The 38th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), to be held from October 27 to November 5, 2025, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Kurosawa Akira Award. The award honors the renowned auteur’s legacy and ongoing influence. It is presented to filmmakers who have made waves in cinema and are expected to help guide the industry’s future. Last year’s recipients were notable filmmakers Miyake Sho (Two Seasons, Two Strangers) and Fu Tien-yu (Day Off).
 
The 2025 Kurosawa Akira Award will go to Japan Academy Film Prize-winning director Lee Sang-il and Academy Award®-winning director Chloé Zhao. The honorees were selected by a committee comprised of Yamada Yoji, Narahashi Yoko, Kawamoto Saburo and TIFF Programming Director Ichiyama Shozo.
 

 
Lee Sang-il studied film at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image and earned recognition for his graduation film Chong, which won four awards including the Grand Prix at the Pia Film Festival 2000. He received the Shindo Kaneto Award with Border Line in 2003, and in 2006, won Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film at the 30th Japan Academy Film Prizes for Hula Girls. He won five awards at the 34th Japan Academy Film Prizes with Villain (2010), and went on to earn further awards with Unforgiven (2013), Rage (2016) and The Wandering Moon (2022). His 2025 film, Kokuho, set in the world of Kabuki, world premiered in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and became a Japanese juggernaut, breaking records for live-action admissions and surpassing 10 billion yen at Japan’s box office.
 
Chloé Zhao is a writer, director, editor and producer from Beijing. Her third feature Nomadland earned acclaims including Golden Lion at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, Golden Globe® , BAFTA, DGA, PGA Awards and 3 Oscars® , including Best Director, Best Actress and Best Picture. Zhao co-wrote and directed Marvel Studios’ Eternals. In 2023, she launched Book of Shadows, a production company, with producing partner Nic Gonda. Most recently, Zhao co-wrote and directed Hamnet starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, to be released in 2025.
 

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Comments from the selection committee:
Director Lee Sang-il has consistently depicted weighty themes that deal with social contradictions and human transgressions, elevating them into humanistic dramas that resonate deeply with audiences. His latest film, Kokuho, premiered in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, screened at other international film festivals, and led by widespread audience support, has become an outstanding success at the box office in Japan. In anticipation of his further contributions to Japanese and world cinema, we are honored to present the Kurosawa Akira Award to director Lee Sang-il.
 
The poetic and realistic works of director Chloé Zhao have stood out among typical Hollywood films. Nomadland was widely acclaimed, winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and Academy Award® for Best Picture, and its success has inspired other Asian female directors. Celebrating her achievements and anticipating her continued contributions to world cinema, we are pleased to present the Kurosawa Akira Award to director Chloé Zhao.
 

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Comment from Lee Sang-il
I would like to express my gratitude to esteemed director Yamada Yoji, the members of the selection committee, and the Tokyo International Film Festival. This honor would not have been made possible without the dedication of all my casts and crews, and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for their contributions to my work. The name Kurosawa Akira reigns supreme in the history of cinema. His insightful explorations of human nature continue to demonstrate the profound impact that cinema can have on society and individuals. I will continue to reflect on what it means to bear this award named after him. Thank you very much.
 
Comment from Chloé Zhao
I’m honored to receive this award. Kurosawa’s films contain both the greatest vastness of nature and the deepest truth of the human psyche. To be connected to this lineage is truly humbling. Storytellers are bridges, connecting cultures, state lines, past and future, light and dark, joy and pain, love and death. We alchemize and transform our experiences, hoping to give meaning to them and achieve a sense of catharsis. My heartfelt gratitude to the festival, the selection committee, and the audiences for supporting us and reminding us of our purpose.
 
The Kurosawa Akira Award ceremony will be held at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo on Monday, November 3, 2025.