the famous director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu received the Akira Kurosawa Award from the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) on Saturday in recognition of his entire career and contribution to global cinema.
“It is an honor to receive this award in the name of the master of masters, one of the gods of the temple of cinema, which is Akira Kurosawa, with each of his films so important to filmmakers around the world, “said González Iñárritu after receiving the award in the central Tokyo Imperial Hotel .
The director thanked the award and said it was “very meaningful, honorable and beautiful” and announced that he would be donating the prize money to a non-profit foundation.
A special recognition
The Mexican was selected together with the Japanese director Koji Fukada (harmonium2016) to receive the Akira Kurosawa Award, which the TIFF revives after 14 years and which in the past it was given to directors such as Steven Spielberg o Yoji Yamada.
The festival’s selection committee decided to award the award to Iñárritu in recognition of his film debut, ABlackberries Dogs“which brought world attention to Mexican cinema and continued to vigorously challenge each other to try something new with each film,” TIFF said in a statement.
González Iñárritu received the TIFF Grand Prix for his debut film Love dogs in the 2000 edition, therefore for him, returning to Tokyo “is a dream come true” and which he receives “with great honor”, as he explained.
Kurosawa fans
In a press conference ahead of today’s ceremony, the Mexican praised Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and claimed to be a fan of some of his classics such as Rashomon (1950) or Ikiru (living, 1952), which also inspired some of his films.
“He was an incredible director. If cinema is a temple, Kurosawa was one of its gods. Rashomon It was a film that my father showed me when I was very young and it had a great influence on the structure of the film Love dogsthrough the different points of view, “he said.
Outside the official competition of the festival, which celebrates its 35th edition in the Japanese capital from 24 October to 2 November, Bard, False Chronicle of Few TruthsIñárritu’s latest film.
Winner of four Oscarsthe director of acclaimed films such as loves dogs (2000), Birdman (2014) or the reborn (2015), show in Bard his most personal side so far, in a film that involves an emotional reconstruction of the director’s life relived by an alter ego, Silverio Gama.
In addition to the Mexican award, this year the TIFF has a record presence in Latin America, with two Spanish films in competition, manticore Y Ace Bestasrespectively by Carlos Vermut and Rodrigo Sorogoyen of Madrid, in addition to the Chilean 1976, the directorial debut of the former interpreter Manuela Martelli.
source: EFE
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Source: Clarin
