Snow Leopard and Tatami took top honors this week at the 36th annual Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).
The festival’s Grand Prix was awarded to Snow Leopard, the final offering by Tibetan director Pema Tseden, who died in May. The film explores the conflict among villagers when the predator animal begins killing sheep in their remote mountain settlement. It had also been screened earlier at festivals in Venice and Toronto.
Second-place honors at TIFF went to Tatami, a film co-directed by the Israeli Guy Nattiv and the Iranian Zar Amir. It narrates the story of a young Iranian judoka who has been ordered to withdraw from a competition with her Israeli opponent. The festival’s Best Actress award went to Amir, who played her coach.
Another Iranian actor, Yasna Mirtahmash, won the Best Actor prize for his appearance in Roxana, a film about a down-at-the-heels gambler who comes to the aid of a woman whose car had been broken into.
TIFF’s Best Director prize went to Kishi Yoshiyuki for the Japanese entry (Ab)normal Desire, which also won the audience award. The Chinese film A Long Shot took top honors in the artistic contribution category.
This year’s Tokyo festival attracted 78,841 filmgoers to watch 219 films, an increase from 2022, when 59,541 viewers saw 174 entries.
Wim Wenders served as the president of the festival’s jury, which also included Albert Serra, Kunizane Mizue, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, and Zhao Tao. After the winners had been chosen, Wenders was quoted as saying: “We felt that we did see a number of great films. But we’re not quite convinced of the entire selection as being of equal standards.
I was proud to present Perfect Days as the opening film. And I thank the festival for this opportunity, I love TIFF. And i wish it all the success in the world for the future.
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