We are pleased to announce that award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu will be the Jury President for the International Competition at the 22nd TIFF. Winner of the Best Director prize at the 59th Cannes International Film Festival for Babel, Iñárritu is now one of the most highly acclaimed international filmmakers. He returns to TIFF for the first time since he was awarded the Grand Prix for his debut film, Amores perros, at the 13th Tokyo International Film Festival in 2000. The 22nd edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival will take place from October 17 to 25, 2009.


International Competition President - Alejandro González Iñárritu / Director


Native citizen of what he calls “the biggest and most intense anthropological experiment of the world (Mexico)”, Iñárritu, intrigued by the “first primitive society of the future”, a concept he learned from Baudrillard, emigrates from his homeland, after filming Amores perros, to the United States. Later, he immerses himself in Morocco, Japan and now Spain, where he has been rolling as a person and rolling film about one same subject: am I father or son? He admits still not being able to decipher when and how fiction takes over reality, but he is working on that.
Works:
Feature Films
Amores perros (2000)
21 grams (2003)
Babel (2006)
Biutiful (2009)

Short Films
Powder Keg (2001)
Darkness (2002)
Anna (2007)

His films have received 10 Oscar nominations.

Message from Director Alejandro González Iñárritu
" New and exciting voices are emerging from different parts of the planet within the world of cinema. Those who will change the rules and those who have already enriched our vision with their films need spaces of resistance to the flawless distractions that sometimes today’s culture offers. The TIFF has been, for years, an important and generous festival for filmmakers around the world to meet. Japan’s culture and film traditions have had a personal impact on me and inspire in me respect and admiration. I am honored to preside at the 22nd TIFF and I am looking forward to finding new voices that will generate in us catharsis and reflection."