‘MISHIMA’ MAY BE SHOWN IN TOKYO FILM FESTIVAL
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TOKYO — “Mishima,” the controversial Zoetrope Studios release about author Yukio Mishima, who committed a ritual suicide in 1970, may yet be featured during the first Tokyo International Film Festival, which opens May 30.
Festival officials gave the film an 11th-hour screening Thursday, after months of quarreling with the film’s producers. Kyushiro Kusakabe, program director for the festival, said the screening committee will decide Monday whether “Mishima,” a joint U.S.-Japan production, will be shown.
Tom Luddy and Mataichiro Yamamoto, the movie’s co-producers, have charged that the festival’s organizers rejected the film because of fears that Japanese rightists, some of whom regard Mishima as a hero, would cause trouble. Kusakabe and other festival officials denied the charge, however, countering that the film’s producers had never made a print of the film available for screening.
Luddy will premiere “Mishima” for the Cannes Festival on Wednesday. It is scheduled for release throughout Europe the following week.
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