Roger Corman to head 25th TIFF Jury

Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) announced that one of Hollywood's most gifted masters of filmmaking, Roger Corman will serve as Jury President for the International Competition at the 25th Tokyo International Film Festival TIFF (20-28 Oct).

The 86-year-old Corman produced more than 550 films and directed fifty others in a career spanning nearly 60 years. He has often been described as a rebel, a maverick and the king of genre film-making.

"My last visit to Tokyo revealed to me a panorama of Asian cinema, a promising crop of young directors," Corman said in a statement. "I know that this year, as in years past, we will be impressed and inspired by new storytellers."

In 1994, he was jury president for the Young Cinema Competition at the 7th TIFF, held in Kyoto. Last year, Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel was selected for the 24th TIFF's Special Screening section.

The nine day festival will run with its usual array of sections including special screenings, Winds of Asia, Japanese Eyes and Natural TIFF.

The festival has reconfirmed that its affiliated content market, TIFFCOM 2012, will be held from 23 to 25 Oct at a new venue in the Tokyo Bay area (Odaiba).



In a statement the festival organisers said that the shift to the new location, the Grand Pacific Le Daiba, will provide a 20% larger space than the previous Mori Tower venue in the Roppongi Hills area. This should mean the site becomes a "one-stop marketplace where screening facilities, the DVD library, conference space, and exhibition space are all offered on one floor." They also say that with the exhibition area on the first basement floor, market delegates should be able "to move easily from their rooms to the venue."