President of Jury

Kenzo Horikoshi (Japan)

President, Eurospace Inc., Producer

In 1977, Horikoshi introduced new German cinema to Japan. In 1983, he established Eurospace, an art house theater/distributor and distributed films by auteurs like Wim Wenders, Zhang Yimou, David Cronenberg, Lars Von Trier, Pedro Almodovar, and Abbas Kiarostami. He also produced films such as Smoke (1995), Pola X (1999), Under the Sand (2000), Like Someone in Love (2012), and many more. In 1997, he established The Film School of Tokyo. He also contributed to the establishment of the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Jury Members

Kousuke Ono (Japan)

President, Wa Entertainment, Inc., Film Producer

Born 1963 in Kanagawa, Ono graduated from Faculty of Letters at Keio University and worked at Toho for 14 years. After working in production, he joined Picnic, a production company in 2005 where he produced a Japan Taiwan co-production Tea Fight (2008). In 2008, he co-established Wa Entertainment with Kiki Sugino. His producing credits include Hospitalité (2010) and Au revoir l'été　(2013) by Koji Fukada, Odayaka (2012) by Nobuteru Uchida, Taksu (2014) and Kyoto Elegy (2014) by Kiki Sugino and Chigasaki Story (2014) by Takuya Misawa. He is a member of ateliers du cinéma européen.

Mevlut Akkaya (Turkey, USA)

President, Akaya Films LLC, Film Producer

Akkaya has worked internationally in various capacities for several independent films. He was a supervising producer for Toss Up (2004), which won numerous international awards. He co-produced Five Minarets in New York (2010), starring Danny Glover, Gina Gershon and Robert Patrick. He directed and produced When Comedy Went to School (2013) with Jerry Lewis, Larry King, Jackie Mason, Jerry Stiller and many other artists. Currently, he is finishing a futuristic science fiction film Embers, which has been selected for IFP and for which director Claire Carre has received a Gotham award nomination.

Michael Leow (Hong Kong, Singapore)

Counsel, Producer

Michael is one of the leading entertainment lawyers in the Asia Pacific Region and is currently a partner with Haldanes in HK, and a consultant with Gateway Law Corporation in Singapore. He has represented some of the key players in the film and television industry in the region, advising on international media entertainment transactions including international and pan-asian co-productions, production services, single picture and slate financing, sales and distribution, remake rights, development and acquisition of original IP. Michael was also a co-producer in Arvin Chen’s Au Revoir Taipei, winner of the NETPAC Prize at Berlin International Film Festival 2010.

President of Jury

Shoji Masui (Japan)

President, Altamira Pictures Inc., Film Producer

 

While working as a producer at Daiei, Masui Produced Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t (1989). In 1993, Masui founded Altamira Pictures with Masayuki Suo and Itsumichi Isomura. Since then, he has produced Shall We Dance? (1996), Give It All (1998), Waterboys (2001), Swing Girls (2004), Happy Flight (2008), Robo-G (2012) and A Terminal Trust (2012), Lady Maiko (2014) as well as documentaries such as Takada Wataru Teki (2004), Komadori Shimai ga Yattekuru (2009), Dancing Chaplin (2011) and Osu! Batayan (2013). He also produced this year’s festival opening film, Children of Iron. He currently teaches at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Jury Members

Sanshiro Kobayashi (Japan)

President, Uzumasa, Inc., Film Producer

 

Kobayashi attended Shibaura Institute of Technology. He began working in theater productions and joined theatrical troupe “Hiho Zero Bankan”, appearing on stage as an actor alongside Katsumi Kiba and Ryuichi Morikawa. He also produced and starred in many “pink” films. He also serves as a programmer at Hakodate Harbor Illumination Film Festival. He co-established Uzumasa, Inc. in 2006 and now serves as President. He produces and distributes films while working at the film festival office. He is now producing fiction and documentary films.

Yuji Hiratai (Japan)

President, St' Blue Co, Ltd., Producer

 

Kobayashi attended Shibaura Institute of Technology. He began working in theater productions and joined theatrical troupe “Hiho Zero Bankan”, appearing on stage as an actor alongside Katsumi Kiba and Ryuichi Morikawa. He also produced and starred in many “pink” films. He also serves as a programmer at Hakodate Harbor Illumination Film Festival. To distribute the films he programmed at the festival, he established UZUMASA Inc. He is now producing fiction and documentary films.

President of Jury

Toshikatsu Wada (Japan)

Adjunct Professor of Tokyo Zokei Univ.

Born in 1966, Wada graduated from School of Law at Waseda University. A fan of Tadanari Okamoto, he joined Dentsu Prox and began to produce animated films. His short animation The Adventures of Bip & Bap has won prizes at animated film festivals in Japan and overseas. In 2007, Sukima no Kuni no Poruta based on Ryoji Arai’s work won an Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. He is currently active in the animation unit G9+1, an adjunct professor at Tokyo Zokei University, managing director of the Japan Animation Association, and secretary-general of the Japan Society for Animation Studies.

Jury Member

Yoshikazu Suo (Japan)

Composer, Arranger

 

Born in Tokyo, Suo has composed for films, TV dramas, animation, plays, commercials and more. His soundtrack credits include Lady Maiko (2014), Samurai Hustle (2014), Shall We Dance? (1996), I Just Didn’t Do It (2007), and Kaasan Mom’s Life (2011). He also composes for animation works. He also penned a book on music theory in 2012. He won Outstanding Achievement in Music twice at the Japan Academy Prize in 1997 and 2015 and Mainichi Film Awards Best Music Award.