report

For this program we had Richard Porter from England with his "The Imaginary Girl" & Paco Torres from Spain for his short "Seventy".

Richard charmed the crowd with his British accent a gentle manner. His tale of a troubled little girl gripped the audience & when asked about why he chose this story...

A: He replied that too often, parents are too concerned with their own worlds to realize that they are completely unaware of what their children are going through. His abrupt depiction fo violence was to bring home that point in a very direct & scary way.

Paco with his tale of loneliness "seventy".

When asked about surprising, totally unexpected ending?

A: Paco wanted to make a film about loneliness, especially among older people.

When an audience member mentioned that he thought the tape recording which appears in the film was from an already dead family...

A: Paco was surprised that it was taken that way. He got laughs when he said that even he didn't even think of it like that!

When asked how long it took to make the 2 minute 48 second film?

A: He blew the crowd away when he said that he made the film in 24 hours!! (Apparently he won a contest & the prize was that he could make a film but he had to do it in 24 hours from star to finish!!) He got a laugh when he said that it could be done as long as you had good planning, just do it!

Well, the program AND the festival ended with a film form the "Stop! Global Warming" competition. The film was produced & narrated by Leonardo Di Caprio. How totally cool it is that the biggest star in the world ends the coolest film festival in the world.

See-ya!

DJ John

DJ John-chan here.

This is a particularly excellent program (yes, I know they all are, but...). I got to do the Q & A with 2 lovely ladies, Renee Brown for the inspiring true story of "Katy Sullivan". Followed by Nathalie Saugeon for her cute super-father saga "Son of the Avenger" (yes, it is possible to make a saga/epic within a short film format!)

Howdy!

Ye-in's "Close To You" is a coming-of-age short film about a South Korean high school girl who dreams of meeting a famous movie star.

On the appearance of Woo-son Jong, a huge heart throb, idol, movie star in South Korea & Asia:

Well, it turns out that Ye-in is a huge fan herself. In fact, she's the president of the Woo-son Jong fan club!

Woo-son easily agreed to appear in the short but it seems she had some problems dealing with his production & management company.

On the movie within the movie:

Yes it is a movie titled "Beat" from 1997 that was the movie that made Ye-in a big fan of Woo-son. She also was drawn to the opening line loosely translated as "I have no more dreams".

After the Q & A, Ye-in was surrounded in the lobby by Japanese fans of Woo-son Jong for pics & talk about the star!!

Way to go Ye-in!

DJ John

We had 2 guests for the Q & A following this program. Jochen Freydank from Germany for his short "Toyland" and Julien Sibre for his "Stop! Global Warming" competition short film, "Ra".

First Jochen's Q & A:

The short is about the Holocaust, why that theme?

He felt that there was still a need to face what happened & never to turn away from it, especially from a German's point of view.

The film has a very "big studio" & big budget look, how long did it take to make?

5 days for filming. Keeping in mind that children could not work for more than 3 hours per day. Then about 3 months for post-production.

Was there a short that he liked in this program?

The 3rd film "A Day's Work". (This is an excellent short about the illegal immigrant laborer issue set in L.A.)

Jochen's film was very accomplished & his gentle depiction of human nature was very hopeful. I hope that his wish to make a feature length film comes true.

Now, Julian Sibre's Q & A fro "Ra":

You guys are gonna love this! When asked how long it took to make?

48 hours. Yes that's right, just 2 days. Part of a contest that he won, he & his crew started the script @ 7PM & finished it @ 5AM. They edited on the fly as they shot it & post-production included adding the music soundtrack as well. Wow!

Unbelievable!

Maybe that's why the film has a very palpable tension to it. well done Julien!

Coming up on the last couple programs now!

DJ John

For the Asia & Japan program F I had a wonderful Q & A with the absolutely delightful & talented Shalini Kantayya for her film "A Drop of Life".

Here's some highlights:

Why this story/theme?

She went to india in 2001 for the Ganges River religious festival & was very affected by her experiences.

On incorporating facts into a fictional story?

Having had experience in making docs, she was able to balance the real with the fiction.

How long did it take to make the film?

She filmed in a desert town in India for a week. Filmed in New York for 3 days. Then she had to toil while working on other things for a couple of years to edit & other post-production work to finish the film.

On the metered water dispenser machine?

She modeled hers on actual machines in use now & had an engineer friend make one for her to which they attached a water hose to produce the desired effects.

Finally, she said that when she started making the short, she thought she was making a film about the near future but was greatly disturbed to find that the story is happening now!

Back soon.

DJ John

DJ John here.

To start things of we screened the Chinese program. A wonderful variety of shorts including those by Won Kar Wai, whose most recent film "Blueberry Nights" was considered a return to form & was screened @ the cannes Film Festival, & popular director Fruits Chan, one of the new wave of acclaimed Hong Kong film directors.

For the Q & A we had the very charming Cara Yuan of Zonbo Media, a multi-media company that will host it's 3rd Mobile Short Film Festival. A new genre of film making that's catching fire & is even in it's 4th year @ the Pocket Films Festival

held in Paris @ the Pompidou Center.

Cara told us that they received about 200 submissions & the genre is a wonderful outlet for young creators looking for an even more cutting edge format while @ the same time being even more affordable.

DJ John

DJ John here.

