Tony Rayns

Who is Tony Rayns?

Antony Rayns is a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter. Much inspired in his youth by the films of Kenneth Anger, he wrote for the underground publication Cinema Rising before contributing to the Monthly Film Bulletin from the December 1970 issue until its demise in 1991. He has written for the British Film Institute's magazine Sight & Sound since the 1970s, and also contributed extensively to Time Out and to Melody Maker in the late 1970s.

Known for his expertise in East Asian cinema, he provides commentary tracks for DVD releases of Asian films. He coordinated the Dragons and Tigers competition for Asian films at the Vancouver International Film Festival from 1988 to 2006. He has also worked as a translator for English subtitles on films from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Thailand. In the 1980s, he presented a series called New Chinese Cinema on British television, showing films and biographies of eminent Chinese directors.

He wrote the screenplay for Away with Words, a feature film directed by cinematographer Christopher Doyle, starring Asano Tadanobu. He has written books about Seijun Suzuki, Wong Kar-wai and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.