Five Japanese short films of SSFF & ASIA’s recommendation, were screened at La Cinemateque Francaise, one of holy establishments for all cinephiles and moviegoers, in Paris, France
on February 5th (Monday).
http://www.cinematheque.fr/
La Cinemateque Francaise is a French film organization that holds one of the largest archives of film documents and film-related objects in the world. Based in Paris, the archive offers daily screenings of worldwide films and the organization also operates the Musée de la Cinémathèque, formerly known as Musée du Cinéma. In its building, there is a bistro/café “Les 400 Coups”, named afterlate French director Francois Truffaut‘s first feature film.
This screening event was held as a kickoff event for SSFF & ASIA’s 20th anniversary year (2018), and the aim is to promote SSFF & ASIA in Paris, an important siege for film industry people in Europe, as well as strengthening ties and communication with filmmakers who live in Paris.
Five films were presented in the screening. They were (in order of the screening): “Oh Lucy!（Atsuko Hirayanagi）“, “663114（Isamu Hirabayashi)“, “And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool (Makoto Nagahisa)“, “ Lies(Naomi Kawase) ” and “Home Away from Home (Yukinori Makabe)”.
Before the screening at 19:00 on this Monday, the tickets are nearly sold-out, and many people came to attend the screening. We thought more younger audience who appreciate Japanese sub-culture would come to see the screening, but we were wrong. We saw many elder audience members as well. Here in Paris, all ages of people are very active and enthusiastic in discovering minor films.
Mr. Bernard Payen, the man behind most of the screening programs at La Cinemateque made a speech to the audience about our collaboration. He also mentioned that the feature film version of “Oh Lucy!” is actually in cinemas all around Paris. He then introduced Seigo Tono, festival director of SSFF & ASIA. Tono made a brief speech talking about the history of SSFF & ASIA, and he thanked the audience for coming to see the screening despite Monday night.
During the screening, we heard many people laugh, and we even heard a scream in one of the films. A big applause was heard at the end of each film as well. The reaction of French audience was really excellent. After the screening, some audience members came to talk about how they got interested in Japanese culture, especially about “Honne”(true feeling） and “Tatemae”(façade) in Japanese companies. An audience said that the quality of Japanese actors in short films are very high.So, the Japanese short film screening presented by SSFF & ASIA at La Cinemateque Francaise was a success, and we can tell you that the night wasn’t over until very late at the nearby bar, with filmmakers who came to see the screening. It was like a small reunion talking about their SSFF & ASIA experience in Tokyo as well.
Hopefully we will come back in Paris very soon in the near future with more latest Japanese short films. Until then, we say, “Au Revoir!“