The organizers of the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) announced that the recipient of the 2017 Samurai Award is Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The Samurai Award, now in its fourth year, commends achievements by veteran filmmakers and creators who continue to create groundbreaking work that carves paths to a new era in cinema. This year the acclaimed musician Ryuichi Sakamoto (Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, The Last Emperor) will receive the award. The composer will also give a Master Class on November 1st Wednesday (2:00 pm) in Tower Hall, Roppongi Academy Hills 49F.

We would like to remind readers that the 30th TIFF will be held from October 25th to November 3rd, 2017 at the Ropppongi Hills, EX Theatre Roppongi and other theaters in Tokyo.

About the Composer/Musician:
Sakamoto was born in Tokyo in 1952. He released his debut solo album in 1978, “Thousand Knives,” and with two other musicians, formed the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) that same year. Although YMO would ultimately disband, Sakamoto went on to work in a wide variety of genres and projects. Sakamoto received a BAFTA award for his Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence soundtrack, and multiple awards, including an Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award, for his work on The Last Emperor. His constant pursuit of innovative sound has won him accolades around the world. As a peace and environmental advocate he founded the forest conservation organization More Trees and has been an active voice in the anti-nuclear power movement through his Stop Rokkasho and No Nukes activities, and has through music supported the people and areas afflicted by the Tohoku Earthquake. Sakamoto has also been active in the art world, serving as Artistic Director for the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) 10th anniversary celebration in 2013, and Guest Director for the Sapporo International Art Festival 2014. In July 2014, Sakamoto announced that he had oropharyngeal cancer, which required a full year of treatment and recovery. Sakamoto made his comeback in 2015, scoring Yoji Yamada’s Nagasaki: Memories of My Son and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant. In 2016 he scored Sang-il Lee’s Rage. In March 2017, he released “async,” his first solo album in 8 years.