TIFF announces opening and closing movies

Organisers of Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF to its friends and admirers) have formally announced the opening and closing films for the 2011 extravaganza. Taking place in and around the Roppongi area, the 24th annual festival will run between October 22-30, and is being touted as an event to 'cheer up Japan'.

Fans of Jackie Chan will be pleased to hear that his feature on the founding of the Republic of China, 1911, will take pride of place as the 'special' opening movie, alongside the 'official' opening movie (and we can see why this comes without a 'special'), Orlando Bloom starrer The Three Musketeers.

The less said about the latter the better, but the Chinese movie comes with a handful of re-Tweetable trivia. Chan's labour of love has been in production for 10 years, cost 30 million dollars to make and, most remarkably, is the actor's 100th movie. In a statement published on TIFF's website, the actor-cum-director observed that the centenary of the Xinhai Revolution has been a difficult year for Japan. 'When a major disaster strikes, heroes arise who are willing to sacrifice themselves,' he wrote, 'so I hope I will never know any heroes. At this time, as Japan faces the aftermath of disaster, I truly hope my film can be of help to the people of Japan.'

For those unable to make it along to the 'special' screening, 1911 will open at cinemas nationwide on November 5. The following trailer is in Japanese.

At the time of writing, the organisers have announced only one closing film. Moneyball stars Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright, and follows the story of a small-time baseball coach who puts together a winning team with the help of computer analysis. Not a thrill-a-minute plot line, then, but the cast is intriguing, and if the festival organizers can pull off the real coup and get Brangelina out on the green carpet, then there will be joy aplenty for all of us. Who knows, if you stand around looking forlornly cute enough, they might even adopt you.