Tokyo International Film Festival 2010

The 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival runs from - October 10th to October 23rd. The festival will be held in the Roppongi district in central Tokyo. Over a hundred films will be screened over the ten day duration. With the festivals main attraction, the Tokyo Sakura grand prize, star guest appearances, open-air screenings and voice-over screenings, there is plenty to look forward to.

The festival opens with Social Network, about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and amongst other noteable highlights are: Potiche, the new Francois Ozon film, Moss, based on the online Korean comic sensation, The Town, the Boston bank robber film by Ben Affleck, Tron: Legacy, remake of the '80s classic, and Countdown to Zero, an investigation into nuclear arms by the makers of An Inconvenient Truth.Tickets are at the low price of 1000yen in advance and 1200yen on the day. They can be purchased from any Lawson ticket machine. Find out the code to the screening you want, then head to any Lawson conveni, enter the code into the machine, print out a receipt, take it to the till to pay and receive your tickets. Advance booking is recommended.

The Tokyo Sakura grand prize
The Tokyo Sakura grand prize is for 50,000$ and will be decided on the final day、Sunday the 31st of October.

Here are some of the stand-out entries this year.




And Peace on Earth - Matteo Brotugno and Daniele　Coluccini

The distant outskirts of Rome witness the birth of three parallel stories destined to be tied together. Marco, ex-prisoner, goes back to dealing cocaine for his old friends Glauco and Mauro. Faustino, Massimo and Federico spend their days doing drugs and irresponsible things. Sonia is a university student but also works in a gambling club. A trivial incident will force the main characters to leave a trail of fire, blood and violence behind them.

• trailer
• IMDB page

Brighton Rock - Rowan Joffe

Brighton, 1964. Organized crime has moved into this sleepy English seaside town. Ambitious young gangster Pinkie Brown is determined to stop other gangs taking over his patch, but when he kills a rival, vital evidence falls into the innocent hands of a young waitress, Rose. Pinkie seduces Rose to stop her talking, but her employer, Ida, takes an infuriatingly close interest in the case. A year before the abolition of the death penalty, can Pinkie trust Rose not to betray him and can Rose trust Pinkie not to make her his next victim?

• IMDB page
  

Beautiful Boy - Shawn Ku

Beautiful Boy centers around a couple in a faltering marriage who discover that their 18-year-old son has committed a mass shooting at his university before taking his own life. Following this unimaginable tragedy, they have only themselves to turn to as they deal with their grief, avoid the relentless media scrutiny and struggle with their own culpability, while holding onto the hope that someday they may experience happiness again.

• trailer
• IMDB page

Primary! / Primaria! - Ivan Noel

In this celebration of children's creativity, Primary! follows the lives of students and their teachers in a peculiar yet somewhat recognizable primary school. When Jose Maria―more apt to give a lecture on Fine Arts at university than a primary classroom―fills a post as art teacher, chaos seems to be on the verge of unleashing itself. However, the path that his infinitely imaginative little students take him through proves there is more than a little he can learn from them, and a new life to discover…

• trailer

Tickets

Tickets are at the low price of 1000yen in advance and 1200yen on the day. They can be purchased from any Lawson ticket machine. Find out the code to the screening you want, then head to any Lawson conveni, enter the code into the machine, print out a receipt, take it to the till to pay and receive your tickets. Advance booking is recommended.

• Homepage
• Schedule