“This year, Latin American films are very strong,” explains Shozo Ichiyama in an interview, who says that, in general, they seek to achieve a balance between countries in their selection, although it is not always achieved.
Although he does not want to opt for a favorite in the official selection, the producer also highlighted the film ‘Farewell to the Friend’ (2024), by director Ivan D. Gaona, which is competing for the grand prize of its 37th edition, as a film with chances of becoming “a commercial success.”
‘Farewell to a Friend’, which had its world premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival in October, arrives in Japan accompanied by its director, Iván David Gaona, known for his debut film ‘Pariente’ (2016), which premiered in Venice and Toronto and after exhibiting his award-winning short films around the world.
The film, based on the Colombian civil war of 1902 (War of a Thousand Days), is a historical western about forgiveness and reconciliation, which shows the political and war memory of the nation from the point of view of peasants. turned into soldiers and recruited against their will.
This is precisely the second year that a Latin American ‘western’ manages to sneak into the official section, after in 2023, the Chilean ‘The Colonists’ (2023), director Felipe Gálvez’s debut film, did so, and which was received with ovations at its premiere in Japan, although it failed to win the award in that edition.
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Ichiyama came across ‘Farewell to the Friend’ at the Cartagena de Indias Festival (FICCI), last April, where it was exhibited as a work in progress, without entering competition, although it already left the Japanese programmer shocked.
“I feel that in Colombia there is a lot of support for filmmakers and I have found many surprises this year in Latin cinema,” he adds. Specifically, it refers to ‘Pepe’, an experimental film by Dominican Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias.
Latin Beat
‘Pepe’ is shown this year as part of the Latin Beat (LBFF), the Latin film festival in Japan that has been held in recent years within the framework of the TIFF, and will celebrate its 21st edition in 2024 with six films, including , Pedro Almodóvar’s latest work: ‘The Room Next Door’ (‘The Room Next Door’, 2024) starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.
This year, the festival will also incorporate horror films, such as ‘El llanto’, by Pedro Martin-Carrero and featuring Ester Expósito, among others.
“What matters is that these films find a distributor in Japan. Almodóvar already has one, but there are many small distributors who cannot go to festivals and can find Latin films at TIFF for their release in Japanese theaters,” adds Ichiyama.
Although the TIFF has been positioning itself in recent years as a window to Japanese and Asian cinema and new talents, in its latest editions it has always had one or several Latin American films in competition, in addition to the Latin Beat and World Focus sections, where These also sneak in.
In addition to the Colombian, the Brazilian ‘Enterre Seus Mortos’ (Bury Your Dead), by Marco Dutra, the Portuguese ‘Os Papeis do Inglês’ (The Englishman’s Papers), by Sérgio Graciano, and the French ‘À Son Image’ (In his image), by the Frenchman Thierry de Peretti, among others.
The contest, which takes place from October 28 to November 6, began with a red carpet in the Tokyo neighborhood of Hibiya, where international directors and actors came to support their films, after which the Japanese film was screened. ’11 Rebels’, by Japanese director Kazuya Shiraishi.
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