“There will be many great animated films appearing at the festival. We hope to contribute to the promotion of Japanese animation around the world,” said Yoshihiko Yatabe, director of the 27th TIFF. This year, a selection of films by the talented filmmaker Hideaki Anno will be screened in the same session. Anno is best known for his sci-fi animated series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which became a phenomenon in Japan in the 1990s. He has been compared to legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, who won an Oscar for Spirited Away but retired last year.
Also featured at the Tokyo Film Festival are several 3D short films directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, a longtime executive at the Nintendo game company. This year, 15 films, selected from around 1,300 worldwide, are competing in the main category. In addition, the festival will have a competition category for young directors in Asia and the Middle East. The festival will also screen many films from China, Korea, Spain and Latin America.
The 27th TIFF jury president is American director James Gunn. The festival will open with the American film Big Hero 6 and close with the Japanese film Paradise by Takashi Yamazaki.
