Kitano sets up film festival

[Eija Margit Niskanen]

  Kitano sets up rival Tokyo  festival

Patrick Frater in Venice                  September 07, 2000





                      Office Kitano, the production, distribution and
promotion team built around offbeat
                      Japanese actor-director (Beat) Takeshi Kitano, has
launched a new festival of
                      Asian and independent film.

                      The establishment of the festival is seen as something
of a backlash against the
                      growing commercialism of the long-established Tokyo
International Film Festival,
                      which this year opens with End Of Days and closes with
Charlie?s Angels.

                      Filmex 2000 will be held in Tokyo December 16-24 and
include a competitive
                      section for Asian films by emerging directors and a
series of special screenings
                      representative of independent film-making from elsewhere
around the world.

                      "We are interested in presenting independent Asian films
and those which cannot
                      be shown in Japan," said Shozo Ichiyama, Filmex director
and CEO of T-Mark,
                      Office Kitano?s specialist film division.

                      The first three confirmed entries are two Iranian
titles: Jafar Panahi?s Venice
                      competition film The Circle and Samira Makhmalbaf?s
Blackboards, which
                      screened in competition at Cannes, and another Venice
competitor Jia Zhangke?s
                      Platform.

                      Kitano?s own documentary series Travelogues is expected
to be found an out of
                      competition slot. The full line-up will be announced in
mid-October. Financial
                      backing is coming from the Asahi Shimbun newspaper group
and J-Wave radio
                      broadcaster with sponsorship by Johnny Walker whisky.


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