June 11, 2006

THE LAST CHIP

Heng Tang　
（21:00/Drama/Hong Kong ・　Vietnam・　Australia/2005）

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Hidetoshi Oneda
（15:00/Fantasy/Japan・USA/2005）

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Hidetoshi Oneda
（15:00/Fantasy/Japan・USA/2005）

Resonance of Tears

Atsuhiko Watanabe
（11:00/Drama・Experimental/Japan ・ France/2004）

THE LAST CHIP

Heng Tang　
（21:00/Drama/Hong Kong ・　Vietnam・　Australia/2005）

Village Football

Sainath Choudhury　
（1:25/Fiction/India/2004）

The Mechanicals

Leon Ford　　　
（8:20/Drama/Australia/2005）

June 10, 2006

It is hard to believe, but Short Shorts Asia has come to a close! As soon as the last of the audience had left the final screening of Asia International Program B, an army of volunteers was stripping down Astro Hall to its bare walls. The chairs are gone! The sponsor boards are down! The lights are being shut off! The flyers and catalogs are packed away!

Thanks to the volunteers and staff for their hard work and another great festival!
The Naitonal and Asian selections were outstanding this year. No doubt the jury who will select the Best Film Award winners from each category have their work cut out for them. We’ll find out at Sunday’s Awards Ceremony which films will take home the prizes.

Thank you for coming to Short Shorts Film Festival Asia 2006!! See you next year!!

was the last screening at Short Shorts Film Festival Asia for this year!! Once again, an eclectic mix of dramatic and comedic films entertained the crowd in Astro Hall.

Filmmakers Seungkoo Jeong (“Bravo Mr. Kim,” Korea), Seongho Park (“Kidsbook is . . . ?” Korea), and Chong Yew Fei (“Going Home,” Malaysia) attended the screening and took questions from the audience afterwards.

An audience member asked Seungkoo why his main character, an old man named Mr. Kim, is always dressed in a suit and tie. “That’s an interesting and difficult question,” responded Seungkoo. In part, it’s how Seungkoo would like to think of himself when he gets older, but it also symbolizes Mr. Kim’s strength. He is a poor old man, struggling to get by, but he still has the dignity to dress for success.

Short Shorts is the first festival that Chong has traveled to outside of Malaysia, and he is thrilled to be here participating in this event. “I love Tokyo―the people and the weather. [The festival] is a great gathering of filmmakers.” He has also enjoyed the opportunity to see an international selection of films. “Multicultural shorts offer interesting points of view, and I hope Short Shorts can continue to show these kinds of films in the future.”

Animator Seongho Park mixed stop motion animation with 2D animation to tell a story based on childhood memories about a little boy reading a book about pirates and reaching into an illustration to touch their ship. This isn’t the only film we’ve seen at Short Shorts that mixes animation styles and techniques. The mixture is particularly effective in “Kidsbook is . . .?” as it differentiates action in the “real world” from the boy’s story book world.

Korean super star YOO JITAE visited the festival venue at Laforet today. An hour before showtime, the stairway outside the theatre was filled with excited fans---over 95% women---eagerly anticipating their chance to see the handsome and popular film star in person. Several rows of seats were reserved for a special visit from a Tokyo film school.

Upon hearing that the students were not going to make it, Short Shorts staffers announced that the prime seats near the front were available. Excited women pounced, body checking each other for a good spot to watch the sexy star.

The presentation served as a forum for Yoo to showcase his directorial debut, HOW DO THE BLIND DREAM. The story tells an abstract, often surreal, story of a blind acupuncturist who falls in love with one of his patients. She begins to create a sensation in the man’s monotonous life and arouses his hidden sexual desire.

It is a reflective work, rich in color and full of abstract interludes from the man’s perspective. For most of the piece, the scenes carry a relaxed energy―ruminating about life and love---but, in the end, concludes in a more aggressive manner when the man is accused of rape. In the q & a, Yoo said he has “always wanted to make a film that uses several different genres…and had a specific interest in telling a story from a blind man’s perspective.”

Those who made it to this today’s first screening at Astro Hall could have skipped their morning coffee―so jolting was the drama and humor of Asia International Program D. “Be Very Quiet” from Thailand/USA, “Fingerprint” from Korea, and “Save My Earth,” also from Korea were so tense they could raise your blood pressure. “The Bus” from Singapore and “Village Football” offered the sweet relief of laughter.

