News & Reports

On Sat, Oct. 26, SSFF & ASIA 2024 Screening in Autumn held a talk event “Swiss Shorts : Swiss Eyes on Japan” at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.  

Commemorating 160th anniversary between Switzerland and Japan and being supported by Sakae Stünzi Foundation as well as Swiss Embassy in Japan : Vitality. Swiss, the evnt introduced 3 shor films which depicted Japan by Swiss filmmakers and had talk session with  black smith, Johan Leutwiler and director Romain Guélat from the world premiere documentary “Johan, l’épreuve du feu (Johan, Trial by Fire)” .

Including other 2 short films: “Third Wheel” by Kevin Haefelin which is a love comedy staged in Edo period and “TOKYO RAIN” which won the Cinematic Tokyo Award in 2022 by Michel Wild & Robert Schneider showed points of views of Swiss filmmakers and the audience might find another new Japan from those.

Swiss Shorts: Swiss Eyes on Japan – Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2024 Screening in Autumn

※『Third Wheel』and 『TOKYO RAIN』are now stremed at the Online Grand Theater till Nov. 7th.

Ms. Sarah Bockmann, Public Information and Cultural Affairs Officer at the Embassy of Switzerland, opened the event by saying, “In this special year of the 160th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Japan, this project symbolizes our common values, mutual respect, and rich cultural exchanges.
We have been organizing Swiss Vitality Days over the past few weeks, and this screening is the final event”.  She commented “I hope that this event will further highlight the vibrant partnership between Switzerland and Japan, and will be a creative dynamic for both countries”.

Regarding “Johan, l’épreuve du feu (Johan, Trial by Fire)” , she explianed, “This film rediscovers Japan from a Swiss perspective and symbolizes the spirit of cultural exchange, and tells the story of Johan Leutwiler, a vitality ambassador and the first foreign sword smith in Japan. This challenge, portrayed by Swiss director Romain Guélat, reflects respect and passion for tradition and the fusion of Swiss and Japanese values.” 

 After the screening, black smith, Johan Leutwiler and director Romain Guélat appeared in person.

Johan told us about how he was fascinated by the beauty of Japanese swords he encountered while working at an ironworks in Switzerland, how he apprenticed himself to a sword smith in Hiroshima, and how Director Guélat also started the interview after hearing his story while he was working on a film project in Hiroshima.

Johan said, “I’ve had three successful projects and more than ten failed so far. I don’t even want to count them.

He explained his attitude as a sword smith, “I work on the assumption that I will fail, but if I keep thinking that I will fail, it won’t work out, so I am devoted to making a good sword every time, including all the failures.

Director Guélat also noted that this project was produced as part of a Swiss Television documentary program. That program introduces the beauty of nature around the world, but this time, “I followed the daily life of making swords using fire, earth, wind, and all the nature around us. I wanted to convey through my work the importance of nature and how it is also involved in our lives,” he said, introducing the background of the production.

The film was shot over a two-week period, and since the filming location was deep in the mountains, so they did not call in a film crew from Switzerland, but rather a small group of people who were familiar with Japan and who helped them with their work.

Johan also said, “When it comes to filming, I usually get distracted and can’t be myself when working on the forge, but in front of Director Guélat, I was able to concentrate without being distracted.”

In the middle of the film, Director  Guélat could not stop talking, Johan, who was  interpretering, even said in Japanese, “I can’t remember it all,” which drew laughter from the audience. 

The audience expressed their impression as “I want to support the creative activities of Johan and Director Guélat”,  ” I hope they will continue their production in Japan again”  “I felt a lot of respect for them”. 

The audience showed a high level of interest throughout the event, which ended with warm applause.