Launching TOKYO FILMeX

[Fujioka Asako]

TOKYO FILMeX, the new international film festival featuring Asian
independent cinema, will take place Dec 16-24, 2000 in Ginza, Tokyo. A busy
season for all, but not to be missed ! With over 20 filmmakers attending
from around the world, a competition of works by the best emerging
filmmakers in Asia, and at least 20 films with English subtitles, it's a
rare and festive occasion for cinema-lovers one and all.

For details, contact:
Asako FUJIOKA
TOKYO FILMeX Office
3rd Floor, 5-5-11 Akasaka, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 107-0052 Japan
Phone:+81-3-3560-6393
Fax:+81-3-3586-0201
Email: info at filmex.net
Website: www.filmex.net

===================================
When: December 16-24, 2000
Where: La Theatre Ginza, and other venues in Tokyo
Programs:
+ Asia Competition
A competitive section of new films by emerging Asian filmmakers.
+ Special Screenings
New films by prominent filmmakers from around the world.
+ Filmmaker in Focus
Important works of a significant filmmaker.
+ Symposiums
Panel discussions about filmmaking in Asia with distinguished film critics,
festival directors, producers, and filmmakers from Japan and the
international community.

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<TOKYO FILMex Competition >
International focal point in recent years, Asia has emerged as a spawning
ground for many talented young filmmakers. TOKYO FILMeX Competition will
present new films (produced 1999 or 2000) by these youthful Asian directors.
During the film festival's Closing Ceremony on December 24, a Grand Prize
and a Special Jury Prize will be announced. International film professionals
will select the awarded works.

Titles are listed in alphabetical order.
All films in this program will be screened with English and Japanese
subtitles, with the exception of Japanese films.

+The Day I Became a Woman
Director: Marziyeh Meshkini
+Die Bad
Director: Ryoo Seung-wan
+Djomeh
Director: Hassan Yektapanah
+Juliet in Love
Director: Wilson Yip
+Love Will Tear Us Apart
Director: Yu Lik-wai
+Mysterious Object at Noon
Director: Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul
+Not Forgotten
Director: Makoto Shinozaki
+Ryuko, in the Unfaithful Evening
Director: Takashi Ujita
+So-Called Friends
Director: Tai Tai-lung, Lien Chin-hua
+Suzhou River
Director: Lou Ye
+Torch Song
Director: Isao Yukisada

<Special Invitation Films >
This program presents new films from Asia and around the world:
Prize-winning films straight from the world's major international film
festivals, the newest features from important filmmakers, and films from
regions of the world rarely seen in Japan. From this selection of auteur
films, trends in vanguard international filmmaking are represented.
All films in this program will be screened with Japanese subtitles.

+Blackboards (Opening Film)
Director: Samira Makhmalbaf
No English subtitles
+The Circle
Director: Jafar Panahi
English subtitles
+The Flight of the Bee
Directors: Djamshed Usmonov, Min Byong-hun
English subtitles
+The Foul King
Director: Kim Jee-woon
No English subtitles
+The Island Tales
Director: Stanley Kwan
No English subtitles
+Kippur (Closing Film)
Director: Amos Gitai
No English subtitles
+Platform
Director: Jia Zhanke
English subtitles
+Seventeen Years
Director: Zhang Yuan
No English subtitles
+Shadows
Director: Raymond Red
English subtitles
+A Time for Drunken Horses
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
English subtitles
+The Well
Director: Djamshed Usmonov
English subtitles
+Werckmeister Harmonies
Director: Tarr Bela
English subtitles
+(Film Surprise)
What is it? It's a secret.
Hints will gradually be released on the TOKYO FILMeX website
(http://www.filmex.net) in the countdown to the festival. )


<Filmmaker in Focus: Sohrab Shahid Sales>
The two towers of contemporary Iranian cinema Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen
Makhmalbaf both claim him to be "the filmmaker who most influenced" them.
After directing two masterpieces in Iran in the 1970s, he lived in exile in
Germany after the Islamic Revolution and passed away two years ago. Two
representative works of this legendary filmmaker Sohrab Shahid Sales will be
screened for the first time in Japan. Screened with Japanese subtitles but
no English subtitles.

A Simple Event
Director: Sohrab Shahid Sales

Still Life
Director: Sohrab Shahid Sales

<Video Program>
New video-made films by Japanese and Asian emerging talents will be
presented in the screening hall of The Film School of Tokyo. The making-of
documentary of The Blackboard, a Korean parody film about famous movies,
shorts by the instructors of The Film School of Tokyo, and other videos will
be screened.

+ Gips
Director: Akihiko Shiota
+ Haricomi / Stake Out
Director: Tetsuo Shinohara
+ How Samira Made The Blackboard
Director: Maysam Makhmalbaf
+ The Man Who Saw Too Much
Director: Son Jae-gon
+ A Small Miracle
Director: Kenneth Bi
+ A Treatise on Japanese Cinema
Directors: Kunitoshi Manda, Koichiro Ikawa, Yoichi Nishiyama, Yoshiharu
Ueoka

<Symposiums>
Panel discussions about filmmaking in Asia will take place with
distinguished film critics, festival directors, producers, and filmmakers,
from Japan and the international community. This program is open to press
and film industry professionals only.

***********************************
For details:
TOKYO FILMeX office
3rd Floor, 5-5-11 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052 Japan
Phone:+81-3-3560-6393 / Fax:+81-3-3586-0201
Email:info at filmex.net / Website:www.filmex.net

Presented by: TOKYO FILMEX 2000 Organizing Committee
Co-presented by: Asahi Shimbun, J-Wave
Supported by: JOHNNIE WALKER
Administration: T-MARK, Office Kitano
With the support of: PROMAX, Disk Garage
With the cooperation of: Athenee Francaise Cultural Center, The Film School
of Tokyo, Ginza Dai-ichi Hotel, KODAK, DHL, Tokyo Theatres Co. Inc., Nippon
Cine Arts Co., Ltd.

Ticketing information
Pre-purchase \1200 (On sale now!)
At the door \1500
All prices are inclusive of tax.
The seats are non-reserved, each ticket is valid for one presentation only.
Pre-purchase tickets are not available at Le Theatre Ginza.