Cannes Veteran Kawase Naomi on Her Olympic Journey and a Turning Point in Japanese Society (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefKawase Naomi, the Japanese auteur who won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and has had films in competition on multiple other occasions, is paying a flying visit to the festival with “Official Film of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Side A,” which screens on Wednesday evening.A feature-length documentary, “Side A” is focused largely on the athletes. “Side B,” Kawase’s next project, casts a wider net and captures what Kawase calls a turning point for Japanese society.The International Olympic Committee hired me to do it.

I was elected or nominated by the IOC. They wanted somebody who had a global reach and was an auteur filmmaker of a certain caliber.

Thierry Fremaux of the Cannes Film Festival was heavily involved in the decision making. From a very young age, I was heavily involved in sports, I was a basketball player in my youth.

I’ve always been heavily inspired by sport and the hope, the emotion and the strength that it provides. Whenever I watch a sports match I get very emotional, because I know all the things that are happening behind the performance.