Korean filmmaker Bejay Kim, who directed “Save My Earth,” was in attendance and participated in Q&A after the screening. This trip to Tokyo is the first time Bejay has traveled outside of Korea. “I’m always too busy working!” he explains. Bejay talked about the warped psychology of his lead character, a police detective who becomes very paranoid while trying to solve a murder witnessed by an old high school friend. Bejay builds tension through nonlinear storytelling and quick edits. The result is that the film draws the audience into the detective’s confusion and paranoia.

Bejay brought World Cup memorabilia from Korea to present to a lucky audience member and hung around after the screening to answer more questions from the audience.

June 09, 2006

An enthusiastic crowd attended Asia International Program C this evening at Astro Hall. Audience favorites included “Inside,” a dark Korean film that tells the story of a woman who works in a kiosk in a subway station and falls in love with a customer’s hands, and “Bunny and Clydo,” a Quinten Tarantino-style action film shot in Los Angeles. Audience members responded particularly to the comical treatment of violence in the films.

“Inside” and Indian-Canadian filmmaker Shaleen Sangha’s “Sohni Sapna (Beautiful Dream)” reminded audiences that the knight in shining armor they learned about in fairy tales is pure fantasy. There’s no such thing as a perfect man, ladies!

In the Q&A session after the screening, Shaleen spoke about the theme of the mythical soulmate/lover that so many folk tales perpetuate. In her film, this issue becomes more complex as the main character, Sohni, is struggling not only with the notion of an ideal man, but also with her own cultural identity. Sohni is Canadian-Indian, her husband is Caucasian, and her dream lover is Indian. Sohni’s choice between her husband and her dream lover becomes a choice between cultures, though this interpretation of the story arose, in a way, by chance. Shaleen explained that when she cast the film, she decided to cast the role of the husband without regard to race or ethnicity, and it just so happened that the actor chosen was white.

Asked how she wrote and cast that ever-illusive entity “the perfect man,” Shaleen admits, “well, it helps that he’s, you know, hot.” Indeed.

Singapore filmmaker Charles Lee was nervous to present his animated film about the Malay regiment’s failed defense of Bukit Chandu against Japanese forces in WWII here in Tokyo, but the audience seemed to appreciate its moving depiction of the deadly battle. “The Battle of Bukit Chandu” combines 3D and 2D animation, and the results are more engaging and devastating than live action. Charles worked with a group of fellow male animation students who were all quite happy to make a film about a battle, but he chose his subject matter after seeing a group of students in a museum learning about this important event in Singapore’s history. He realized that animation could bring the battle to life better than a static museum exhibit. The film tells a story about Singapore, but it carries a universal message about the horrors of war and the indomitable human spirit.

Korean-Japan Music Coordinator Masanori Furuya presented a second special program of recently released Korean music videos at Astro Hall this afternoon.

Korea, a country that is known for producing great short films, does not treat music videos any less seriously. Unlike Japan and MTV in the U.S, its music videos always carry a storyline and the narrative is given great attention. It’s not just eye candy. The first of the lineup―a catchy, hip-hop tune called FLY---took place in an intense hostage situation.

The lightness of the song greatly contrasted the intensity conveyed with the imagery. After a standoff between the cops and a car thief wielding a gun, the thief throws a grenade, causing an enormous explosion in the middle of the street. The song stops intermittently, mostly for the dramatic parts, and then picks back up. In the end, the thief is hit with a sniper shot and he falls to the ground in extreme slow motion. The next video followed the life of a man who loses his girlfriend and has his heart broken.

All of the videos were very dramatic, even if the song seemed to befit a lighter theme. Korean music videos are compelling works; instead using dialogue, they use music to convey their stories and seem to devote as much effort to evoking emotion as they would a short film.

June 08, 2006

An enthusiastic audience attended tonight’s Special Program at Astro Hall to see music clips from Korea. Sapporo’s North Wave D.J. Masanori Furuya hosted the event. Furuya, who hosts his own morning program on North Wave, an affiliate of Inter FM, was introducing Korean music to Japan even before it reached full-on trend status. Fluent in Korean, Furuya also presents programs of Japanese music clips in Korea and recently published a book about Korean music clips.

Korean music clips are different from most in that the artist or band never appears on screen. Instead actors, often famous ones, portray a story, like a short film with little or no dialog. The story takes on a role as important as the music.

