President’s congratulatory message to Ryusuke Hamaguchi for Oscar win

I wish to extend my heartfelt congratulations to University of Tokyo alumnus and film director Ryusuke Hamaguchi on the occasion of his film Drive My Car winning best international feature at the 94th Academy Awards, which are considered the highest honor of the American film industry.

Mr. Hamaguchi graduated from the Department of Aesthetics in the Faculty of Letters, which he entered upon completing his Humanities and Social Sciences III Junior Division education at the College of Arts and Sciences. After his studies at UTokyo, he worked as an assistant film director and an assistant director of an economics TV program, before entering the Graduate School of Film and New Media at the Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2008, his graduation film Passion was screened at film festivals in Japan and overseas, and since then, his works have received critical acclaim, both domestically and internationally, at film festivals around the world.

Drive My Car depicts bonds formed by communication through theater and conversation, presenting audiences the opportunity to see the possibilities and richness offered by dialogue, a primary component of UTokyo Compass, the statement of the guiding principles of the university announced last fall.

I would like to congratulate Mr. Hamaguchi again for his accomplishment on this occasion.

 

March 29, 2022
FUJII Teruo
President
The University of Tokyo