The Tokyo International Film Festival has chosen two filmmakers for its Kurosawa Akira Award, an honor named after the Japanese master meant for directors whose work has defined cinema and is expected to continue defining it. The award will go to Mohammad Rasoulof and Mipo O at the 39th edition of the festival. A committee led by filmmaker Yoji Yamada, along with cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa and TIFF programming director Shozo Ichiyama, made the selection.
The award was revived in 2022 after a 14-year hiatus with support from Capcom. Last year’s recipients were Chloé Zhao and Lee Sang-il. This year’s honorees were singled out for their humanist perspective and their refusal to reduce characters to simple good versus evil.
Rasoulof’s Years in Exile
One of Iran’s leading directors who has gone into exile in Europe is Rasoulof. His film There Is No Evil (2020) took home the Golden Bear at Berlin. The movie The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) was given a special prize at Cannes, after which it earned an international feature Oscar nomination as Germany’s submission.
Both films were singled out by the committee for “their humanist perspective, which portrays even those who perpetrate oppression as ordinary citizens.”, and it also praised Rasoulof’s “unwavering commitment to creative expression despite relentless pressure.”.
“Receiving the Kurosawa Award is a great honor for me. His films are profound explorations of the human condition and the moral choices we make in moments of crisis. Kurosawa was a dynamic and inquisitive visual storyteller whose unique perspective on humanity, nature, and the world has made his work an enduring source of inspiration in cinema.”
O’s Long Road From Debut to Today
O is a Japanese-born filmmaker of Korean descent. She made her feature debut with The Sakais’ Happiness in 2006, and her credits since then include The Light Shines Only There (2014), which was Japan’s Oscar submission that year, and Being Good (2015), an ensemble drama about child abuse, bullying and the possibility of breaking those cycles through human connection.
Nine years after her last feature film, she came back with Living in Two Worlds (2024), a family story centered on Ryo Yoshizawa as the hearing son of deaf parents, whose longing for freedom strains his bond with his mother. Her newest work, How Dare You? (2025), shifts toward comedy about youth, tracing three elementary school pupils whose growing environmental activism — combined with a school crush — produces results they did not expect.
Her work with child performers was singled out by the selection committee, along with her “multifaceted perspective on individuals living on the margins of society”, which they noted alongside her avoidance of “a simple lens of good vs. evil,”.
Yamada led the selection committee, and O thanked both them and the crowd who filled theaters to see the film. She also thanked the cast and crew she has worked alongside over the years.
A Restored Classic Lineup
Tokyo will screen 4K restorations of Kurosawa’s Sanshiro Sugata (1943) and Ikiru (1952), alongside Charles Chaplin’s The Circus (1928) and Abbas Kiarostami’s Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987).
Hayato Isomura, known for his role in Alice in Borderland, has been made president of the Ethical Film Award jury at the festival. The award was launched in 2023, together with Sumitomo Corporation, to honor films that deal with social issues such as the environment, poverty and discrimination. Isomura will be joined on the jury by three members of TIFF’s Student PR team.
A talk with Isomura is set for Nov. 2, along with the award ceremony, both of which will also feature the nominees: Brazil’s Amadeo and the Hypothetical New World, the German-Ukrainian feature I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming and Australia’s Time and Tide.
“I often feel we fall into the trap of believing we understand something instantly, constantly searching for quick answers. Yet, when it comes to deepening our awareness and understanding of social issues, the process of reaching those answers is what truly matters,” Isomura said. “Cinema possesses the unique power to pause our hurried pace, allowing us to experience that very process through the lives and emotions of others.”
What This Pair Shares
Rasoulof and O converge at the same point, each coming from a different direction. One is a dissident artist operating beyond his homeland; the other is a filmmaker of Korean descent making his way through the Japanese industry. Their work shares a common aim: to put ordinary people at the center of stories about oppressive systems.
Both selections share a thread: they treat even those who wield power over others as ordinary people rather than villains. The committee’s praise for O’s work with “individuals living on the margins of society.” has the same aim, and the committee’s description of Rasoulof’s films follow that same line of inquiry.
A Festival With a Schedule
The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival runs Oct. 26-Nov. 4, with the TIFFCOM market taking place Oct. 28-30.
On Nov. 2, the honors will be handed out at the same time as the Ethical Film Award ceremony. That single date marks the end of a full week during which audiences can see the restored classics.
The Award’s Recent History
The Kurosawa Akira Award was dormant for 14 years before its revival in 2022. Capcom’s support brought it back, and the past two years have seen Chloé Zhao, Lee Sang-il, Rasoulof and O recognized in succession.
A Prize Built on Progress
The prize was started in 2023 by Isomura’s presidency of the Ethical Film Award jury adds another layer to the festival’s programming together with Sumitomo Corporation, and its emphasis on social issues matches the festival’s stated aim of honoring work that slows down the hurried pace of modern life.
A discussion with Isomura and an award ceremony are set for Nov. 2.
Why This Pair Matters
The Kurosawa Akira Award tends to honor directors whose work sits at the point where individual narrative meets social concern. The two artists who received it last year, Chloé Zhao and Lee Sang-il, were succeeded by Rasoulof and O, each offering their own take on the same subject: how film portrays people trapped within larger systems.
Both selections rely on a refusal to present characters as purely good or evil, instead offering a more complex view. Rasoulof’s films are singled out for portraying even oppressors as ordinary citizens, while O’ employs this approach throughout his work, which remains central to both choices.
Even as screens shrink and attention spans shorten, the prize stands as proof that cinema can remain a site for genuine investigation.
Source material: “Tokyo Film Festival to Honor Mohammad Rasoulof and Mipo O With Kurosawa Akira Award,” The Hollywood Reporter.
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