Festival President Tetsuya Bessho pays a courtesy visit to the office of the Governor of Tokyo to announce the special production of the short film “This Is Tokyo” & the winner of the Cinematic Tokyo Award (Tokyo Governor’s Award)
ACADEMY AWARD ACCREDITED, ASIA’S BIGGEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, The Short Shorts Film Festival (SSFF & ASIA) president Bessho Tetsuya visited Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on August 28th,
Governor Koike stated that “The festival is the tremendous setting for discovering new young creators. This year in dealing with the Coronavirus, the festival has shown how to co-exist with the virus by reducing the number of seats at venues & holding online ceremonies. I look forward in expectation that the festival will implement the strict guidelines for preventing the spread of Covid-19 in each of the venues for the safety of the attendees. ”
This marks the 3rd year of short film production in collaboration between SSFF & ASIA & city of Tokyo. This year’s production titled “This Is Tokyo” was directed by Ben Suzuki, winner of our Grand Prix in 2008 as the first Japanese director to win the top prize. The film stars Win Morisaki ( Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One”) & Singaporean actress Jeanette Aw who is active in both Singapore & China. Upon viewing the short film, Tokyo Governor Koike stated that …….
With the participation of Win Morisaki who is from Myanmar & the lead actress, Jeanette Aw, who is from Singapore, I feel that all the appeal & attraction of Asia is on display in the film. In addition, the fact that the film will be released online & can be enjoyed in the home is very appealing.
The film will be released online today at 11:45.
https://www.shortshorts.org/cinemasports_project/
In addition, this year’s the call for short films that highlights the massive appeal & countless attractions of the city of Tokyo in the Cinematic Tokyo Competition drew 236 submissions from around the world. In this category, the Australian short film “Guppy” won the Best Short Award.
In reaction to this film, festival president Bessho praised the film saying that “the simple story of a young foreign couple visiting Tokyo who begin to see each other in a new light is backdropped by a striking Tokyo city that highlights the fragile nature of their relationship.” Words of praise: “Congratulations! I am very honored that this story, which is set in Tokyo, will be seen around the world.”
During the courtesy call, Tetsuya Bessho stated that, “To achieve this year’s festival in this age of Corona, we repeatedly discussed & conferred on how we could bring the festival to everyone around the world & the many difficulties confronting us like the inability to contact our international teams abroad. We will hold an online festival as well to make the festival available to as many people as possible.
SSFF & ASIA ＆ the city of Tokyo together established the Cinematic Tokyo Competition in 2016 in order to promote the “Tokyo brand” to the world. The short film that was selected as the Best Short, “Guppy,” will be given the Tokyo Governor’s Award at the Awards Ceremony held on September 27th..
In addition, starting today, “Guppie” & “This Is Tokyo” will be released on the festival’s online theater website for free.