Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale

Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale
Journal issue | 57 | 2021
Research Article | Negotiating ‘Asianness’ at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Negotiating ‘Asianness’ at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Local, Regional and International Dynamics Through Programming Practices and Film Markets

Abstract

In this paper I will trace a brief history of major Asian film festivals to understand how the notion of ‘Asianness’ evolved over time and how it is expressed nowadays through programming practices and film markets. Then I will focus on the case study of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) as a problematic site where cultural and economic dynamics converge. As an A-category festival, TIFF has to balance its international status with regional relevance, negotiating ‘Asianness’ in a complex relationship involving the local film industry, since questions on ‘Asian cinema’ are deeply linked to the national. Finally, I will draw some conclusions, discussing how TIFF relates to other major film festivals in Asia, where ‘Asianness’ has been used as a shared effort to distinguish themselves from the paradigm set by European film festivals. However, this is an ongoing process, TIFF struggles to use ‘Asianness’ as a unifying element and the specific interests of each festival obstruct the possibility to create a more systematic trans-Asian model.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Feb. 2, 2021 | Accepted: May 27, 2021 | Published June 30, 2021 | Language: en

Keywords Festival ProgrammingTokyo International Film FestivalAsiannessAsian Film FestivalsFilm Festival Network


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