by FilmInk Staff
The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is pleased to announce that director Rolf de Heer will serve as President of the International Competition jury at the 39th TIFF.
Based in Tasmania, Australia, Rolf de Heer has worked for more than 40 years as a film director, screenwriter and producer, taking on a wide range of subjects and forms of cinematic expression while training his gaze on humanity and society, earning widespread international acclaim. His film Bad Boy Bubby (1993) won the Special Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Venice International Film Festival. Four of his films have been selected for the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, including Ten Canoes (2006), which won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section.
This year, TIFF’s World Focus section will feature “Australia Spotlight,” a special showcase of Australian cinema presented in cooperation with the Australian Embassy in Japan. As part of Australia Spotlight, de Heer’s The Survival of Kindness (2022), which was selected for the Competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, will be screened.
Having spent decades pursuing his own singular approach to filmmaking, de Heer will bring a distinctive judging to this year’s Competition lineup.
Comment from Rolf de Heer
For any of us attending the Tokyo International Film Festival, it is a privilege. For me, as a filmmaker, it is even more so. The more films I manage to make, the fewer films I manage to see, especially on the big screen. But as a part of this jury, I have the duty, the obligation, to see at least 15 films and talk about them with other filmmakers! And not just any old 15 films, but the 15 films in Competition, drawn from films made all over the world by all sorts of extraordinary filmmakers! And to do this in a city that plays host to one of the most formidable film cultures in the world! Can life ever get much better than this?
Comment from Hisamatsu Takeo, Festival Director of TIFF
We are delighted to welcome Rolf de Heer as President of the International Competition jury at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival. With his distinctive perspective and unwavering commitment to filmmaking, de Heer has spent decades opening up new possibilities in cinema. We look forward to the fresh dialogue and discoveries that his wealth of experience and deep insight will bring to this year’s Competition and its diverse selection of films.
Rolf de Heer Profile
After graduating from AFTRS (the Australian Film, Television and Radio School) decades ago, Tasmania-based Rolf de Heer wrote/co-wrote 14 original and adapted screenplays that have been made into feature films, and probably more than 14 that haven’t. He has directed (or in one case, co-directed) 15 and a half feature films of various budgets and genres, mostly from screenplays he has written (or co-written) himself. De Heer has also produced/co-produced 16 fiction features and five feature documentaries.
Early career highlights include Dingo (1991) with Colin Friels and jazz legend Miles Davis; Bad Boy Bubby (1993), multiprize winner at Venice and still an active cult film more than 30 years later; The Quiet Room (1996) and Dance Me to My Song (1998), both selected for Competition at Cannes.
Mid-career highlights include The Tracker (2002), another Venice Competition film and de Heer’s first collaboration with esteemed Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil; Alexandra’s Project (2003), with Helen Buday’s incendiary performance winning the film a Competition slot at Berlin and Best Actress award at San Sebastian; Ten Canoes (2006), prize winner at Cannes; The King Is Dead! (2012), voted most popular film at an obscure French film festival, brought back the following year by public demand and again voted most popular film (it doesn’t happen very often); and Charlie’s Country (2013), winning David Gulpilil a Best Actor award at Cannes.
Late-career highlights include The Survival of Kindness (2022), awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival; and being Jury President at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival.
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