundbreaking animated film “Persepolis,” was the winner of the best actress award at Cannes for Christophe Honoré’s “On a Magical Night.”
Leung’s appointment was announced in May. The star attended the festival last year, where she gave a master class and attended a screening of Wong Kar-wai’s classic film “2046.” She previously visited the Tokyo festival in 2000, when another Wong film, “In the Mood for Love,” was shown in the festival’s special screening section. Leung returned in 2008 with the John Woo film “Red Cliff: Part 1.”