10/24 （Sun）14：00 -　Official Press Conference for Competition section Zephyr was held at the TIFF movie café.

The Press Conference was held, admission free for the general audiences, at the Roppongi Hills 2F, TIFF movie café (Hills Café / Space).
Excluding the few exceptions, Competition Press Conferences during the Film Festival period will be held in TIFF movie café (Hills Café / Space).
This is the valuable opportunity for the audiences to listen to the talk that wasn't referred to in the Competition titles, Q&A.!

Don't miss the chance!
For Schedule see here

10/24（Sun）14：00～　@TIFF movie café
Competition Zephyr Official Press Conference
Speakers: Belma Bas (Director/Screenplay), Birol Akbaba (Producer), Seyma Uzunlar (Actress)

*Please note that the segment of the Press Conference refers to the content of the film title.

Q: I believe this is your first visit here. What was your impression of Tokyo.?

Belma Bas (Director): It is great to be here because since my childhood, it was one of my dreams to come to Japan. I was always curious about Japanese culture and tradition. I'm also very excited since this is the first time for our film to be competing in an international film festival.

Seyma Uzunlar（Actress）: I think Tokyo is a wonderful place with many building much taller than me! The technology is just wonderful. It’s also great how I am welcomed so warmly here.

Birol Akbaba（Producer）: The Green Carpet yesterday felt as if I had been in Tokyo from a long time ago. It made us feel great and important. The organization is very successful, too.

Q: Zephyr was developed from a short film presented at the Cannes International Film Festival. Could you tell us what this short film was about and how you developed it into a feature film?

Belma Bas (Director): My first short film is called Poyraz, the Greek word for a god of the north wind. I use wind names for my films just as Zephyr is also the great god of the west wind. I find mythological connotations and stories very inspiring. I have different segments of influences. The first is during childhood when I had a very mysterious experience in the mountains with my grandparents. The other is my education in the English language where I studied romantic literature of the 19th century. This completed what I experienced as a child. 19th century literature pushed me back to my childhood memories and I was surprised to discover that they both were really related.
Poyraz participated in more than 60 film festivals and I am glad that it appealed to audiences worldwide. In this film, I was trying to depict a child’s first encounter with the idea of death, not physical death. Young children still do not have the concept of abstract thinking. Such thinking actually starts around the age of 12. In the early periods of childhood, death is something scary and awesome—something hard to grasp for a child.
I worked with my parents in Poyraz and Zephyr so it was shot in my hometown in the mountains. Seyma is also in both movies. The geography of this area is a great source of inspiration for me. However, the scenery around my home is changing very rapidly and I feel devastated by this because we are losing its authenticity. So in a scene, I wanted to immortalize this scenery which pushed me to act faster than usual—I take action very slowly. My short film took 13 years to complete!

Q: Seyma, how was it shooting on such a high cliff?

Seyma Uzunlar：Playing that role was scary. It was shot on a very high cliff. We had to do a lot of work here so I constantly felt scared.

Q: The costumes are very colorful in this film. They also change color according to scenes. Was this done consciously?

Belma Bas (Director)：Yes, when Zephyr was wearing the red outfit, she resembled the wild strawberries or poisonous mushrooms in so there is a close connection with the colors in nature and her clothing. But after her mother comes, she copies her mother's style, and when she leaves the house to follow her mother's footsteps. Her mother is the kind of person who is militant and lives for a cause. So this is also reflected in the color of the clothes.

Q: How did you talk to Seyma about the theme of this movie which is a child's first encounter with the idea of death?

Belma Bas (Director): We filmmakers protect our child actors while filming. We hide the bitter reality and say that this is not playing but serious work. I did not give out the entire script to any of the actors except for the actress who played Zephyr's mother. They didn’t even know the general context of the story. We created small situations from normal life. So the hard reality of the film was hidden, especially from the children.


Zephyr
Film Information

Buddha Mountain
>

Guest: Catherine Deneuve(Actress)

POTICHE
Film Information

Competition

10/24 （Sun） 21:00-
TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN7

10/25 （Mon） 11:40-
TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN1

Primary!
Please be forewarned that Ivan Noel director who was scheduled for the stage appearance has been cancelled due to the unforeseen reason.


However, the actor Francisco Alfonsín will make his stage appearance and greetings as scheduled.

We would like to make our most sincere apology for any inconvenience this may cause you. We kindly ask you to be forewarned regarding to this matter.

Primary!
Film Information

10/23 (Sat) Memories of a Burning Tree by Sherman Ong (Director) Q&A @Cinemart Roppongi

This year's opening film for Tokyo International Film Festival, Winds of Asia Middle–East section was helmed by Sherman Ong who is known as a contemporary artist from Malaysia, as well as, an up and coming film maker. The film was photographed in the capital of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam. Memories of a Burning Tree is a new type of Asian film where neither Asian scenery nor Asian actors appear in the film.

