The Tokyo Film Festival begins, incorporating a Basque film series for the first time

Tokyo, Oct 23 (EFE).- The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) began this Monday in the Japanese capital with a red carpet, in an edition where a Basque film series premieres for the first time in which films will be screened. as "20,000 species of bees" (2023).

In addition to the aforementioned film by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, other films that stand out in this pioneering Basque series for the TIFF, which will be held between October 23 and November 1, include the animated film "The Sultan's Dream " (2023), by Isabel Herguera, or "A lung" (2023), by Bertha Gaztelumendi and Rosa Zufía, which will thus have their premiere in Japan.

No Spanish film has been included in competition at the TIFF this year, after "As Bestas", by Madrid-born Rodrigo Sorogoyen, swept the previous edition (it won the Grand Prix of the contest, Best Director and Best Actor for the Frenchman Denis Ménochet), but the Chilean film "The Colonists" (2023), by Felipe Gálvez, stands out in the pools of the official section.

Yes, it is once again integrated into the festival, as has been happening in recent years, the Latin Beat, the Latin film festival in Japan, which celebrates its 20th edition in 2023 with five films, including two Spanish ones: "Un amor", by Isabel Coixet, and "Strange Way of Life", by Pedro Almodóvar, with performances by Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal in the case of the latter.

Under the title "Shoulders of Giants", this year the festival has a special program dedicated to the legendary Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, where several digitally restored versions of his works will be presented thanks to the help of the National Film Archive of Japan, on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birth and the 60th of his death, which both occurred on the same day: December 12.

In addition to the Latin American film, the Austrian film "Blind at heart" (2023), directed by Barbara Albert, or the Georgian film "Gondola" (2023), by Veit Helmer, among others, will also compete in the official section.

This 36th edition of the TIFF will feature the German Wim Wenders, acclaimed for films such as "Paris, Texas" (1984) or "Buena Vista Social Club" (1999), as president of the jury and the Catalan director Albert Serra, known for works such as "Pacification" (2022) or "The Song of the Birds" (2008), as a member of it.

Out of competition, "All of us strangers", by Andrew Haigh, "Kubi", the latest film by Takeshi Kitano, or the long-awaited "Poor things", by Yorgos Lanthimos, among others, will be screened.

"Perfect Days" (2023), by Wenders, has been selected as the opening film of the festival, while for the closing film it will be "Godzilla Minus One" (2023), by Takashi Yamazaki.

This year is the second after fourteen in which the TIFF awards the Akira Kurosawa Award, which is given to directors for their contributions to global cinema, among whom in the past have been filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg and which in this edition goes to in the Chinese director Gu Xiaogang and the Indonesian Mouly Surya.