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Obtaining the required permits to shoot in the busy Japanese capital of Tokyo can feel like a daunting task for international film and TV productions. This is where Tokyo Film Commission (TFC) provides guidance and support for applications, liaising with the national government and city authorities.

Common requests for support include organising permits to shoot in the city, often when filming permissions are required from Tokyo's police department. "We have a very good relationship with police stations across the city," says a TFC spokesperson. "We are happy to help with any requests and do what we can."

Should a filmmaker want to shoot on city roads (a road-use permit issued by the police chief is necessary for shooting on the streets), TFC is on hand to help. While the commission does not apply for shooting permits itself on behalf of a filmmaker, it will recommend a local location or production company or a freelance location co-ordinator who will go through all the necessary application procedures and work closely with the production team.

Tokyo is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and has multiple draws for filmmakers, combining history, cutting- edge architecture and infrastructure alongside natural beauty.

The city boasts everything from Japanese gardens providing peace and tranquillity throughout the city, to Shibuya with its 21st-century futuristic vistas, and Asakusa with its many historical and cultural assets.

In terms of financial incentives, international film and TV projects that spend at least $3.5m (¥500m) on production costs in Japan or whose total production costs exceed $6.9m (¥1bn) and direct production costs in Japan exceed $1.4m (¥200m) can access Japan's location incentive — it can reimburse up to 50% of qualifying expenditure.

In the last 12 months, the city has played host to Netflix crime caper City Hunter, directed by Yuichi Sato, which shot on location in Kabukicho. Netflix also backed House Of Ninjas, a spy thriller from writer/director Dave Boyle, starring Kento Kaku, Yosuke Eguchi and Tae Kimura. The series imagines a world in which ninja clans are alive and well — except they are (mostly) retired.

Apple TV+'s Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters also filmed partly in Tokyo, with a cast including Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe and Kurt Russell.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today revealed the lineup for its 37th edition, which includes world premieres of features from China, Japan and Hong Kong among its competition strands. The festival, which is set to run from October 28 to November 6, will include 120 films and three series across the 10 main sections. The selection was made from 2,023 entries, up from 1,942 last year.

The majority of the 15-strong Competition strand hails from Asia with three films from Japan and three from China as well as titles from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Kazakhstan. At a press conference in Tokyo today, programming director Shozo Ichiyama said the lineup reflects his continuing priority of "not thinking about achieving a balance between countries and regions, but simply selecting the most interesting films". Ichiyama added that he prefers films with "new discoveries and things we haven't seen before" over those with high production value, as well as films that somehow represent or respond to anxieties about the present. The Asian Future competition, for rising Asian filmmakers who have directed up to three features, comprises 10 films, all of which are world premieres.

As previously announced, Kazuya Shiraishi's 11 Rebels is set to world premiere as the opening film of TIFF while Christophe Honoré's Marcello Mio will receive its Japan premiere as the closing feature. The festival's Nippon Cinema Now section, which focuses on new Japanese films, features five world premieres, including Underground by documentary filmmaker Oda Kaori, winner of the Pia Film Festival's Oshima Prize in 2020, and Or Utopia by Kim Yunsoo, who won the festival's Amazon Prime Video Take One Award in 2021.

This year's director in focus is Yu Irie, who debuted with 8000 Miles in 2009, winning the grand prize at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. Five of the director's films, including this year's A Girl Named Ann, will be screened.