Because the previous film by Director Ong, hashi (2008) was filmed in Fukuoka prefecture of Japan, many of the director's "Japanese friends" visited the TIFF screening venue. The Q&A began in a very relaxed mood with the Winds of Asia –Middle East's Programming Director, Kenji Ishizaka performing as a host. .


Greetings from the director to the audience.

The script development and the production of the film was created based on the concept made in Rotterdam Film Festival. The concept was made on a notion of, "What kind of impressions would the filmmakers have if they were to make the films in Africa and if it were their first time visiting there." The choice of the country to visit in Africa would be left to the director's choice. The reason why Mr. Ong has chosen this country as the location for this film was because the place was politically stable, and also for the reason that people from India held a strong power there and also had a great influence from the Arabian cultures.

When the auditions for choosing the cast was held, Director Ong discovered that the professional actors had too strong of a tendency to over act. According to Mr. Ong, "Tanzania is the country that receives a strong influence from Nigeria which is referred to as "Nariwood"(Hollywood of Africa), for having a thriving commercial film industry. Perhaps this is the reason why Tanzania's full time actors are very entertainment oriented." Therefore, eventually Mr. Ong asked the ordinary people that he met in the street to act for his film.

They used the Canon EOS 5D Mark II for the making of the film which is the digital single-lens movie camera currently receiving a lot of attention in Japan as well. We also used three university students from Dar es Salam as the cinematography assistants.

The cast of the film was fixed in the beginning and interviews were held with each of the cast members. Mr. Ong wrote the script based on the life stories of the chosen cast. Mr. Ong also mentioned that his film style advances beyond borders between the documentary and fiction genres. The border doesn't mean much for him.

What the Director Ong wanted from the cast was not the superb acting techniques but rather their own character built from their "life" experiences. The more the director trusted in the cast, he believed that the certain kind of miracle would happen for him.

The Director told us about the various stories with fluent English.


Questions from the audiences.

Q1: Is the Malaysian song in the end of the film an original music for the film?

Director: I’ve found this song in the Internet. The song holds an ideal and diverseness of Malaysia and it is perfect for the film.

Q3: There are numerous tight shot in the first half of the film. But in the later half it changes, leaving the impression of the wide shot. What were the intentions for distinguishing the first and the later parts of the film?

Director: There were numerous shots made in first half of the film, but I think it was incidental and not intentional. I like the film shot in the standard lens, but this time, we’ve shot the whole film in 50mm short focus lens.

Q4: Do you have an episode to tell us regarding to your collaboration with the amateur actors?

Director: I talked about a lot of thing with the people of Tanzania, but what stands out in my memory the most is a story regarding to the religion.
People of Tanzania change their religion quite easily. For example, a person changes the religion just because they move close to the church. As a Malaysian, that is quite difficult to believe in, but this makes it even more interesting.
I believe that there isn’t much meaning in drawing a line between documentary and fiction. Pedro Costa and Werner Herzog are also similar in this respect but when you are filming, what is most important is to experience the reality that is ahead of you.

Q5: Within the film, there is an episode about the witch doctor. I think this is an effective method to present the religion of Africa, but why didn’t you cover this subject in depth?

Director: I wasn’t interested in the typical image of Africa such as the great wilderness of safari. I was interested in depicting the real Tanzania. People from all over the world have seen my film, Memories of a Burning Tree. I found out that there was a person who have lived in Tanzania amongs the audience. “It was like I’ve returned to Tanzania,” the person told me. This made me very happy.
Of course, the existence of the witch doctor is rooted deeply in the real life and there is no mistake about it. So rather than exaggerating it, I carefully expressed the feeling of harmony or balance and mediated the unique (extraordinary experience) within an ordinary life.



Memories of a Burning Tree

Film Information

10/23 (Sat) Introducing the visiting Guests with Photo Report! (Opening Event - Green Carpet - not included).

natural TIFF supported by TOYOTA
Waste Land: Q&A @ TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN1
Guest: Vik Muniz (Artist)



Competition
Zephyr: Q&A @ TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN6
Guest: Belma Bas(Director/Screenplay), Seyma Uzunlar(Actress), Birol Akbaba(Producer)



Japanese Eyes
Wandering Home: Q&A @ TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN5
Guest: Yoichi Higashi（Director）



Winds of Asia-Middle East
Memories of a Burning Tree: Q&A @ Cinemart Roppongi SCREEN1
Guest: Sherman Ong(Director/Producer/Writer)
Q&A Report


Winds of Asia-Middle East
Gallants: Q&A @ Cinemart Roppongi SCREEN4
Guest: Derek Kwok(Director/Screenplay), Clement Cheng(Director/Screenplay)



Minato Screening
Program C / Mai Mai Miracle: Q&A @ TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN3
Guest: Sunao Katabuchi(Director), Tomohiko Iwase(Producer)



