Rolf de Heer Named President of Tokyo Film Festival Jury

The Tokyo International Film Festival has named Australian director Rolf de Heer president of the international competition jury for the festival’s 39th edition.

De Heer has spent more than 40 years in Tasmania, Australia, directing, writing and producing films across a broad range of genres and subjects. His 1993 feature “Bad Boy Bubby” won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, along with the festival’s Fipresci Prize. Four of his films have made the official selection at Cannes, among them “Ten Canoes” (2006), winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section.

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This year’s World Focus lineup at TIFF will include Australia Spotlight, a dedicated showcase of Australian cinema mounted with the Australian Embassy in Japan. The series will screen de Heer’s “The Survival of Kindness” (2022), a competition entry at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival that went on to win the Fipresci Prize there.

“For any of us attending the Tokyo International Film Festival, it is a privilege,” de Heer said. “For me, as a filmmaker, it is even more so. The more films I manage to make, the fewer films I manage to see, especially on the big screen. But as a part of this jury, I have the duty, the obligation, to see at least 15 films and talk about them with other filmmakers.”

Hisamatsu Takeo, festival director of TIFF, said he was delighted to welcome de Heer as jury president. “With his distinctive perspective and unwavering commitment to filmmaking, de Heer has spent decades opening up new possibilities in cinema,” Hisamatsu said. “We look forward to the fresh dialogue and discoveries that his wealth of experience and deep insight will bring to this year’s Competition and its diverse selection of films.”

De Heer trained at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and has since written or co-written 14 screenplays that reached the screen as feature films. His director’s credits run to 15 and a half features spanning a range of budgets and genres, and he has produced or co-produced 16 fiction films and five documentaries.

Career highlights include “Dingo” (1991), starring Colin Friels and jazz musician Miles Davis; “The Tracker” (2002), which began de Heer’s collaborations with Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil; and “Charlie’s Country” (2013), for which Gulpilil won the best actor award at Cannes. “Alexandra’s Project” (2003) earned Helen Buday a best actress award at the San Sebastian Film Festival after the film screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

The 39th TIFF will run Oct. 26-Nov. 4. TIFFCOM, the festival’s industry market, will take place Oct. 28-30.