![\"ap131Chris-Tashima\"](\"http:\/\/ssff.sakura.ne.jp\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ap131Chris-Tashima.png\")
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Tell us about your background.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Tashima: <\/span>I went to film school at UC Santa Cruz to learn filmmaking but then I discovered acting. I focused on acting until I did the play version of \u201cVisas and Virtue.\u201d It played for four weeks at a small theater in North Hollywood. The director of the play suggested doing a short film. That\u2019s when I realize that I could go back to my original interest of filmmaking. But now I have a great story and a really great cast and a one-act play, 13 pages so it\u2019s perfect for a short film. So we did that and obviously it was very successful. Because I won the Academy award for that it launched me into\u3000the short film world. I became an Academy member in the short film branch. That\u2019s when I became much more involved in short films in all aspects. The Academy is very interested in keeping shorts films alive and promoting the interest of the public. Every year I\u2019m part of the judging of the short films at the Oscars since I joined in 1999 so it\u2019s over 10 years now. I watch around 80 shorts, sometimes there are around 60, one year over 100 for live action, animated shorts are about 40 to 50 every year. It\u2019s a very unique competition because you have to qualify before entering.<\/p>\n What is the major role of short film?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Tashima: In general, shorts are a way for artists to express themselves. Usually, when someone says I want to direct something, and it\u2019s an easier first step than trying to make a feature. Generally it\u2019s because \u201cI want say something as a filmmaker.\u201d For me short films are very good educational tools for several reasons. For one thing grants and funding are available if your short film can be categorized as educational. Not for entertainment. You can apply for grants because it\u2019s an educational film. Usually, the story I want to tell is either a Japanese-American or an Asian-American story, but they have historical value because history books ignore this part of our community. As a supplement, short films work very well in a classroom, because they are short.<\/p>\n What is important in short filmmaking?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Tashima:<\/span> It\u2019s always the script. The script is everything to me. If you have a good script, people start coming to you. People will always say yes, want to help. All you can show them is the script. On shorts especially because you\u2019re asking people to work for free, or donations, so that\u2019s where it starts. The script will tell you where to go for money. For \u201cVisas and Virtue,\u201d I went to the Jewish and Japanese communities because that\u2019s who we were honoring and also to the educational funders. That\u2019s all in the script. The film is about storytelling. Acting is 2nd in importance. Right away if that falls short, nothing else matters because that\u2019s where everyone is watching. You lose the audience right away. Everything else can be mediocre but if the acting is powerful, people will watch it.<\/p>\n When you finish the film, ask yourself, \u201c who is your audience\u201d? That might determine in which direction you want to go, to what kind of festivals. Be familiar with festivals. because that\u2019s generally what you do with shorts as a fi rst step. One particular thing that\u2019s important to know is what the rules are at the Academy if you are interested in qualifying for the Academy Awards\u00ae. They are very strict about broadcasts which include internet broadcasts. Until your film qualifies your film cannot be broadcast in any fashion.<\/p>\n What is your advice to young filmmakers?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Tashima: <\/span>Make sure your script is good. Another thing, and this is more about producing and directing, is surrounding yourself with really good people. It doesn\u2019t hurt to ask the best people you can think of, even if you don\u2019t know them or even if they\u2019re famous. That\u2019s how I asked Hiro Narita to shoot \u201cVisas and Virtue.\u201d I had grown up watching his great work. I just said I\u2019m going to call him. Maybe he will be interested. Everyone in Hollywood is looking for good projects. Not necessary for money, but for creatively fulfilling work. At a certain age, you lose popularity for whatever reason. So there are thousands of brilliant people out of work. It doesn\u2019t hurt to ask. It\u2019s easy to think of actors that you want to be in your film. But it doesn\u2019t hurt to think like that also for your composer, editor, costume designer, cinematographer, and production designer. That\u2019s important for a director, they teach you a lot. They know the craft. That\u2019s what I love about filmmaking, is the collaboration.<\/p>\n Filmmaking is a creative drive. An Oscar is a goal and it opens up doors. Good directors always know where they are going as far as the film is concerned, the way the story is told, the style, the visuals, but no matter what, what is important is the passion you have to do what you have to do. You have to immerse yourself, it\u2019s so much hard work, and it\u2019s so stressful, you just get burnt out. At least for me, I have to be really passionate about it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chris Tashima<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1998, Chris won the Academy Award\u00ae for Best Live Action Short for \u201cVisa to Bitoku\u201d which he directed and starred in. Since then he has been busy as both actor and director. He is also a member of the Academy and the Director\u2019s Guild. In 1999, he participated in the Short Shorts Film Festival (then known as the American Short Shorts Film Festival). Last year he starred in\u201c Half Kenneth,\u201d directed by Ken Ochiai. The film won the Best Short Award in the Japan Competition at our festival.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1632,"parent":0,"template":"","e_news_cat":[550],"class_list":["post-8566","news_en","type-news_en","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","e_news_cat-creators"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortshorts.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_en\/8566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortshorts.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_en"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortshorts.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news_en"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortshorts.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortshorts.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"e_news_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortshorts.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/e_news_cat?post=8566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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