Special Screenings, Opening Film
The Social Network: Stage Greeting
Guest: Jesse Eisenberg（Actor）, Aaron Sorkin（Screenplay）


Winds of Asia-Middle East
Passerby #3: Q&A @ Cinemart Roppongi SCREEN1
Guest: Shin Su-won(Director/Screenwriter/Producer/Music)



Special Screenings
TRON: LEGACY 3D Special Presentation: Stage Greeting
Guest: Garrett Hedlund(Actor), Olivia Wilde(Actress), Sean Baily(Producer), Yu Yamada(Actress)
Q&A Report


Bunka-Cho Film Week 2010 – Here & There
Filmmaker's Angle The World of Kyoko Koizumi: Conference @ TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN7
Speaker: Kyoko Koizumi（Actress）
Guest: Kiyoshi Kurosawa(Director), Yu Koyanagi(Actor), Makoto Wada(Director), Hiroshi Machida(Cinematographer)

The cast of The Singing Hitman! Yoka Wao and Masao Kusakari.
The red rose fit perfectly for them.


Director of the FIT, Hiromasa Hirosue and the member of the cast.


Flamingo No.13 Hamid Reza Aligholian (Director), Houman Ahmadi Tofighi (Producer) and Rasoul Younan (Actor) and Baran Zamani (Actress).


The leading actress, Julieta Zylberberg of The Invisible Eye.
She was smiling cutely in the site.


Kaneto Shindo, Director of POST CARD. Even using a wheelchair, he radiates a gallant aura which is hard to believe that he is 98 years old.


Buddha Mountain's Li Yu (Director), Chen Po Lin (Actor), Fang Li (Producer), Zeng Jian (Director of Photography), Fu Yan (Assistant Editor), Peggy Chao (Asociate Producer) and Zhang Huilan.


Sketches of Kaitan City, Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Director), Kazuhiro Sugawara (Producer) and the cast member, Mitsuki Tanimura, Kaho Minami and Masaki Miura.


Catherine Deneuve of POTICHE.
Sexy charm of a grown up woman shrouded the city of Roppongi.


Cast of The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg (Actor) and Aaron Sorkin (Screenplay)
Looking good in a Green Tie which is a Proof of TIFF's Ecology Principle.



Green Carpet Photo Gallery 1

TIFF marked it's opening again this year.
Gorgeous lineup of stars will gather for the Green Carpet which is one of our feature event.


Green Ambassador, Anne glamorously staged the opening of the film festival with the flamboyant orange dress. Film Festival Ambassador, Yoshino Kimura appeared in the chic black dress. Furthest to the left is Hideyuki Takai, President, UNIJAPAN and furthest to the right is Tom Yoda, the Chairman.


MC for Opening Ceremony are Jon Kabira and Junko Kubo.


Lively Children are the judges of the Kinder Film Festival!


Ayu Matsuura and Nozomi Ohashi appear together with Cheburashka and Jackie, the bear.


Maki Horikita (Actress), Eiichiro Funakoshi (Actor) and Kengo Kora (Actor) of the film, Into the White Night, joined us for the Green Carpet.


Tsurube Shofukutei and Mana Ashida who performed the voice over artist for Despicable Me and Chris Meledandri, Producer and the Minion!


"Anybody infected here?" THE CRAZIES, the Capture Squad is deployed to the Keyakizaka Dori.


Staff and the cast of hospitalité, the film that uses the old town as the shooting site.


Staff and cast of 442 – LIVE WITH HONOR, DIE WITH DIGNITY. Junichi Suzuki (Director) and his wife, Rumi Sasakibara made their appearance in despite of the traffic accident.


Staff and cast of A Liar and a Broken Girl, Aya Omasa (Actress), Natsuki Seta (Director) and Tsuyoshi Kobayashi (Producer).


Producer, Director and the member of the staff, Swing Me Again is a film that mixes healthy-looks and mature impression moderately.


Members of GARO-RED REQUIEM led by GARO stood out on the Green Carpet.


Bunraku, the popular Hollywood film starring Gackt along with Emily Kaiho and Shun Sugata.


Producer, Director and the members of Tokyo International Women's Film Festival which will open this year as well.



Green Carpet Photo Gallery 2

Closing Ceremony Online Live Broadcast

The Closing Ceremony which presents each award including the Competition section, Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix will be broadcasted on the Internet Live! Enjoy the excitement of the Closing Day at the Film Festival on live broadcast.

◆Closing Ceremony Internet Live Operation Outline.
10/31 (Sun) 14:00 – 16:00 (Tentative, maximum extension will be up to 17:00)

Please note that to view the Online Live Broadcast, you will need a latest Adobe Flash Player. You can Download the software from here. Download Here

Guest :Yoichi Higashi(Director/Writer/Editor)

Wandering Home