The first clips of the program told one dramatic love story, practically a saga, in two parts. These clips were followed by a stop-motion animation peice with a tragic ending that seemed incongruous with the animator’s visual style. Furuya discussed the prevalence of tragedy, which often crosses into the realm of the comically ridiculous, in Korean clips. Indeed, “melodramatic” seems a fair description of the selections screened, but it is an effect that the creators achieve intentionally and unapologetically.

The program’s highlights included a video message from one of Korean’s leading music video artists, Jaehyok Jang, and Jang’s antiwar-themed clip, “Flower.” Jang counts Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki (TOTORO, SPIRITED AWAY) among his influences.

Also featured was the 38-minute, multi part music clip for Hyejin Jang’s entire latest album starring Korean actress Yoonjin Kim (SWIRI).

It was a night of Korean modern culture--and a rare opportunity to see and hear the latest creations of Korean artists--enjoyed by all!

A stirring selection of films in Asia International Program A kicked off the morning in Astro Hall. The program included two visually thrilling thrillers from Korea, a cheeky animation from Indonesia, a dark comedy about immigrant women from China and Vietnam in Australia, a jolting drama from Iran, and a bittersweet love story from Singapore.

Directors Heng Tang (The Last Chip) and Ric Aw (Buy Me Love) were in attendance for the screening. Heng struggled for eight years to raise the funding for his film, which tells the story of three very different Asian immigrant women who share one thing in common―each week they go to the casino together to gamble. “One gambles because she is lonely, and the others gamble for financial freedom,” explained Heng. Some government funding organizations in Australia where the film was shot were reluctant to support the project because the government had supported the building of casinos. The film alludes to the problems gambling has created for some Australians, particularly for older immigrant women who have no financial independence.

Heng tells his story with humor and honesty, and each character feels real from the moment he or she is introduced on screen. Audiences might recognize filmmaker Leon Ford, whose short “The Mechanicals” screens in International Program D, in a supporting role as Croupier Craig.

Filmmaker Ric Aw counts his wife Candice and the multitude of unsung characters in Singapore as his inspirations. “Buy Me Love” is about an aging Singapore hawker who has worked too hard his whole life to have time for love, for the “games we play,” as Ric put it. So, he buys a mail-order bride from China. Ric explained that this is not an uncommon scenario in Singapore, but can you really buy love? “You can buy a wife,” answered Ric. “That is companionship which some people might confuse with love. But I don’t really think you can buy love.”

Ric hopes to expand “Buy Me Love” into a feature film and introduce “more characters from Singapore, characters that the world has never seen before―like toilet cleaners and street sweepers.”

Filmmakers, staff, and volunteers gathered on Omotesando this morning to clean up the sparkling sidewalks of this busy and beautiful shopping district. Sweepers is a time-honored tradition of the Short Shorts Film Festival that allows everyone involved in the event to offer a show of thanks to the neighborhood that hosts this festival each year. Working alongside the Short Shorts gang were volunteers from Greenbird, a non-profit environmental organization that has supported Sweepers for the last several years.

Festival Director Seigo Tono welcomed the Sweepers, and introduced Ken Hasebe, President and Founder of Greenbird. A representative from Japan’s Ministry of the Environment also welcomed the filmmakers and volunteers and thanked them for their contribution. He explained that there is a movement in Japan to encourage companies to relax their dress codes and eliminate ties from men’s summer wardrobes. This would enable offices to maintain their thermostats at slightly higher temperatures, thereby saving energy and reducing heat emissions from air conditioners.

The Sweepers split into two groups and set off in opposite directions on the hunt for abandoned cigarette butts, drink cans, newspapers, rubbish of any kind really. As in years past, it was a task that called for keenly alert senses; garbage is not easy to find in Tokyo. Even Tokyo native and festival staffer, Eri Taguchi, enjoying the fresh air in her first ever Sweepers event, was surprised by how clean the sidewalks were.

