07/04/07-A Special Thank You
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers and interns who participated in this year’s festival. None of this would have been possible without your hard work and endless dedication. To those who endured the hectic hustle and bustle of the back staff room, though you were behind the scenes most of the time, your efforts did not go unnoticed. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope to see you all again next year!
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07/02/07-Le Baron After Party
And now it’s time to PARTY!
Most of the guests who attended the Awards Ceremony along with filmmakers and SSFF staff headed for Le Baron in Aoyama for the after party.
As we walked down the dark alley towards the obscure entrance we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. However when the doors opened everyone was pleasantly surprised, oohing and ahhing at the beautiful European décor along the spiral stairs leading to techno music and endlessly flowing drinks.
Downstairs the lights were flashing as people bobbed their heads to the funky music. Filmmakers grouped together animatedly reminiscing on their past whirlwind week in Tokyo that seemed to go by a tad bit too fast. The five jury members also attended despite their busy schedules, to celebrate with us.
The open area soon became a dance floor and people began to let loose. Actor Yoo Ji-Tae and our very own Tetsuya Bessho also joined the crowd, showing us their patented dance moves. Needless to say we all had a blast!
When 1am rolled around the Le Baron staff informed us that the party must come to an end. Mr. Bessho took the mic and thanked all of the guests for attending. This was followed by Mr. Chris Peppler who also addressed the crowd.
Despite the early morning flight the filmmakers had to take the next day, they weren't quite ready to call it a night. The party-loving group including some sleep-deprived staff members headed to Shibuya to show off their beautiful voices and unique dance moves at karaoke. Everyone sang their hearts out and had a great time. If only we could remember it…
Thank you to all of the filmmakers, special guests and volunteers who made the 2007 Short Shorts Film Festival one that we will never forget. Everyone, OTSUKARESAMADESHITA!! See you next year;)
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After a fantastic week of screenings the 2007 Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia ended with the 9th annual Awards Ceremony. The event took place at Meiji Jingue Jingue Kaikan on this misty afternoon. But the wet weather didn’t stop the vans and buses full of people from lining up out front.
The press were anxiously waiting with their cameras in position for the various celebrities and filmmakers to appear on the red carpet. The arrival of guests brought about a fury of camera flashing while Mr. Bessho greeted them at the entrance. Everyone was eager to see the famous faces!
One filmmaker exclaimed, “This is like the Academy Awards®!,” as he walked into the grand theater.
The seats soon filled up with people from all walks of life-everyone eager to know just one thing…who will win the prestigious Grand Prix? As the lights dimmed we were taken down memory lane with the 2007 SSFF digest that appeared on the big screen. From the filmmakers' arrival to the Welcome Dinner, we realized how quickly these people who were strangers a mere week ago have become our good friends. This was followed by clips of a few highlights from the Opening Event which took place on June 25th.
This year’s MCs, Chris Peppler and Izumi Mori introduced the five Jury Members who were greeted with a warm round of applause. Mr. Robin Mallick, one of the jury members, gave a brief speech about this year’s amazing selection of short films. We hope everyone who attended the festival felt the same way.
The audience was then treated to a clip of “Tengu Gaiden” by last year’s Asahi Super Dry Award winner, Mr. Hidetoshi Oneda. The cast, including Chiaki Kuriyama, Mickey Curtis, J-West and Mr. Oneda’s sister came up on stage and talked about their experiences working on the set.
After the screening of a few past short films, the winners of this year’s Short Shorts Film Festival were announced by the Jury Members. And they are…
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It is the 7th day of the festival, and things are still going strong! The filmmakers are enjoying Tokyo and attending many screenings to watch other filmmakers' films. Today we had three filmmakers in the audience during the International Competition Program I-F. They were Ailton Franco Jr., producer of "Mare Capoeira" and organizer of the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, Michael Oleson, director of "The Red Balloon" and Alexandre Rene Charlet, director of "Peter Pan Has Grown Up and John Lennon Is Dead." Each of them discussed how they got involved in film making and where their inspiration came from to make their films. A few highlights from their films are included below:
Michael Oleson decided to make his short because he realized his greatest fear in life is losing his mother. The story in his film is very strong and sweet.
Ailton Franco Jr. was interested in producing the story of Mare Capoeira, which also explains the history of Capoeira in Brazil, because of the love story between the two young characters in the script.
Alexandre Rene Charlet chose to use the John Lennon reference in his title because at the point that his Peter Pan character realizes he has grown up, the clock shows the time of John Lennon's death and it shows a loss of innocence and imagination.
It was a great day of screenings at Short Shorts and we are looking forward to the Closing Awards Ceremony tomorrow to hear the results of the festival!
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The KMC program showed famous Korean Music Dramas which are made by combining different music clips together to illustrate a song.The audience was jam-packed and people were left standing for this must see program! We had Mr. Masayuki Furuya, radio DJ and TV video jockey as a guest emcee for the program.
Even before Korean pop culture became popular in Japan, Mr. Furuya was working in Sapporo as a DJ for FM Northwaves, which was the first radio show in Japan that specialized in Korean music.He explained that as a filmmaker for music videos in Korea, it is hard to become a film director because the film industry looks down on the music clip industry, making it difficult for music clip filmmakers to expand into the other side of the industry. However he said that music clips are important to see as a real short film in and of itself.
Mr. Furuya applauded the Short Shorts Film Festival for recognizing this program as a real filmmaking work of art! As an added bonus, he gave out his book on the Korean music industry to the audience members who asked questions during the seminar!
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The fantastic array of films in the International I-A Program was screened for the third and last time here at Cinemavera in Shibuya. This program included “In the Mood”, “Trapped”, “The Penpusher”, “Checkpoint”, “Corps”, “Room 10”, “50 Cents” and “Distant Memory”. The Saturday afternoon crowd waited patiently to enter the theater and finally went in around 1:15pm.
