Tokyo Int'l Film Festival Opens with 1st Red Carpet in 3 Years

Tokyo, Oct. 24 (Jiji Press)--The Tokyo International Film Festival kicked off on Monday, with the red carpet being rolled out for the first time in three years after its absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Actors and directors from Japan and abroad appeared in front of Tokyo Takarazuka Theater in the Japanese capital's Chiyoda Ward.

At the opening ceremony, U.S. theater and film director Julie Taymor, who leads the festival's competition jury, said, "We are excited to experience the films that have come from all over the world, and have the experiences of places and people we don't know, and therefore we can have some empathy."

"Empathy...is the major, necessary, missing quotient of our lives right now," Taymor added.

Japanese actor Ai Hashimoto, who serves as an ambassador for the film festival, said that she was relieved that the major film festival could be held.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]