The president and six other members of “International Competition Jury” will choose winners in each of the following prizes in “Competition”:
Members of the audience will be asked to vote for a film in “Competition”, as the film received the most votes wins the Audience Award. The winner will receive a prize as well as a trophy and certificate from “Minato City Committee” comprised of commerce, administrative, and community organizations in Minato Ward.
For the juries of Competition Section, refer to 21st Juries.
This award was established to assist the development of Asian cinema. One work will be chosen by “the Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film Award Jury” for this award, which will target films made in Asia and shown under “Winds of Asia–Middle East” program. The award winner will be presented with a certificate and trophy from the mayor of Shibuya City.
Koshi Ueno
FILM CRITIC (President of Japan Journalist College)
Born in Tokyo in 1941. Completed his Ph.D. in Humanities at Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1971. Started critical writing work in 1966. Provided film reviews for “Cinema 69,” a film review magazine, from the first issue in 1968. Produced Yoshishige Yoshida’s Coup D’Etat Kaigenrei in 1972. Covered film business in China between 1994 and 1995. Gave intensive lectures concerning Japanese films at the School of Film in the Korean National University of Arts between 1998 and 1999. Wrote “Eiga – Han Eiyu Tachi no Yume,” “Suzuki Seijun Zen Eiga,” “Ee Oto ya Naika Hashimoto Fumio Rokuon Gishi Ichidai, “Eiga Zenbun,” etc.
Shiori Kazama
Director
Born in 1966 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Produced an 8mm film in her first year at high school. Her "0×0（Zero-Kakeru-Koto-No-Zero）" won a prize at the Pia Film Festival the following year. Directed a 16 mm short film, “Imitation Interior”, at graduation. Her “How Old is the River?” (1995) won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. “The Mars Canon” (2001) won the Asian Film Award at TIFF, and was also entered in the Berlin International Film Festival. “World's End/Girl Friend” (2003), a feature made on a digital videocam, has been invited to participate in a number of film festivals and is highly appraised around the world.
Jacob Wong
Curator, Hong Kong International Film Festival: Director, Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum. Jacob Wong is Curator of the Hong Kong International Film Festival and Director of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum. He is also the delegate of the Berlin IFF and the Locarno IFF in Asia.
Two prizes will be awarded to entries in “Japanese Eyes”: one award given for cinema excellence, and one special award given to a person for his/her role in a particular film.
Yuko Sekiguchi
Variety Japan, Editor in Chief
Graduated from Tokyo Gakugei University, where she produced independent films. In 1990 joined Kinema Junpo Co., Ltd., where she was the Deputy Editor then Editor in Chief, before being promoted to the post of Director and Editor in Chief in 2001. She left Kinema Junpo in May 2007, and joined Reed Business Information Japan K.K. in November of the same year. There she launched “Variety Japan” (http://www.varietyjapan.com/), the Japanese language version of an American entertainment magazine, “VARIETY”, and took the position as the Editor in Chief, which she holds to date.
Ｔakashi Kitakoji
Film Critic／Associate professor of Department of Film Production Kyoto University of Arts and Design／Guest Curator of National Film Center － The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo）
Kitakoji graduated with masters from Economic Research Division of Waseda University Graduate School and is currently writing film reviews for newspaper and magazines such as Asahi Shinbun, Studio Voice, Subaru, Invitation, Kinema Junpo and Soen. His major books are Love From Outer Space: Wong Kar-Wai, Cine Lesson 9 and others.
Chris Fujiwara
Film Critic
Chris Fujiwara is the author or editor of several books on cinema, most recently The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger (Faber & Faber). Formerly a film critic for the Boston Phoenix, Fujiwara has contributed essays and articles to numerous anthologies and periodicals and is the editor of Undercurrent, the film-criticism magazine of the international film critics' association FIPRESCI.. He has taught and lectured on film at Athenee Francais Cultural Center in Tokyo, Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Emerson College, has taken part in many symposia on film, and has served on juries at numerous international film festivals.
The Akira Kurosawa Award was established at the 17th TIFF to keep Kurosawa’s legacy alive, to symbolize the rebirth of distinctively Japanese forms of artistic expression, and to promote such Japanese modes of expression to a global audience.
The award targets film directors and producers, who, like Kurosawa, made many works of high quality that balance entertainment and artistic objectives and who contributed to the development of world cinema. Winners will receive US$50,000 (total cash prize) in prize money as well as a trophy and certificate.
