Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2010

Sanjay, a young Indian screenwriter, lands in Paris on his way to sign the biggest contract of his budding film career. But Robert, the chief of immigration, notices that Sanjay's passport will expire before his return flight. Robert thinks this is no accident and he's just not buying Sanjay's 'story'.

Usami, laid off and deep in debt, is writing his will on a park bench. Hinoko, a high-school student, sneaks up and reads his will. Hinoko, who is a poetry club member, demands Usami write the will better. They begin a wonderful friendship as they write it together.　

A young Chinese couple is traveling on a bus on their way to meet the boyfriend’s parents. Their carefree holiday is interrupted when two criminals terrorize the bus. Each passenger must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice for their own safety and dignity. Mature Content: These films may include sexual and/or violen

Director：Xuan Jiang

I am honored to learn that August 15th has received the Audience Award. I really wish that I could be there. Short Shorts Film Festival is the first Asian film festival to showcase my film. It means a lot to me. Knowing that the audience has chosen my film for the award makes me very proud. It is a great encouragement for me to keep making films that I believe in. I want to thank Short Shorts Film Festival and all the audience who attended the screens and supported the filmmakers.

Jiang graduated from the Beijing Broadcasting Institute and began work in television production at News Corporation China. Eager to create stories of her own, Jiang entered the MFA program for Film Directing at the California Institute of the Arts in 2004 where she wrote and directed her thesis film, "August 15th."

Somewhere in Okinawa, close to a busy market, a pair of waterfowls lives in an urban, man-made river. Normally, no one pays attention to these small birds. But these birds remind us that no matter how much mankind impacts nature, life will find a way to prosper.

Thank you so much for my 2 awards. To the audiences who watched my film & to the staff & volunteers who worked the festival, thank you very much. You have my greatest respect because you worked from morning to night without being able to even watch your favorite short film.

On my daily commute route to & from work, everyday I passed the river where the 2 birds lived & one day, due to a heavy rain, the eggs were washed away. There was nothing I could do but just take pictures.

Eventually, the reason I started filming the birds was due to having the feeling of the need to take action and the desire to tell their story. It is necessary to do both and with this award, I will take action to live up to expectations for the children of the future.

Born in 1970, Shinya is a photographer whose main subjects are "People & Nature." An avid outdoors man, he has been climbing and free-diving since high school. Shinya entered the film production arena in 2007.

Joe leaves Tokyo for the first time in 10 years to take a trip acrosss Japan. He visits throuthout Japan, Wakkanai, Biwako, and Okinawa. The people he meets along the way, the food and culture, and the trip all help Joe to develop inner strength as a young man.

Director : Ken Ochiai

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Short Shorts Film Festival staff, the volunteers, the jury, & to the Japan Travel Agency. I am honored to have been chosen for this award from among the many, very fine films.

This short film features "Joe" who is one of the characters that appears in the feature film "Summer 47" which was slated for production last year. It's been 7 years since I left for the U.S. to learn filmmaking. One thing I realized once I was away from Japan was that, even as someone from Japan, there was still a lot that I really didn’t know about Japan. Since then I developed an interest in the history of my native country and I would go to places that I hadn’t been to & I would take pictures & make notes of ideas. Those notes eventually became a script & the script eventually became a short film.

I used the prize money & the Canon Mark II 5D camera that I received when I was awarded the Best Short Award in the Japan Competition at last year’s festival. I took over 16,000 stills & 8 hours of moving images which was then condensed into a 15 minute short film. I' m very pleased that the award I received last year led to creating a new short film that enabled me to return to this wonderful film festival. I was the "frog in the well" before I left Japan, in addition to discovering how big & wide the world is, I also came to realize the beauty of the “well” in which I lived. Through this film, if people from around the world see the beauty of Japan, and becomes interested and if people here in Japan sees a place they haven’t been to & decide to take a trip there, that would be my greatest wish. Since this is a story based on the experiences of my family, my personal feelings for this film are very strong, and the enormous happiness I feel in receiving this recognition for it is something that is hard to express I words.

Thank you very, very much.

Crayfish can't live together in the same fish tank. Father & child, parting…a part of life that we all experience. Using this as the theme, the director conveys his feelings with beautiful images & real emotions.

Director : Shiro Tokiwa

I’m very happy to have received both the Best Short & the Audience Awards. This short was made with a very personal desire to have my father recorded on film. My intention was to have the audience leave the screening of my film thinking of or calling family members or close friends. I want the audience to have that kind of after-taste upon seeing my film. I received many warm messages, either directly or by e-mail, from people who saw my film, "Crayfish." It seems there were many who called their parents as well after seeing it. In addition, there were many little "miracles" that occurred while making this short. While filming in Fukuoka, we encountered the first heavy snowfall in many years which added a wonderful backdrop of color to the scenes. My father was in miraculous good form and on top of that, to receive this award on Father’s Day is another miracle. Although my father passed away 10 days after the Award Ceremony, I believe his soul lives on in this film.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of the staff that took part in making this film; to Miwa Sasagawa, whose song provided the exquisite setting; the many people I met at the festival; the festival staff; and finally, my father.

Tokiwa directs movies, commercials, anime, and writes scripts. Among his credits are the film "99% No Jisatsu" which stars Itsuji Itao and the music video for the Southern All Stars titled "Film Killerstreet."

Artist : Miwa Sasagawa / Machi umare, Inaka umare