Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival has launched a new award to honor performances on the small screen and will hand the inaugural gong to Shōgun actor Hiroyuki Sanada.
Hiroyuki will receive the award at the festival’s 32nd edition, which runs November 16 to 23.
Hiroyuki is one of Japan’s most successful international exports with over fifty film credits. Beyond Shōgun, he is perhaps best known for his leading role in The Twilight Samurai (2002, dir. Yôji Yamada), which was nominated for an Academy Award.
Alongside acting in Shōgun, Hiroyuki also produces the FX show. He earned two Emmy nominations for the series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama and Outstanding Drama Series. The show also clocked several Television Critics Association Award nominations, including Program of the Year.
Hiroyuki was last seen on the big screen in John Wick: Chapter 4 opposite Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen. Before that, he appeared in the Sony Pictures’ action feature, Bullet Train (2022), opposite Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock. Some of his other credits include The Last Samurai (2003) opposite Tom Cruise, The Wolverine (2013), 47 Ronin (2013), Avengers Endgame (2019), and Minions (2015).
Hiroyuki is the latest honoree announced by the fest. Earlier this month, the festival announced that British filmmaker Steve McQueen will be feted at this year’s Camerimage Film Festival with the Outstanding Director Award for career achievement.
McQueen’s latest feature Blitz will open the London Film Festival in October. Directed, produced, and written by McQueen, the film follows the epic journey of George, a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita sends him to safety in the English countryside. The Synopsis reads: George, defiant and determined to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald in East London, ensues on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son. Blitz marks McQueen’s first sole feature screenwriting credit.
The film stars Saoirse Ronan and newcomer Elliott Heffernan, with Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings, Joshua McGuire, Hayley Squires, Erin Kellyman, and Sally Messham rounding out the cast.
