Tokyo Film Festival to Honor Mohammad Rasoulof and Mipo O

The Tokyo International Film Festival will present the Kurosawa Akira Award to Mohammad Rasoulof and Mipo O at its 39th edition next month, the festival announced. The award recognizes directors whose work has impacted cinema and who are expected to shape its future.

Rasoulof, an Iranian director living in exile in Europe, won Berlin's Golden Bear for There Is No Evil in 2020. His The Seed of the Sacred Fig received a special prize at Cannes and an international feature Oscar nomination as Germany's submission.

Mipo O made her feature debut with The Sakais' Happiness in 2006 and went on to direct The Light Shines Only There (2014) and Being Good (2015). She returned after nine years with Living in Two Worlds (2024), and her latest film is How Dare You? (2025).

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 selected by a committee including Yoji Yamada, Lee Sang-il, Akiko Ashizawa and Shozo Ichiyama.

The festival will also screen 4K restorations of Kurosawa's Sanshiro Sugata (1943) and Ikiru (1952), plus Chaplin's The Circus (1928) and Kiarostami's Where Is the Friend's House? (1987). Hayato Isomura was named president of the festival's Ethical Film Award jury. The Ethical Film Award, launched in 2023 with Sumitomo Corporation, has nominees Amadeo and the Hypothetical New World, I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming, and Time and Tide. The ceremony and a talk with Isomura are scheduled for Nov. 2.