Tokyo Film Fest Jury Lauds Festivals' Power to Uncover Talent

As the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) opened on October 27, 2025, the festival's main competition jury, led by former Locarno and Berlin artistic director Carlo Chatrian, highlighted the crucial role of film festivals in the current challenging market.

Chatrian, who is presiding over a jury that includes Japanese actor and director Takumi Saitoh, Chinese director Vivian Qu, Taiwanese-based French film editor Matthieu Laclau, and Taiwanese actress Gwei Lun-Mei, spoke about his experience of discovering a groundbreaking 5-hour film by a new Japanese filmmaker at TIFF in 2014. The film, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Happy Hour," went on to win multiple awards and establish Hamaguchi as one of Japan's most celebrated directors.

Chatrian and his fellow jurors emphasized how film festivals are essential in introducing new films to both the industry and the wider audience. Saitoh, a prominent Japanese actor who has directed cross-border projects, noted that the past decade has seen a significant increase in international co-productions, with cinema being one of the best ways to overcome cultural barriers. Chinese director Vivian Qu, who has worked on co-productions for over a decade, echoed this sentiment, stating that it is now "almost routine" for filmmakers from different countries to collaborate and bring their local stories to an international platform.

As the film industry faces significant challenges, the jurors agreed that the role of film festivals is more important than ever, serving as a "sacred place" for cinema viewing and a platform to showcase diverse stories from around the world.