For the Q & A's, from program A we had Roberto Maxwell who brought his short titled "Dekasegi". From program B Mauricio Osaki brought "Primavera" ("Springtime").

Roberto Maxwell's "Dekasegi" (a Japanese term for work far away from home or seasonal workers) was a subject he was very familiar with in that he came to Japan to attend University where saw 1st hand Brazilians who had come to work in Japan. He learned while going to school here that there were over 320,000 Brazilians of Japanese decent living here. He told us he wanted to depict the loneliness & identity crisises that they had to suffer through in order to send money home. Roberto was informative & passionate about the subject & film-making.

Festival director Seigo Tono was also able to bring San Paulo International Short Film Festival director Beth Sa Freire & Rio De Janeiro International Short Film Festival Director Ailton Franco Jr., both of who joined us for the Q & A's. Both of these festivals have been running for close to 20 years & are now very successful. It was interesting to hear that they too had little money & backing to start & submitted short films after the 1st couple years were around 200 & now they get over 3, 000 every year.

First up for the Q & A was Yu Ichihara for "Gravity", a tale of trial by internet jury in the near future.

On the idea for the story?

Yu surprised us when he said he actually saw this style of trial in China.

Inspired by?

In particular for this film by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Where did he shoot this?

Mostly Tokyo locations but since it's set in the future some of the interiors were lobbies of new buildings, etc.

How much did it cost?

As a graduate thesis it cost 3 (Yu & 2 others) of them about $5,000.

Back in Tokyo @ Laforet in Harajuku.

We're getting in to the last couple of days now. I'm keeping my basic schedule, getting in by 10:30AM to get ready for the 1st program which starts @ 11:15 AM. The festival staff are all wonderful & VERY hardworking. I have to give a big shout out to my man Taichi Nara, the Laforet venue & stage director. The festival brings in volunteers & interns from area film schools & other sources. There are a few who have returned but many are 1st timers. No matter what kind of mini & major crisis, Taichi remains firm yet gentle, & never, never looses his cool. Quite an accomplishment with a million details to take care of EVERYDAY of the festival. Festival director Seigo Tono & his talented, dedicated select team are starting now to turn their attention to the award ceremony, a totally separate complex, yet just as important part of the festival.

For this program please check the entry from June 9th. I wrote about the Q & A with director Hirsoshi Okuda for his delightful short " Your Sound".

Today's screening brought 3 other directors. Yosuke Takeuchi for "Segetsu". Jie Zhu from Peking for "Color of Paradise" & Alvaro Munoz from Chile for "Two Icebergs".

Yosuke Takeuchi's "Segetsu" combined art with the complex family dynamics that come into to play when a deformed

son confronts his parents. There's a machine in the movie that has an essential part in the movie. Yosuke wowed the crowd when he told us he made it himself.

Jie Zhu told us he dedicated his short to his Grandfather. This charming short is about a grand-child who continues to draw on her grandfathers face on his hospital bed as she did @ her grandparents house. This quiet & magical short is very effective in it's depiction of family ties & the special connection between a child & grandparent. Jie made this short @ film school after his grandfather passed away.

Finally,Alvaro Munoz arrived in town for his short "2 Icebergs". Alvaro told us that he based the story on a true news story from a couple years back about a land-slide in another South American country. He wanted to depict what thoughts people would reflect on in a life-threatening situation not of their own doing. The film has the look & feel of impending doom that, for me, referenced the 1953 classic French film "Wages of Fear" by Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Be back soon.

DJ John

Today's sub-title is "Johnny Goes to Brillia Shorts Shorts Theatre in Yokohama!

The Shorts Shorts organization has built a beautiful new theatre dedicated just for short films in the Minato-Mirai area of Yokohama. A very popular harbor-side shopping, eating, & entertainment area that includes theme-park rides & other attractions.

The theatre has luxurious seating, a cafe, and excellent audio/visual equipment. It shows 90 - 120 minute short film programs throughout the day so you can go just about anytime and enjoy a program with it's own unique variety of short films.

We started the day with the Neo Japan program C. This is a non-competition program that features the best of the Japanese short film-makers with some "heavies" being featured as well. The films were highly original with exquisite drama, a biting sense of humor & irony, striking images & an extraordinary level of originality.

The 1st Q & A came on the 2nd program of the day, International - G.

We had A.J. Eaton who brought his "The Mix-Up" to the competition. In the Q & A, he told us the story was based on his grandfather who for over 40 years would "fix" whatever was need around that he & AJ's grandma lived in. Apparently AJ's grandfather was more successful in his attempt rather than in the result. A charming tale of mistaken identity that had me wondering if there was any reference to Hal Ashby's classic "Being There". AJ had not seen the film but was asked immediately upon showing the film to friends if he had drawn any inspiration from the film. Seeing the film later, AJ realized he was honored to be mentioned in the same breath as the great Hal Ashby!

Other interesting points from the Q & A: He built the set of the TV studio. He used to work @ a small TV studio where he got a lot of his ideas. He had the most trouble gathering extras for the studio audience crowd.

A. J. Eaton - a nice & cool guy, talented, & I think we'll be hearing a lot more about him soon.

I had more Q & A's in the programs from the rest of the day but I'll pick-up on those from the Tokyo location where I'll be presenting those directors there over the next few days!

See-ya.

DJ John