Teki Cometh, directed by Daihachi Yoshida, was the big winner at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, taking the Tokyo Grand Prix, best director and best actor for Kyozo Nagatsuka’s performance.
The black-and-white film revolves around an elderly widower and former university professor who is spending a peaceful retirement in a traditional Japanese house, until one day a disturbing message on his computer screen tells him that an ‘enemy’ (teki) is coming. The Tokyo Grand Prix, presented by the Governor of Tokyo, comes with a cash prize of $20,000 (JPY3m).
The festival’s Special Jury Prize was presented to Adios Amigo, directed by Colombia’s Ivan D. Gaona, an action film depicting the chaos in the mountains of Colombia at the end of the civil war. Best actress went to Anamaria Vartolomei for Traffic, directed by Belgian-Romanian filmmaker Teodora Ana Mihai, about an impoverished Romanian couple who become involved in a plot to rob an art museum.
Best Artistic Contribution went to My Friend An Delie, directed by Chinese actor-turned-filmmaker Dong Zijian, a drama about a man travelling to his home town to attend his father’s funeral, which received its world premiere at the festival. The Audience Award went to another Chinese film, Yang Lina’s Big World, about a young man with cerebral palsy helping with his grandmother’s stage play and preparing for a college exam.
Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai headed the international competition jury, which also included Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi, Japanese actress Ai Hashimoto, Italian actress Chiara Mastroianni and Hong Kong director Johnnie To.
In the Asian Future Competition, best film went to Apollon By Day Athena By Night, a debut feature from Turkey’s Emine Yildirim, about a woman searching for the mother who has abandoned her. The TIFF Ethical Film Award went to Dahomey, from French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, a documentary about the return of ancient artifacts to Senegal.
The 37th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) wrapped on November 6, following ten days of screenings and events at the festival’s venues in the Hibiya-Marunouchi-Yurakucho-Ginza area. The festival, which opened with the world premiere of Kazuya Shiraishi’s 11 Rebels and closed with Christophe Honoré’s Marcello Mio, drew 61,576 admissions across 208 films.
TOKYO 2024 AWARD WINNERS:
Tokyo Grand Prix, the Governor of Tokyo Award: Teki Cometh, dir: Yoshida Daihachi
Special Jury Prize: Adios Amigo, dir: Ivan D. Gaona
Best Director: Daihachi Yoshida, Teki Cometh
Best Actress: Anamaria Vartolomei, Traffic
Best Actor: Kyozo Nagatsuka, Teki Cometh
Best Artistic Contribution: My Friend An Delie, dir: Dong Zijian
Audience Award: Big World, dir: Yang Lina
Asian Future Best Film Award: Apollon By Day Athena By Night, dir: Emine Yildirim
TIFF Ethical Film Award: Dahomey, dir: Mati Diop
Kurosawa Akira Award: Miyake Sho, Fu Tien-yu
Lifetime Achievement Award: Bela Tarr