A lively discussion about the global standing of the Tokyo International Film Festival — and whether such considerations even matter — was the highlight of a rather genteel competition jury press conference on Tuesday.
The 2026 Tokyo competition jury is headed by Dutch-Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby, Charlie’s Country, Ten Canoes and The Tracker), and he was joined on stage by competition jury members: French film colorist and producer Yov Moor; leading South Korean producer Oh Jungwan; veteran Japanese actress Makiko Watanabe; and Taiwanese-American producer Alex C. Lo.
In stark contrast to many recent pressers at the major European and American film festivals, the Tokyo jury conversation was largely politics free, though the event kicked off with an amusingly blunt answer from De Heer as to why there aren’t more Australian and Japanese co-productions.
De Heer was asked about the conspicuous lack of co-productions between Australia and Japan, despite both countries having strong state backing to film production. “It makes no sense for a Japanese film to shoot in Australia, or it makes no sense for an Australian film to shoot in Japan,” said De Heer. “Europe is very good at doing co-productions strictly on a financial basis, really. Australia is not so good at that. The sort of co-productions that work out of Australia are ones that are natural—that have a natural story where some things need to be shot in Japan, some things need to be shot in Australia. Those will always be possible if the scripts come and if they’re right.”
After the jury members spoke about their great honor at being invited to oversee this year’s competition, the conversation became a touch more animated when they were asked about the standing of Tokyo Film Festival, as compared to other international festivals, and specifically about Tokyo’s recent inclusion as an “A-list” event by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).
“I think Tokyo was… has always been considered one of those festivals by most people who attend festivals,” said De Heer. “Tokyo was effectively an ‘A’ festival. And so in that sense, I don’t think it makes a lot of difference. This sort of categorization seems to be becoming more important in terms of the quality of films available to that festival, and so in that sense it may help that it is officially now again an ‘A’, but I don’t think it changes the festival so much.”
“I think Rolf’s answer is… is enough for… is not enough for you?” said Oh to laughter in the room. “Actually, I don’t know about that. I’m not a film festival person, so I don’t know what is A-list or not. Probably A-list means good! But as an audience, we’re not going to the festival because of their A-list or not. We just go to watch film and enjoy the festival feeling.”
Asked whether the tier system was somewhat redundant nowadays, De Heer replied cryptically, “It matters a great deal to some people, and not at all to others. And that is as it should be.”
Later in the discussion, Lo returned to the status of Tokyo, suggesting the festival’s reputation was built upon two key operational traits: world-leading festival hospitality and an exceptionally attentive, intellectually curious audience that respects original storytelling.
Looking ahead to the competition for the Tokyo Grand Prix, the jury also discussed how they would handle disagreements over the 15 films selected to compete. “It depends entirely on the very specific situation—how much disagreement, how divided is the jury,” said De Heer. “I don’t think there is an answer to that until we get to that point. As far as I understand it, I’m with four other very reasonable people, and I’m sure we can find a way through so that we don’t end up with some sort of lesser compromise film, but a really interesting film that maybe some of us don’t like.”
Oh added jokingly that she was ready to fight De Heer over the selection. “Sometimes you want to fight for the film,” she added. “I had an experience where I fought for 7 hours with another jury! Every other jury member hated me. [laughter] But we are grownups and there are so many good films, so we will find a good way to compromise. I hope I don’t fight with him for 7 hours this time!”
Elsewhere, Moor spoke of his delight at being invited to sit on the jury, especially given film colorists are often overlooked for such roles. “When I received the invitation I was very surprised, because [with] my job [as a colorist] it [is] quite rare to receive this kind of invitation. And for me… now I’m almost two years in Tokyo… for me it was a very great surprise, and also for people who do the same job as me, to be able to be a jury at a film festival.” Moor added, “For me, it’s like a little dream, and also maybe to try to show more of my job as a colorist—not only me, but people who do the same job as me.”
De Heer, in his taciturn manner, also spoke about his future plans. Asked about his next film, the director said, “I don’t know… I am in-between, and I’m trying to make decisions about what to do.” He added, “This is another good reason why I enjoy being here, because it is a punctuation point. It’s not a very good answer for you, but it is the answer.”
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