Tokyo Fest Jury Members Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Chiara Mastroianni Talk Importance Of Preserving Cinema Heritage

deadline.com:

In a year in which two of world cinema’s oldest industries, Japan and Italy, have signed a long-awaited co-production treaty, jury members at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) were talking up the importance of both film history and the theatrical experience on the first full day of the festival.

After praising TIFF for its selection of established and emerging Asian filmmakers, Hong Kong actor and jury president Tony Leung Chiu-wai also pointed to the festival’s in-depth programmes of classic movies observing that they play an important role in “introducing Italian directors like [Federico] Fellini and Japanese filmmakers like [Akira] Kurosawa to younger audiences.  “They are not only introducing what is current, but also the vast history of cinema, which is a wonderful opportunity for audiences to learn about the past,” the star of In The Mood For Love and Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings said.

After several years of negotiations, Japan and Italy have finally signed a film co-production treaty, which will be explored in a panel at the TIFFCOM contents market, while eight classic Italian films will screen at the festival, including Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2, both starring Marcello Mastroianni, and three titles from Nanni Moretti.

In addition, five Italian projects have been selected for TIFFCOM’s Tokyo Gap Financing Market. Italian actress Chiara Mastroianni, Mastroianni’s daughter who stars in TIFF’s closing film Marcello Mio, a meta-narrative on her relationship with her father, observed that film festivals are helping to keep alive the experience of watching movies in a cinema, as audience habits changed with the pandemic and the rise of streaming. “I do admire