Well-known Japanese actors Yakusho Koji and Tsumabuki Satoshi speak at cinema masterclasses in Taiwan

Japanese actors Yakusho Koji and Tsumabuki Satoshi graced Taiwan's Golden Horse Festival in November, to help celebrate the event’s 60th anniversary. Both actors were invited to the annual festival to take part in masterclasses, sharing their experiences in front of members of the Taiwanese movie industry. 67-year-old Yakusho Koji—known for movies including “Shall We Dance?”, “The Eel,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” and “Babel”—touched upon the ephemeral nature of movie-making and how he fears his work may be lost as the decades progress. “I think in 100 or 200 years it will be very hard for people to watch my movies because there will be a harsh challenge, because the (old) movies 100 years from now, we only get to see a few of them. So, in my remaining years of work in the movies, I am not sure if I can act in a film that can be seen in the future. This, of course, is my wish and also my task.” He also paid tribute to post-production teams who made his work possible. “Everyone puts in lots of work. They uplift the work that the actors have done. This is what I think. Some actors would feel they have acted well when seeing the movie, but their contribution only represents a small part. The main part comes from the work of the rest of the team.” The 42-year-old actor, Tsumabuki Satoshi, whose breakthrough came in the 2001 comedy “Waterboys,” revealed that he is hoping to try his hand at producing movies in the near future. “I can come up with movie proposals and produce them. But my projects were canceled because of the pandemic. But before the pandemic, I did think of producing a movie in Taiwan,” he said, adding, “There is a screenwriter with whom I have a very close relationship who said I should spend more time in Taiwan to travel so that I come up with a story idea. But that was canceled because of the pandemic. But I do hope to do that in the future.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.