Tokyo Film Festival

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

Given the recent discussions on film festival programming, for those 
interested, there is a long critical article on the Tokyo International 
Film Festival written by M. Kaminski in the most recent issue of _Kinema 
Junpo_ (No. 1289, second half August).  Criticizing the 
bureaucratization, commercialization, and declining significance of the 
film festival, the article also frequently cites our Stephen Cremin as an 
example of not only how to program a festival, but also how to best use 
one.  Most of the article is focused less on content (I think it could 
have done more to discuss complaints about bad programming and sidebars 
like Nippon Cinema Classics), than on the fact the festival is no longer 
functioning as a place where people can meet and network in an effort to 
create a pan-Asian film market/culture.

Maybe those who have read it may want to comment.

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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