Japanese film veteran Takeo Hisamatsu never expected to return to the helm of the Tokyo International Film Festival, his country’s largest event celebrating cinema.
“It was a surprise, but I thought it was an honor and a good opportunity for me to do some of the things I couldn’t accomplish before,” he says.
After a long career at legacy studios in both Japan and Hollywood — he spent lengthy executive stints at Shochiku and Warner Bros. — Hisamatsu was named director of the Tokyo festival in 2017 and served until 2021. Veteran diplomat Hiroyasu Ando, who had been appointed chairman in 2019, subsequently took charge of the event with a mandate to overhaul its direction. Ando made a spate of swift changes, relocating the festival to Tokyo’s glitzy Ginza and Hibiya districts, shaking up its programming staff, adding more filmmaker talks and reviving the Kurosawa Akira Award. But earlier this year, Ando abruptly stepped down and Hisamatsu was reinstalled at the top.
Hisamatsu is known as a gracious and no-nonsense collaborator in the Japanese industry, and he declines to discuss the institutional machinations that led to his departure and return. But he’s enthusiastic about the timing of his surprise reinstatement and eager to make his mark.
“I feel at this moment that there is considerable tailwind behind Japanese cinema, so it’s a fortunate time for me to return to this work,” he says.
He points to a series of recent international breakthroughs, from Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s best international feature Oscar win for Drive My Car and Godzilla Minus One‘s historic visual effects victory to the surging global popularity of Japanese anime. Japan was selected as the country of honor at Cannes’ Marché du Film in May, while more than 30 Japanese films screened at the Busan International Film Festival this month. At home, Japan’s box office hit a record ¥274.5 billion ($1.8 billion) in 2025, surpassing its previous 2019 high. Global streamers are also investing heavily in Japanese productions, he notes, while the government has identified the content industry as a priority growth sector and is stepping up its support.
“Obviously, Japanese films and filmmakers are drawing attention from the world, and we should be able to both support and capitalize on these trends at the festival,” he adds.
Hisamatsu believes Tokyo should do more than introduce international cinema to Japanese audiences. With domestic filmmaking enjoying renewed attention overseas, he also wants the festival to serve as a stronger launchpad for Japanese filmmakers seeking international exposure. This year, TIFF introduced competitive prizes for Nippon Cinema Now, its showcase of contemporary Japanese filmmaking, as well as a new TIFF Work-in-Progress initiative connecting Japanese productions with international festival programmers and industry figures.
To fully seize the moment, however, the veteran exec says the festival simply requires more resources.
“We need more money,” he says, plainly. “Given the recent depreciation of the yen and the rise in inflation, our former budget — for flying in and hosting filmmakers and talent — it just doesn’t go as far. And we want to be expanding the festival, not cutting down.”
Hisamatsu says he’s optimistic the government will boost its support before next year’s landmark 40th anniversary edition.
“But we can’t just assume that, so we are working to attract more sponsors and to prove to them that the 40th edition will be a valuable showcase for their brands,” he adds.
Hisamatsu is also hoping to recruit the Japanese studios to partner more closely with the festival and use it as a platform.
“We need to create a more festive vibe around the festival, and to do that we need more parties,” he explains. “When you go to Cannes, the parties are a big part of what makes the event special, helping film professionals to network and build new business relationships. At the Busan International Film Festival, the Korean studios use the festival to host parties for their companies. We need more of this in Tokyo.”
This year, Japan’s leading legacy studio Toho is hosting its first invitation-only “Toho Izakaya Night” to promote its projects and network with international guests. Hisamatsu says he reached out to the other Japanese majors about hosting events, but they weren’t able to pull things together in time.
“They weren’t ready this year, but hopefully by the 40th edition, they will be ready to make a bigger splash,” he says.
Hisamatsu says he’s using next year’s four-decade anniversary as a rallying cry for his whole team.
“It’s an opportunity to evaluate our current positioning in the film festival circuit — where we stand and where we want to go,” he explains. “We are perceived as competing with Busan, which has become very strong over the years, but overall, Asia makes up about 40 percent of the global box office. There is no reason we can’t work together as two major events showcasing Asian cinema for the world.”