The Web Reporter asked some Sweepers how they felt about cleaning up rubbish in Tokyo:

“In Canada, there would be cigarette butts and beer cans all over the place―even though it’s illegal to drink in the streets!” -- filmmaker Shaleen Sanga (Sohni Sapna/Beautiful Dream)

“It’s the same concept as for eating.” ?Jury Member Beth Safreire, demonstrating that the garbage collecting tongs are not unlike chopsticks

“Small dogs go in the burnable bag.”- ?anonymous

“I’m happy with my non-burnables. And I didn’t come across that big stash everyone else got. This is all my own work.” --Leon Ford (The Mechanicals)

“It’s so clean, I’d be willing to lick the street.” --Chris Waitt (Dupe)

“It was stinky, but satisfying.” --Tatia Rosenthal (A Buck’s Worth)

June 07, 2006

National Program B attracted a large crowd at Astro Hall on this first day of Short Shorts. The eclectic mix of entertaining shorts opened with last year’s Super Dry Award film, “Shirotaku,” and closed with the new film that the winning filmmaker made using the scholarship prize, “Tokyo Tenshi.” Jam-packed with special effects and futuristic references, the film is nevertheless about the human heart.

By their titles alone, you might guess that several films have a distinct Japanese flavor: Tokyo Tenshi, Sushi Japan, and Origami. Aussie Mack Wilson’s very personal “Tabibanashi” is a love poem for Japan. There are also films with international elements in the program, including “Happiness,” which was shot in Malaysia and tells a sweet story about a young brother and sister from a small village there and “Resonance of Tears,” which was shot in France and features a French actor.

Several filmmakers participated in Q&A after the screening. “Tokyo Tenshi” director Toshiro Sonoda talked about is motivation for making the film. Tokyo can be a cold, anonymous city, he explained, and he wanted to tell a story about love and relationships surmounting that sense of loneliness and isolation the city can evoke.

National Program C screened to a full crowd at Astro Hall this afternoon. Three dark, haunting pieces (Pomegranate, Murmurs of the Shadow, and Tomb in the Arms) transported the audience away from the bright liveliness of the Harajuku afternoon. The animated film “Seeker” and the action film “Kick-the-Can” lightened things up, and the special screening of Australian short film “Tanaka” provided a bittersweet but heartwarming finale to the program.

All of the Japanese directors were present to answer questions after the screening. Since three of the films (Pomegranate, Seeker, and Kick-the-Can) had been made in the United States, filmmakers talked about how working in the U.S. has influenced their filmmaking. “Pomegranate” director Kentaro Hagiwara explained that even in Japan he grew up watching American television, so his work probably reflects some American style. On the other hand, “Kick-the-Can” director Mitsuaki Fujiwara said that his Japanese aesthetic is even more pronounced as a result of working abroad.

An audience member asked how people can see other work directed by these filmmakers. Director Jyako Amano, whose film “Tomb in the Arms” deals with one society’s most disturbing taboos, said that she would worry that her other films would be too extreme for audiences.

A brief morning rain shower gave way to a brilliant sun-soaked Tokyo day―perfect for a stroll from Harajuku Station to the Meiji Shrine.

International filmmakers posed for photos in front of the barrels of sake on the way to the shrine, cleansed their hands at the main entrance, and tossed 5 yen coins in the alters to ensure their prayers would be answered.
Some even wrote their own votive prayers on small wooden plaques to hang on the pegs where visitors from around the world have left their own words of hope and thanks.

Inside the Shrine, filmmakers were treated to a special Shinto blessing. The ceremony began with a heart-thumping drum. A priest chanted a prayer to bless the Short Shorts Film Festival and wish success for the filmmakers. Priests wearing spring green played traditional music, opening with the Japanese national anthem. A koto (string instrument), flutes, and drum created a soothing atmosphere as four Miko-san (women priests) performed a dance for world peace called Uraiyasu-no-mai In this intricately choreographed dance every movement of their bodies was carefully synchronized. The blessing closed with the same heart-pounding drum and filmmakers were invited to drink a sip of cleansing sake.

It was an experience no one will soon forget! Singaporean filmmaker Ric Aw (Buy Me Love) and his wife Candice found it to be quite spiritual. “At certain moments, I felt totally at ease,” said Ric. Candice agreed. “At times I felt like I wasn’t even there, especially while the priest was chanting.” Per Hanefjord (En god dag) from Sweden described it as “a goose bump experience,” and was particularly impressed by how intensely Japanese it seemed―the sounds, the colors, the movement. Special guest Miguel Ortega (Director of SSFF Mexico) was also excited to experience such traditional Japanese culture, which he had not expected to find in a city as high tech and modern as Tokyo.

Blessed and cleansed, the filmmakers made their way under blue skies and green trees back to the main gate and down Omotesando to the festival venues at Laforet and Astro Hall. Let the screenings begin!