Tokyo Film Festival opens with Sukiyaki’s musical story
The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival began on 26 October with a rain-soaked red carpet and a ceremony at Hulic Hall. Its opening film, Sukiyaki, follows the creators of the song that topped the US charts in 1963. Director Takahisa Zeze and members of the cast joined the ceremony, alongside the competition jury led by Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer.
Arts··Evening
Sukiyaki opens the festival at Hulic Hall
The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival opened on 26 October with a rain-soaked red carpet and a ceremony at Hulic Hall in the Japanese capital. Director Takahisa Zeze attended with actors Junichi Okada, Tori Matsuzaka and Nana Seino to introduce Sukiyaki, the film chosen to open the festival.[1], [2]
Sukiyaki follows the creation of the song that reached the top of the US Billboard chart in 1963. Okada plays its composer, Hachidai Nakamura; Matsuzaka portrays lyricist Rokusuke Ei; and Seino plays Junko Nakamura. The opening brought the film’s musical story to the festival before a programme assembled from 1,892 submissions representing 112 countries and regions.[1]
The director links music to memories of war
Zeze described a story set after the war, during Japan’s period of rapid economic growth. He said the war forms the film’s starting point and that the characters gradually consider what peace means. At the ceremony, he expressed the hope that the film could also help make the festival a gathering associated with peace.[1]
Matsuzaka said filming began in April 2025 and that reaching audiences had taken a little more than a year. He described the performances as offering the energy of being at a live music venue. Seino recalled watching her co-stars from audience seats during the shoot and being moved by the intensity of their performances beyond their individual roles.[1]
Rolf de Heer’s jury joins the opening
Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer chairs the competition jury. He is joined by actor Makiko Watanabe, colourist Yov Moor and producers Oh Jungwan and Alex Lo. Speaking at the opening, de Heer recalled the lasting influence of Japanese directors Yasujirō Ozu, Nagisa Ōshima and Akira Kurosawa on his own experience of cinema, including his memory of Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala.[1]
Festival director Takeo Hisamatsu thanked guests for attending in the bad weather before declaring the event open. The ceremony also welcomed representatives of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: chief executive Bill Kramer, president Lynette Howell Taylor and industry officer Meredith Shea. They were visiting for the festival’s Academy in Tokyo programme, the organisation’s first participation at the event.[1]
