98-year-old Kaneto Shindo wins special jury prize for "Postcard" at TIFFCOM 2010

by Chris MaGee

This past weekend saw the 23rd annual Tokyo International Film Festival roll up its green carpet, but not before some trophies were handed out to lucky filmmakers. Amongst those was a living legend of the Japanese film industry, 98-year-old writer and director Kaneto Shindo. As we had reported at the beginning of October Shindo, the man who brought us such classics as "The Naked Island" and "Onibaba", had his 45th directorial effort "Postcard" entered into competition at TIFFCOM 2010. While it didn't walk away with the fest's top prize, the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix, "Postcard" and Shindo were awarded a Special Jury Prize. Shindo accepted this honour from his wheelchair (above left) at an awards ceremony held in Roppongi Hills on Sunday, along with Israeli actress Orly Zibershatz (above right), the star of Nir Bergman's Sakura Grand Prix-winning "Intimate Grammar". Shindo told the assembled press that "Postcard", an anti-war film set in a Japanese village, that this would be his last time directing. "I've done films for a long time but this is my last piece. I heartily hope all of you will be doing fine and create good movies."

Thanks to The Mainichi Daily News for the details on this story, and to Yahoo Japan for the above photograph.