Tokyo Filmex to open with Arirang and three Korean films in competition

by KOFIC Staff / Sep 19, 2011

Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk's Un Certain Regard winner "ARIRANG - Movie" will be the Opening Film for the upcoming 12th Tokyo Filmex. The festival has also selected amongst its Competition titles: Park Jung-bum's Rotterdam Tiger Award winner "The Journals of Musan", Kim Ki-duk protege Juhn Jai-hong's "Poongsan", and Heo Jong-ho's recent Toronto film festival entry "Countdown".

Tokyo Filmex will run Nov. 19 – 27 with ten films in competition. The other films include Mohammad Rasoulof's Cannes Un Certain Regard best director-awarded Goodbye, Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden's CinDi award winner Old Dog, and Han Jie's Mr. Tree, which won at the recent Shanghai International Film Festival. (See below for full Competition line-up.)

The festival's Closing Film will be Johnnie To's Life Without Principles which was recently in the Venice film festival's Competition section.

The head of the Filmex Competition jury is Iranian director Amir Naderi, whose Cut recently screened in Venice and Toronto after receiving post-production support from Busan's Asian Cinema Fund (ACF). Cut will also screen in Busan and have a special screening at Filmex. Naderi's fellow jurors will be former Jeonju International Film Festival programmer and Korean film critic Jung Soo-wan, Japanese director Makoto Shinozaki, Nicholas Ray Foundation president Susan Ray and French film critic Philippe Azoury.

Tokyo Filmex Competition Lineup

(title/country/director)

Bachelor Mountain (China) Yu Guangyi

"Countdown" (South Korea) Heo Jong-ho

Flying Fish (Sri Lanka) Sanjeewa Pushpakumara

Good Bye (Iran) Mohammad Rasoulof

"The Journals of Musan" (South Korea) Park Jung-bum

Mr.Tree (China) Han Jie

No Man's Zone (Japan/France) Fujiwara Toshifumi

Old Dog (China) Pema Tseden

"Poongsan" (South Korea) Juhn Jai-hong

Tokyo Playboy Club (Japan) Okuda Yosuke