After the screening there was a Q & A session with Dethmer Leembourg, the producer of “50 Cents”. He started off by thanking SSFF for this great opportunity. He never imagined standing on a stage in Japan and talking about his film. He said that he is proof that all one needs is an idea and a good group of people to make a film. I’m sure many future filmmakers were encouraged by his words.
We had a great Q & A session today and hope everyone enjoyed the program!
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This much anticipated event between SSFF
Jury Member and famous Korean actor Yoo Jitae, and SSFF President/Founder and
well know actor Tetsuya Bessho drew a huge crowd and packed out the Laforet Museum in Harajuku.
Guest emcee Mr. Masayuki Furuya, radio DJ
and TV video jockey started out by asking them both how they got involved with
short films. Both of them immediately began to compliment each other on
their acting skills!
Yoo Jitae said he is very impressed by
Tetsuya’s success with starting the Short Shorts Film Festival, especially
without financial support from Japan
in the beginning years of the festival. He also commented on how well
Tetsuya played the lead role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, which is
currently showing at the Imperial theatre in Tokyo.Tetsuya commented on how he
was moved by Yoo Jitae’s short film “The Bike Boy,” and is impressed by his
ability to direct, but also find success in front of the camera as an actor as
well.Yoo Jitae enjoys both acting and directing, and hopes to continue to do an
equal amount of both. Right now he wants to direct more, but has to make
a living somehow, which is through acting! He aspires to be like American
actors George Clooney and Sean Penn who have also found success on and off the
screen through acting and directing. We showed a special screening of the
Korean film, “Bravo! Mr. Kim,” which was screened at the SSFF2006 as well as
Japanese film “Line” which we screened earlier in the week at the opening
event.
At the end of the program, one audience member proposed that we build a
short film theatre in the Daimaru Department Store at Tokyo station so that people can watch short
films while they are waiting for the train! There was a grand applause
after his comment and Tetsuya said that it is one of his dreams to build a
short film theatre. Hopefully we will see one soon!
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The American Embassy has been supporting
Short Shorts Film Festival for many years. Thanks to their support five
American filmmakers were able to attend this year’s Short Shorts Film Festival.
To show their appreciation, the filmmakers
along with a few SSFF staff went to the American Center
near the Embassy for a special screening of their films and a Q&A session
with renowned MC Lucy Kent. The screening room with a capacity of 100 filled up
instantly.
After the screening of each film Ms. Kent introduced
the filmmakers and opened the floor for a Q & A session with the audience. When
asked who their favorite Japanese director is all of the filmmakers said that
they admire the works of Akira Kurosawa. This was not surprising since he’s an
extremely talent and world-renowned director.
Stewart Schill (“I Hate Musicals”) said
that he made his film because he too hates musicals, which made everyone laugh.
One audience member asked Michael Gaylin (“Intelligence”) if he came across any
problems with his film because of the semi-controversial subject matter. He
said that he didn’t face much difficulties and in fact, his film received a lot
of positive feedback.
Ms. Kent asked one final question about
their newest projects. Mike Standish, producer of “Fortune Hunters” is planning
on making his short film into feature-length and Jerry Chan, director of “Fast
Money” is also working on a feature length film.
The event wrapped up with a few words from
Mr. Kevin Olbrysh, Deputy Director of Tokyo American
Center. After the event
two audience members asked Michael Olesen how he shot the aerial view of the
last scene in his film, “The Red Balloon.” He said that they used a large crane
and shot the scene eight times. They ended up using the sixth take. This was definitely a great night for the filmmakers and audience. We wish everyone luck on their future projects!
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The SSFF staff along with filmmakers
gathered at Omotesando to participate in Sweepers, a Short Shorts Film Festival
tradition that gives thanks to the people who support our festival each year. A
non-profit organization called Greenbird, who keep the streets of Omotesando
sparkling, provided us with the cleaning materials. One of our sponsors,
PASONA, also joined with a group of about 50 members.
After taking a group photo we split up into
four large groups. As we walked up the street there was barely anything to pick
up- it was virtually spotless.
“This is the cleanest street in the world!”
exclaimed one filmmaker.
The only “real trash” was an abandoned
vacuum cleaner that Mr. Bessho found. When it was finally time to go back, our
trash bags contained just a few cigarette buds and gum wrappers. It was obvious
that the people of Greenbird are doing a fantastic job. We were all very
impressed by their effort and dedication.
Mr. Bessho wrapped things up with a few
words of thanks and the filmmakers headed to PASONA lounge for refreshments and
a light snack. When we looked back on Omotesando we couldn’t help but feel a sense
of pride as the Short Shorts Flags billowed in the wind along the long
beautiful street. Thanks everyone!
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The International Competition program I-E contained some great films, which got wonderful reviews from the audience! A few highlights from the program were that we had some directors in the audience that came on stage after the screening to answer some questions from the SSFF staff and audience.Michael Gaylin, director of Intelligence, discussed how difficult it was to cast the characters in his film who were all of different nationalities and needed to speak different languages for the script. He lives in up-state New York and went to New York City to conduct casting calls. The characters in his script were perfect for their roles!We asked the director of Le Diner, Cecile Vernant about the characters in her film, Clara and Julien, who are on a first date and are both trying too hard. She wanted to reflect real life experiences through her film and sees the situation in the film as what happens in real life. The ending of the film really throws a twist to the story!Also with us was Gier Henning Hopland, director of Sometimes It Hurts. The main male character in his film gets dragged all over the floor, and he explained how they had to shoot every scene twice since they were pulling him with ropes. They then went back and edited the ropes out of the film. The story is very funny!
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