The List of Competitors

Adios Amigo (Col)
Dir. Iván David Gaona

Big World (China)*
Dir. Yang Lina

Bury Your Dead (Bra)
Dir. Marco Dutra

Cadet (Kaz)*
Dir. Adilkhan Yerzhanov

Daughter's Daughter (Tai)
Dir. Huang Xi

The Englishman's Papers (Port)*
Dir. Sergio Graciano

In His Own Image (Fr)
Dir. Thierry de Peretti

Lust in the Rain (Japan-Tai)*
Dir. Shinzo Katayama

My Friend An Delie (China)*
Dir. Dong Zijian

Papa (HK)*
Dir. Philip Yung

Promise, I'll Be Fine (Slovakia-Czech)*
Dir. Katarína Gramatová

She Taught Me Serendipity (Japan)*
Dir. Ohku Akiko

Teki Cometh (Japan)*
Dir. Yoshida Daihachi

Traffic (Rom-Bel-Neth)
Dir. Teodora Ana Mihai

The Unseen Sister (China)
Dir. Midi Z

Asian Future

Apollon By Day Athena By Night (Turkey)
Dir. Emine Yildirim

Black Ox (Japan-Tai-US)
Dir. Tsuta Tetsuichiro

The Bora (Iran)
Dir. Mohammad Esmaeilie

Missing Child Videotape (Japan)
Dir. Kondo Ryota

Pavane For An Infant (Malay)
Dir. Chong Keat Aun

Sima's Song (Sp-Neth-Fr-Tai-Greece-Afg)
Dir. Roya Sadat

Three Castrated Goats (US)
Dir. Ye Xingyu

Valley Of The Shadow Of Death (HK)
Dirs Jeffery Lam Sen, Antonio Tam

The Vessel's Isle (US)
Dir. Wang Di

Wait Until Spring (Iran)
Dir. Ashkan Ashkani

'Bound In Heaven', the feature debut of director Huo Xin, won the top prize at the 2024 Rome Film Festival, with the awards unveiled at the Auditorium Parco della Musica on October 26. The romantic crime drama won best film in the Progressive Cinema Competition, the festival's competitive strand, and also shared the best first feature award ex aequo with Edgardo Pistone's Ciao Bambino.

'Bound In Heaven' premiered at Toronto, and features a cast including Ni Ni, Zhou You and Liao Fan. Director Huo is a veteran screenwriter whose credits include: 'Shower', 'Kung Fu Hustle', 'Sunflower' and 'The Monkey King'.

The best actor prize went to Elio Germano for playing communist politican Enrico Berlinguer in 'The Grand Ambition'. Ángela Molina won best actress for Carlos Marquès-Marcet's 'They Will Be Dust', about a women with an incurable brain tumor who takes a last trip to an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.

The jury for the main competition strand was chaired by director Pablo Trapero and also included editor Francesca Calvelli, French actress Laetitia Casta, UK producer Gail Egan, and writer and screenwriter Dennis Lehane.

Italian director and screenwriter Francesca Comencini led the first feature jury, that also included producer, composer and writer Kai li Peng and Anatomy Of A Fall actor Antoine Reinartz.

The film also won two additional awards at the 72nd San Sebastian Festival on September 28: 1) JURY PRIZE FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY and also, 2) FIPRESCI AWARD ( International Federation of Film Critics ).

Congratulations to the makers of the film!

California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed to double the film and TV tax incentive in what would see the state offer, the second highest of all behind uncapped Georgia.

Amid a post-strike production decline and concern that California is at risk of falling well behind other states – let alone countries – that offer highly competitive incentives, Governor Newsom has endorsed a huge increase.

Newsom, who unveiled the proposal at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles on Sunday, said: "California is the entertainment capital of the world, rooted in decades of creativity, innovation, and unparalleled talent. Expanding this program will help keep production here at home, generate thousands of good-paying jobs, and strengthen the vital link between our communities and the state's iconic film and TV industry." Latest data from FilmLA showed that summer production in the Greater Los Angeles fell 5% year-on-year.

Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (TGHFF) is the largest and longest-running film festival in Taiwan. The 2024 Golden Horse Film Festival will be held between November 7th and 24th.

Since 1990 (the 27th awards ceremony), the festival and awards has been organized and funded by the Motion Picture Development Foundation R.O.C., which set up the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee. The Committee consists of nine to fifteen film scholars and film scholars on the executive board, which includes the Chairman and CEO. Under the Committee, there are five different departments: the administration department for internal administrative affairs, guest hospitality and cross-industry collaboration; the marketing department which is responsible for event planning and promotion, advertising and publications; the project promotion department attending to the execution of the project meetings; the competition department which is in charge of the competition and awards ceremony; and the festival department which is devoted to festival planning, curation of films and invitation of filmmakers, subtitle transition and production and all on-site arrangements during the festival.

The awards ceremony is Taiwan's equivalent to the Academy Awards, and was considered among the most prestigious film awards in the Chinese-speaking world for decades until the mainland Chinese boycott in 2019. The awards are contested by Chinese-language submissions from Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China and elsewhere. It is one of the four major Chinese-language film awards, along with Hong Kong Film Award, Golden Rooster Awards and Hundred Flowers Awards, also among the most prestigious and respected film awards in the Chinese-speaking film industry. It is also one of the major annual awards presented in Taiwan along with Golden Bell Awards for television production and Golden Melody Awards for music.

