The 37th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is pleased to announce the jury members for the TIFF Ethical Film Award.
 
The TIFF Ethical Film Award was launched last year in partnership with Sumitomo Corporation, with the aim of raising awareness of social issues such as the environment, poverty and discrimination, and understanding of diversity through film. From the films submitted to this year’s TIFF, three films that meet our ethical principles of “thoughts and actions that empathize with people, society and the environment” will be nominated, and the jury will select one film for the award.
 
Last year, 20000 Species of Bees by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren won the award and was released throughout Japan. This year’s nominations will be announced at this year’s press conference on September 25. The actor/director Saitoh Takumi, who engages in ethical activities such as setting up daycare on film sets, has been appointed president of the jury, and three members of the TIFF Student PR team will also sit on the jury in order to attract younger audiences.
 

 
Jury
President: Saitoh Takumi (Actor, Director)
Jurors: 37th TIFF Student PR Team
Sasaki Wakuto (Graduate School, University of Tsukuba), Nawai Rin (Graduate School, International Christian University), Kawano Hana (Keio University)
 
The TIFF Ethical Film Award ceremony and talk session with jury president Saitoh Takumi will take place on November 5.
 
Comment from Saitoh Takumi
I am grateful for this opportunity. I looked up the word “ethical” and the meaning was what everyone thinks is right and fair, even if there are no laws or other binding elements. Sometimes modern ethics put a bit of pressure on us, but if you look back at the history of cinema, it is also true that the audiences of the time have shaped the sense of ethics and that led to the present day. Cinema is entertainment. I would like to enjoy encounters with the future of cinema at TIFF, as relaxed as ever.
 
Saitoh Takumi Profile
Actor and director Saitoh Takumi has starred in numerous popular films and TV series such as Hirugao: Love Affairs in the Afternoon (2017), Shin Ultraman (2022), and Netflix’s The Queen of Villains (2024). His directorial debut feature blank 13 (2018) won eight awards at film festivals in Japan and overseas, and his second film, Home Sweet Home, was released in 2023. He also produced the documentary A Big Home (2024) by Takebayashi Ryo, and the Hollywood film When I Was a Human, starring Danny Trejo. His other activities range from bringing the mobile theater cinéma bird to disaster areas and developing countries, supporting a project for small theaters called Mini Theater Park, setting up daycare on film sets, and taking black-and-white photographs.