SHORT SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL & ASIA 2015

First day of screening the shorts has started!

It was our first time to play a screen in Shidax Culture Hall of Shibuya, and it was a pleasure to see everyone coming to enjoy the shorts.

First program was “Focus on UK”.
As British directors, actors and actresses have been active in recent years, we decided to focus on UK shorts.
“Focus on UK” will be also playing on 7^th and 11^th in Brillia Short Shorts Theater of Yokohama, and 12^th in iTCOM Studio. To those who missed today’s screening, please come and enjoy the program!

In the following “Southeast Asia Program”, Bety Reis from “The Cock Fight” and Christopher de las Alas from “For Ofelia” greeted the audience. Bety Reis, the director who represent Timor-Lest, entered the world of cockfighting, which no women are allowed to join. As the audience asked her why she decided to focus on such a world, she said she wanted to tell people the culture of her own country by herself. She also told us that she had a tough time filming because no women was allowed to be part of it, but she negotiated over and over again and made it possible.

And Christopher de las Alas, who made a film about a son dressed up as a girl because his mother wanted a daughter, told that it was based on his uncle’s true story. He heard the story from his father when he was still a kid; he decided to make a short out of it after 20 years. Also, he told that his challenge was to cast non-actors for this film; he chose local people from his mother’s hometown.

We sure do have to keep our eyes on two directors representing Southeast Asia.

And next program… Many people lined up to see the very first screening of “Focus on Quebec” program, supported by Saguenay International Short Film Festival.

Prior to the screening, the MC introduced two guests from Quebec; Marie Elaine Riou from the Saguenay Festival and Etienne Desrosiers, the director of “Miroir de l’ete.”

Marie Elaine first explained to the Japanese audience what “Quebec” is. “Well, Quebec is one of the provinces of Canada where most of the people speak French”,  “Actually, there are two percentage of all North America population who speak French, and they are mostly from Quebec.”
Marie-Elaine also explained about  her film festival. She works at the Saguenay Festival as one of the programmers, and is also in charge of the market. Approximately 300 professionals visit the festival each year, and although the city where the festival is held is a really small town, 5 hours north of Montreal, the festival has become one of the most important short film festivals in Canada since it has establishment 20 years ago.

Director Etienne Desrosiers came to greet the audience right straight from the airport, he even didn’t have a time to drop his suitcase in the hotel.
“It’s really nice to be here in Japan. It’s my first time here, and I am very happy that my film “Miroir d’ete” is shown among other films in this program, after about 8 years of its production.”

Of course, he shared his experience of working with very young Xavier Dolan who was 15 years old at the time. “We auditioned about 60 boys, and we chose Xavier. Even at such a young age, he was dertemined to be famous, and he was always focused on his work. He is really professional.” Director Desrosiers described Xavier Dolan in one word; “he is Mozart.”

And Our last Program was “Music Short Program B”.
Music Short screens shorts inspired by music videos. It is one of our popular programs and is getting more and more attention as a new field of short film.

One of the shorts that we screened today was “Don’t give us bouquet”, a short that was inspired by the music of May J, “Love is Tought”. The director of the short, Hidenobu Abera greeted the audience and told, “I wanted to tell the message to the audience; don’t look down even when you are heart broken!”.