Space O in Omotesando Hills.
The crowd awaits in anticipation for the kick-off.
Spotlight Award recipient, the very cool
Anna Tsuchiya
DJ John here checking in with you from "Space O" on the basement B3 floor of the Omotesando Hills shopping complex here in Tokyo, just a stones throw from Shibuya. For the opening ceremony press event we had a full house. Since celebrating our 10th anniversary last year, 5th for the Asia competition - our sister festival held simultaneously, the expectations are high for the start of our next decade. With popular local radio/TV personality Lilico MC'ing the festivities we began by introducing the special awards & programs we've got lined up this year. Seigo Tono, festival director then came up to introduce the inauguration of the Music Shorts competition by introducing 2 music shorts; one by director Mark Osborne titled "Elegy" which was inspired by the New Order track and one by director Chan Ji Hyok titled "My Flower," a South Korea/Japan collaboration featuring the sweet voice of South Korea pop singer Jo Sung Mo.
Next on the menu was the Spotlight Award which goes to the talented director, actor, or actress whose short film brought wide-ranging attention to the short film world. This year the award went to Anna Tsuchiya, a very popular multi-talent whose career includes modeling, musician, acting, and now filmmaking with her short animated film "Fishbone." Anna, who has a very strong and singular personality raised the energy level quite a bit.
So all in all, a very successful opening event that bodes well for the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2009!
I'll be back later for the Swedish Event featuring our very own Lilico and the boss, Tetsuya Bessho (he's the man!).
DJ John
