Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2010

'She' is trying to begin a new life after breaking up with her boyfriend. 'He' can't forget about her. An 8mm film and a mysterious cat are behind a strange and wondrous miracle that occurs... A cute, little bit sad, and strange love story that revolves around a piece of 8mm film.

Director : Yuki Iwata Thank you for the Best Music Short Award. The song "8mm," by Sukima Switch, is such a wonderful song, I created this simple "drama" setting to match the theme of their song. For people to wonder "what kind of film won the best short award?" is the greatest kind of reward. If you haven't yet, please see the film, it won’t disappoint you.

Iwata was born in 1972 and began making films in 2000. She learned scriptwriting at the ENBU seminar and began making music videos as an "indie" artist on music by bands like Kukikodan. Her cinematic directorial debut came in 2005 when she made "Osage no Hondana", one of the films in an omnibus movie titled "Hair Style." His first feature film "Lemon no Koro" was released in 2007.

Artist : SUKIMA SWITCHSUKIMASWITCH is Shintaro Tokita and Takuya Ohashi. After their debut in 2003, their 2004, 2nd single, "Kanade" becomes a long-run hit. After some solo work, they released their 4th album, "Nayuta to Fukashigi" in 2009. Their national tour for that album was a huge success.

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

A man flees to a strange city where he finds work as a security guard. He becomes more and more disillusioned with his daily life & starts to lose his humanity. Then there is a woman who waits alone for him to come home to their apartment.