The Tokyo Film Festival has set Gu Xiaogang and Mouly Surya as the recipients of the Kurosawa Akira Award at its upcoming 2023 edition, running October 23 — November 1.
The award was handed out for the first time last year after a 14-year gap. The gong is “presented to filmmakers who have made waves in cinema and are expected to help guide the industry’s future.” Last year’s recipients were Alejandro González Iñárritu and Kōji Fukada.
The 2023 winners were chosen by a selection committee, including Yamada Yoji, Dan Fumi, Narahashi Yoko, Kawamoto Saburo, and TIFF programming director Ichiyama Shozo.
Xiaogang is best known for his first feature, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and also won the Special Jury Prize at Tokyo Filmex in 2019. Surya’s debut feature, Fiction, won four awards, including Best Picture at the Festival Film Indonesia in 2008. Her second feature, What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love, was presented at TIFF in 2013 and was also the first Indonesian film to be selected for the Sundance Film Festival. In 2017, her third feature, Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, premiered at Cannes and was released in theaters in 14 countries, including the US, Canada, and Japan. It also won the Grand Prize at Tokyo Filmex and was selected as Indonesia’s Oscar entry.
The Kurosawa Akira Award ceremony will be held at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo on October 31, and the recipients’ press conference will be held at the nearby Base Q on the same day at 15:00.
