Tokyo, April 1, 2013 – Yasushi Shiina, an executive at Kadokawa Pictures at Kadokawa Shoten Publishing, is taking on a new challenge as Director General of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).
Shiina’s appointment was officially announced at the TIFF annual board meeting on March 15, and he will serve as Director General to head TIFF and its affiliated multi-content market TIFFCOM, following Tom Yoda in that post. Shiina commented that it is his goal to make the festival a truly international film festival by bringing high-quality, world-class films that everyone can enjoy.
The 26th TIFF—one of Asia’s largest annual film festival—will be held from October 17 (Thu.) to October 25 (Fri.), 2013 at Roppongi Hills and other venues in Tokyo.
We will make the upmost effort to hold a successful 26th TIFF event under the leadership of Yasushi Shiina and look forward to your continued support and guidance.
 

Inaugural Message from Director General Thanks to the efforts of many people over the years, we celebrated the 25th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival last year.   As we look forward to another 25 years as one of Asia’s biggest and most important film festivals, we should remember the spirit of those who started the 1st TIFF and reaffirm the importance of collecting high-quality, world-class films for the festival.   To this end, we must explore and promote young filmmakers in Asia and form alliances with other international film festivals around the world.   With the Competition Section as our engine, TIFF must seek outstanding films that are worthy of the world’s attention and can be successful in Japanese theaters.   I firmly believe that my responsibility as Director General is to ensure that films are the stars at TIFF.   We begin the next 25 years determined to develop TIFF into a world-class international film festival. I sincerely thank you for your past and future support.

 
Yasushi SHIINA Profile
Yasushi Shiina was born in 1951. After graduating from Faculty of Science and Engineering at the Waseda University in March 1974, Shiina joined Sumitomo Corporation Inc. in April the same year. He became a counselor of Media Division of Sumitomo in 1987. In 1991, he was appointed Director, General Manager of Film Division, Asmik, and assumed the position of Representative Senior Managing Director in 1998 before becoming President of Asmik Ace Entertainment in 2000. In the year 2004, he became President of Kadokawa Entertainment, and then President of Kadokawa Pictures in 2009. After appointed as Representative Senior Managing Director in 2011, he currently serves as Director-Executive Advisor of Kadokawa Shoten Co., Ltd. Among his official responsibilities, he serves as Chairman of Conference Group for Import and Clearance of Foreign Films in Japan, Counselor of Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Inc. (MPPAJ), Vice-Chairman of Foreign Film Importer-Distributors Association of Japan, Inc., and as Advisor of Federation of Japanese Films Industry, Inc.