Tony Rayns, Who Helped Bring Asian Film to the World, Dies at 77

Tony Rayns, who helped bring Asian film to the world, has died at 77 after a fall. The British film critic and festival programmer, based in London, died this month at his home, according to his sister Stephanie Gowman. Her statement said he fell down a staircase shortly after returning from a film festival in Bologna, Italy, and his body was found on July 7. Beginning in the late 1970s, Rayns traveled across Asia to film schools and festivals, building relationships with emerging directors and bringing their work to Western audiences through screenings and subtitles. He became the East Asian film programmer for the Vancouver International Film Festival in 1994, introducing Bong Joon Ho’s early short Incoherence to North America. Rayns also helped found the Busan International Film Festival in 1996 and curated Vancouver’s East Asian program “Dragons and Tigers” from 1989 to 2016. His work was linked to major international films and to filmmakers including Wong Kar-wai and Jia Zhangke.