Tony Rayns

Antony Keith Graham Rayns was born on 20 September 1948 in Oxford, England. His parents, Donald and Zelma Rayns (née Osmond-Jones), operated a photography studio, and he was the eldest of three children, with a sister, Stephanie, and a brother, Nicholas. After his father found a position as a grocery executive the family moved to Norwich. Rayns became a film enthusiast after joining a film society at secondary school, and Screen International reported that he started one himself there.

Rayns won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he studied English. According to Screen International he ran three separate film societies while at university, an early sign of the programming work that would define his career.

Rayns began writing for the underground publication Cinema Rising before joining the Monthly Film Bulletin in December 1970, where he stayed until it merged into Sight and Sound in 1991. He contributed to Sight and Sound from the 1970s, reviewed for Time Out, wrote for Melody Maker in the late 1970s and appeared in Cahiers du Cinéma, Film Comment, Artforum, Cinema Scope and Cine 21.

From the late 1970s he travelled to film schools and festivals in Asia, befriending young directors and bringing their work to Western showcases. His ties to Korean cinema began at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival, where Korean shorts that had slipped past government censors screened in the Forum section, and he visited Korea the same year. He championed Hong Kong cinema in its 1980s heyday, China's Fifth Generation directors such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-hsien and Japan's Takeshi Kitano.

He was a programme adviser to the BFI London Film Festival, first in 1979 and for several years from 1997. From 1988 to 2006 he ran the Dragons and Tigers competition for Asian films at the Vancouver International Film Festival. In 1994 he screened Bong Joon Ho's graduation short Incoherence at the Hong Kong and Vancouver festivals. He helped launch the Busan International Film Festival in 1996 and served it as adviser and juror for decades. He also served on juries at Cannes, San Sebastian, San Francisco, Sapporo, Vladivostok and Beijing.

Rayns wrote English subtitles for films from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, including the 1990s work of the Taiwanese director Huang Ming-chuan, and for nearly three decades subtitled and advised Jia Zhangke. He recorded audio commentaries for Criterion, Masters of Cinema, Arrow, Eureka, Indicator, Second Run and the BFI, on titles including Chungking Express, In the Realm of the Senses, Ugetsu, Seven Samurai, Memories of Murder, A Brighter Summer Day and Manila in the Claws of Light.

In the 1980s Rayns presented New Chinese Cinema, a British television series on the Fifth Generation filmmakers, which Screen International dates to 1989. He co-wrote the screenplay for Away with Words (1999), directed by Christopher Doyle and starring Asano Tadanobu, and directed The Jang Sun-woo Variations (2001), a documentary about the South Korean director that premiered at Rotterdam. He appeared in Kim Dong-ho's short film Jury (2013).

He edited a 1976 collection on Rainer Werner Fassbinder and wrote books on Seijun Suzuki, Wong Kar-wai and Jang Sun-woo, as well as a BFI Classic on In the Mood for Love, published in a second edition in 2025. In 2023 the Korean Film Council published Just Like Starting Over: A Personal View of the Reinvention of Korean Cinema. He began a book on Kenji Mizoguchi in the 1970s that remained unfinished. His later Sight and Sound work included an April 2025 cover interview with Bong Joon Ho and a May 2026 online feature on the restoration of Lino Brocka's Macho Dancer.

Rayns lived in London and travelled constantly for festivals. Jia Zhangke remembered him as someone who "traveled alone, watched films alone, made your home everywhere, smoked alone." No spouse or children have been reported. Korea JoongAng Daily reported that he had fought pancreatic cancer for years but had recovered, and that he had visited a Hong Kong film festival earlier in 2026.

Rayns believed filmmakers should build careers rooted in their own cultures. Jia Zhangke recalled that in 1999 Rayns told him he should always stay and work in his own country. When the Busan International Film Festival faced political pressure in 2014 over its screening of the documentary The Diving Bell, Rayns publicly condemned the suppression of free expression. He also immersed himself in modern Korean history, from Japanese colonial rule through the Korean War and the military dictatorships, which gave unusual depth to his criticism.

Rayns is remembered as one of the most influential voices in film culture and as a leading Western advocate of East Asian cinema. The Korean Film Council said he "introduced Korean cinema to the world and made a significant contribution to establishing the international status of Korean cinema." Former council head Park Ki-yong said that in the 1980s, when Korean cinema was cut off from the world, filmmakers opened their eyes to international trends through him. Sight and Sound published tributes from Wong Kar Wai, Bong Joon Ho and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and labels including Criterion, Janus Films, Arrow and Eureka mourned a longtime collaborator.

Korean Cinema Award, Busan International Film Festival (1996), for services to Korean cinema. Kawakita Prize (2004), for services to Japanese cinema. Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation (2008), for promoting Japanese film in the United Kingdom. Subject of the documentary Tony Rayns and 25 Years of Korean Cinema, screened at Busan in 2012.

Rayns was found dead at his home in London on 7 July 2026, according to his sister, Stephanie Gowman. The New York Times reported that he had fallen down a staircase soon after returning from a film festival in Bologna, Italy, and Variety described the fall as accidental. He was 77. Gowman said his death was unexpected and followed a short period without contact that had worried friends and family. "We are all shocked and deeply saddened by his sudden death and the loss of a dedicated, lifelong cinephile and a passionate promoter of East Asian cinematic talent," she told Variety. The BFI, Sight and Sound and Variety announced his death on 8 July 2026. A memorial gathering, Remembering Tony Rayns, was held in London on 11 October 2026, and a recording was published on YouTube.