Thomas commends co-productions1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBritish producer Jeremy Thomas spoke in TIFF about the need for international co-production treaties and the Japanese film industry’s need to lose its insular mentality.
He ranged from the almost metaphysical – “I believe all knowledge is connected” – to the pedagogical “I learned to work with people who knew more than me.”
Thomas, who recently produced the Miike Takashi-directed samurai actioner Thirteen Assassins and previously made The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, was the subject of an on-stage interview about producing with Asia at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
But while he also suggested that part of his success comes from not having a fear of the foreign, he said he was puzzled by the relative lack of international success for Japanese films. “They need a bigger desire to travel think less like island people and more like international people.”
