{"id":946826,"date":"2026-10-26T10:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T10:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946826\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T10:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T10:46:10","slug":"family-dramas-dominate-tokyo-film-festivals-asian-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946826\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Dramas Dominate Tokyo Film Festival’s Asian Lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFamily relationships run through the Asian films that Tokyo International Film Festival<\/a> programmer Ishizaka Kenji has picked for this year\u2019s edition.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhile it is hard to pinpoint an exact catalyst for this surge in family-driven drama, what is undeniable is that amidst today\u2019s geopolitical volatility, these filmmakers share an instinctive urge to reexamine the smallest foundational unit around them: the family and sibling bonds,\u201d Ishizaka tells Variety.<\/p>\n

\n\tIshizaka has programmed Asian cinema at the festival since 2007, when most submissions were still shot on film. Digital took over within a few years. His selection process moved from 35mm prints and VHS tapes to DVDs, and later to streaming links and downloadable screeners.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2018The physical medium gave way to data; cinema lost its tangible \u2018weight,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe shift also changed what films looked like. Freed from the need to reload film, Asian directors leaned into long running times built on unbroken takes, and so-called slow cinema spread across the region. Two of its leading auteurs took top prizes at major European festivals in the 2010s: Thailand\u2019s Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Palme d\u2019Or at Cannes for \u201cUncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,\u201d and the Philippines\u2019 Lav Diaz won Venice\u2019s Golden Lion for \u201cThe Woman Who Left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIshizaka also oversees Asian Future, the festival\u2019s competition for young Asian filmmakers. Its 10 titles this year include Katski Flores\u2019 \u201cEdjop\u201d from the Philippines, Kim Hyun-min\u2019s \u201cOn the Heights\u201d from South Korea and Chezhiyan\u2019s \u201cThe Paper Flower\u201d from India. Azamat Shargyn\u2019s \u201cShyrmauyq\u201d from Kazakhstan, Ariani Darmawan\u2019s \u201cJani Be Good\u201d from Indonesia and Kujiraoka Hironori\u2019s \u201cSaravah\u201d from Japan are also in the running.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe line between studio fare and independent film has blurred considerably, he says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the Philippines, for instance \u2013 a national cinema often described as enjoying its \u2018Third Golden Age\u2019 since 2005 \u2013 we are seeing mainstream stars actively board indie projects after falling in love with bold, original scripts,\u201d Ishizaka says. \u201cThis has even spawned the portmanteau \u2018maindie\u2019 cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe points to directors Brillante Mendoza and Jun Robles Lana, who switch easily between commercial and small-scale indie work, as key links between the two worlds. Other industries in the region are seeing similar crossover.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the 2010s belonged to Southeast Asian cinema, the story of the 2020s is still being written. For now, Ishizaka singles out Taiwan and South Korea for the strength of their public funding and institutional backing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThematically, an exciting wave of emerging filmmakers from China\u2019s autonomous regions \u2013 Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang \u2013 is stepping into the spotlight,\u201d he says. \u201cMentored and inspired by trailblazing predecessors like the late Pema Tseden, these directors bring distinct regional perspectives and aesthetic sensibilities that set them apart from mainstream Chinese cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor emerging directors in Asian Future, Ishizaka says, the reactions of Tokyo audiences feed straight into their next projects, while meetings with visiting international programmers regularly lead to invitations from other festivals and co-production opportunities. Japan\u2019s network of independent arthouse venues, known locally as mini-theaters, is supported by experienced distributors of international cinema.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is not uncommon for a festival premiere here to translate directly into a domestic theatrical distribution deal,\u201d Ishizaka says. \u201cUltimately, our mission is to serve as an active springboard that fosters these industry connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIshizaka has spent much of his career studying documentary film and cultural exchange between Asia and the Middle East. Although Asian Future has no nonfiction titles this year, he sees a dramatic change in war documentaries from across Asia in the last five years.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMiniature digital cameras mounted on helmets capture the harrowing frontline experience with visceral immediacy, yielding footage so intense it transcends realism into what can only be called the \u2018hyper-real,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cIt is the visual language of an era marked by conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFiction features tackling the same subjects, by contrast, appear to be moving toward metaphor and allegory, he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Family relationships run through the Asian films that Tokyo International Film Festival programmer Ishizaka Kenji has picked for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,337,70597],"class_list":["post-946826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-tokyo-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}