The Golden Horse awards ceremony is held after a month-long festival showcasing some of the nominated feature films for the awards. A substantial number of the film winners in the history of the awards have been Hong Kong productions. The submission period is usually around July to August each year and nominations are announced around October with the ceremony held in November or December. Although it has been held once a year; however, it was stopped in 1964 and 1974 and boycotted in the after-ceremony in 2018. Winners are selected by a jury of judges and awarded a Golden Horse statuette during the broadcast ceremony.

Also visit the Official Website for more information

Arriving in early 2025, THE RED ENVELOPE starring Billkin and PP Krit is poised to be the romantic comedy event of the year. This Thai adaptation of the Taiwanese box office hit MARRY MY DEAD BODY (2022), directed by Cheng Wei-hao, blends humour, the supernatural and LGBTQ+ themes, offering a bold spin on love that breaks all the rules.

The plot draws from a culturally rich, though unconventional, tradition. In the original, a strait-laced policeman, Wu Ming-han, stumbles upon a red envelope, a symbol of good fortune in Chinese culture—except this one contains a ghost marriage proposal intended for deceased gay men. Wu unexpectedly becomes the bride of Mao Mao, a deceased man, and what follows is more than comedic fluff. The film cleverly tackles societal prejudices, especially surrounding LGBTQ+ issues, through a supernatural lens.

As Mao Mao's ghost insists that Wu fulfil the marriage, the story unfolds with humour and heart, exploring themes of acceptance and breaking down unjust societal norms. While details on how The Red Envelope will adapt this for Thai culture remain under wraps, the ghost marriage concept, rooted in Chinese tradition, finds a fitting space in Thai customs.

A collaborative effort between Thailand's GDH and Taiwanese cinema, this production boasts industry powerhouses like producer Banjong Pisanthanakun (Pee Mak) and director Chayanop Boonprakob (Friend Zone), sparking significant excitement in the Thai film scene. Their partnership promises a unique blend of humour, romance and the supernatural, customised for Thai audiences.

The Busan International Film Festival has revealed its award winners. Park Ri-woong's "The Land of Morning Calm" (Korea) and The Maw Naing's "MA – Cry of Silence"(Myanmar/Korea/Singapore/France/Norway/Qatar) shared the New Currents Award.

Rima Das' "Village Rockstars 2" (India/Singapore) and Tom Lin Shu-Yu's "Yen and Ai-Lee" (Taiwan) jointly claimed the Kim Jiseok Award for more experienced filmmakers.

"The Land of Morning Calm" impressed the jury with its "storytelling skills and ability for subtle emotional depth," exploring personal struggles within a rural coastal community. "MA – Cry of Silence" was recognized for its "courageous portrayal of resistance" to Myanmar's political challenges. "The Land of Morning Calm" additionally secured the KB New Currents Audience Award. The film also won the NETPAC Award, which announced previously as part of the Busan Vision Awards.

More information at the Official Website of the Busan Film Festival

South Africa submitted its selected film, OLD RIGHTEOUS BLUES for competition for the 2025 Oscars in the Best International Feature Film. The film was one of the last submissions for competition in its category as deadline closed on 2nd of October. The 97th Academy Awards will be held from 2 March 2025. Please also see our post for more dates for the Academy Awards: Event Dates.

The story of the film:
Set in South Africa's Western Cape province, Old Righteous Blues follows a young man's journey to unite a fractured community as he attempts to restore the once-glorious Old Righteous Blues Christmas Choir Band (Kerskoor) to its former stature.

This mission sees him confront the long-standing consequences of a bitter feud started by his father two decades earlier, which split the choir in two and devastated the community. For twenty years, street battles ensued, families were torn apart, and loyalties were tested as the two rival bands claimed ownership of the town's Kerskoor with destructive and violent consequences.

Hong Kong CineFan reveals its program for September and October focusing on the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Art is life – a motto that rings in The Red Shoes, apparently reflects the philosophy of Michael Powell (1905-90) and Emeric Pressburger (1902-88) towards filmmaking. Almost like a morbid obsession, their total devotion to the cinema underscores the phenomenal power and mystery of their original, diverse body of work, at once daringly subversive, aesthetically inventive and ravishingly beautiful. Few can rival their cultural legacy and enduring influence in British film history.

