News & Reports

Torque – Shibuya Stream

Friday 06/09

SSFF & Asia 2023, the 25^th Edition of the festival began at “Torque, Spice & Herb, Table & Court” located in the Shibuya Stream dining complex. It’s always a treat to screen here. It’s a cycling themed dining bar with a futsal court adjacent to it where we hold outdoor screenings, weather permitting.

We began with the U-25 project where we feature short films made by directors under age 25 & within a 5-minute time restriction. It’s always a treat to screen these highly imaginative & remarkably well-made shorts. The 2^nd half of today’s screenings featured films from the Shibuya Diversity Program. This program, always a highlight of our festival, is in collaboration with the city of Shibuya, features short films that show diversity & inclusion.

For the Q&A, director Kiyo Sato and producer Matthew Moore from “Anamnesis” came all the way out from Rochester, New York to participate. Being they are hearing impaired creators, sign language translators came along to translate their comments. Once again, our festival showed its international side with Japanese, English & sign language as the means of communicating. Kiyo’s very intriguing short film has a touch of suspense, mystery & a sudden turn of story, all in 5 minutes! He showed us all that being hearing-impaired is not an impediment to creating a film.

Both of these programs are highly creative, full of energy & imagination!
2 more days of screenings here before we move on to Futako Tamagawa Rise next week.   
Come out to see the best short films from around the world!

DJ John