Working hand in hand since the outbreak of World War II, the coalescence between English native Powell and Hungarian émigré Pressburger 'proved to be one of those fortuitous combinations where the chemistry was felicitous in every degree' (film historian William K. Everson). Powell's dynamic direction was given substance by Pressburger's richly layered and incisive screenplays; their distinct cultures and personalities converge on the common ground of an uncompromising take on filmmaking. The two cinematic visionaries and innovators shared credits as writers, directors and producers under the banner of their production company The Archers – a hallmark that denotes an integral artistic partnership.

Their early collaborations hit the stride with a series of wartime thrillers. Surpassing the boundaries of a propaganda film, the creative duo delves into humanity, contemplating friendship, romance, desire and belief while denouncing the wars. Grounded in reality yet embracing surrealism, their films evoke magical, dreamlike fantasy that celebrates the transcendent value of love – through three incarnations of an ideal woman embodying the heart and soul, or an adjudication in the heavenly tribunal for a presumed dead soldier returning to his love on Earth. Bold and revolutionary, they crafted films that explore the possibilities of cinematic language, and the mesmerising power of chiaroscuro and colour, unveiling covert depression in stark monochrome, while exposing burning desires in the feverish red of Technicolor.

Psychedelia of their unbridled imagination is in full manifestation under the immaculate direction, powered by exceptional cinematography, sound, lighting, and production design. The stairway to heaven, the bell tower on a cliff, and a boat in a whirlpool – all these visual splendours that bring to life the indecipherable psyche are made up by awe-inspiring special effects. The fusion of theatrical and cinematic magic, the wedding of sound and image in 'composed cinema', and their stylised artistic experimentation resulted in a tour de force of whimsical fantasy – a universe of cinema inventiveness that never existed before.

A devotee of The Archers, Martin Scorsese acknowledged in Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger that their body of work is a constant source of energy, and a reminder of what life and art are all about. That's exactly what Powell and Pressburger's visionary cinema was – and still is.

The second part of the program focuses on Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, who first met in Paris and continued to work together for decades.

Danièle Huillet once recalled that she could clearly remember first meeting Jean-Marie Straub in Paris in November 1954 because the Algerian War had just broken out. Not long after, as they began work on a script for a film about the life of Bach, their relationship was again marked by the conflict when the couple left France in 1958 so Straub could avoid the draft.

They settled in Munich, home to a lively, young film scene, making their first films in German: Machorka-Muff, Not Reconciled and the long-planned The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, that garnered them a small but enthusiastic critical reputation. Settling in Rome in 1969, they became truly international filmmakers, making films with crews and casts in Germany, Italy, France, Egypt and (three shots) America.

Compared early on to the work of Robert Bresson and Bertolt Brecht, their films are, nevertheless, truly singular. Disorienting yet overwhelming, these films stare at, and listen intensely to, the world and its people, so that we may see what is always present but absent. Filmed by a camera Straub once described as an 'accomplice,' the characters energetically burst off screen through carefully rehearsed performances that focus on the voice and minimal, but immense, gestures. We experience their struggles, their hopes, and their pain as though they were sitting right in front of us.

With simple means, they produced films that are diverse, polished and handmade. They collaborated with many of the same crew members for decades and edited their films themselves, creating unexpected, off-kilter rhythms out of blocks of shots ('cinematographic material,' they called it) with direct location sound that was never mixed to smooth out the discontinuity between takes.

Just as contemporary politics and border crossing marked their lives early, their later films return to the themes of geography and language: in short, the land. Throughout the 1970s, land gains an ever more prominent role in films such as Moses and Aaron and From the Cloud to the Resistance and see how it looks today and what lies hidden beneath it. In Class Relations, as if seen in a nightmare, it is the nocturnal landscapes the protagonist must cross as he explores America, while in Sicilia!, the filmmakers visually link conversations around earthy topics like food and desire to panning or tracking shots of Sicily's dry lunar countryside.

Faster than Godard (to paraphrase Pedro Costa, who made the magical and stimulating documentary about Straub-Huillet's editing process), these films often leave one breathless and off balance upon a first viewing. But that is just what can happen when one tries to capture the world, pertinent to their favorite painter Paul Cézanne once stated: 'The immensity, the torrent of the world in a tiny piece of material.'

Visit the Official Website for more information.