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3 cities & Mexico City

The festival toured 4 cities: Mexico City, Mexico and across Japan; Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya. For the second time, Brillia Short Shorts Theater hosted the national tour in Yokohama. It was again a great success and a wonderful opportunity to spread the news about short films in the area. In addition, Short Shorts Film Festival Mexico expanded its scale and the festival has become an influential and acknowledged event in the area.

Over 3,600 films from 90 countries

From over 3600 submissions from all over the world, the committee selected 38 shorts from 17 countries and regions. For the STOP! Global Warming Competition, 10 films were selected from 7 countries and regions.

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Competition Programs

International Competition

The festival screened 38 Japan premiere short films from 17 countries. 2520 submissions, the most in festival history, were entered in the International Competition.

STOP! Global Warming Competition

SSFF in collaboration with Team -6%, a national energy saving campaign initiated by the Ministry of Environment, has created a new category, the "STOP! Global Warming Competition." Approximately 300 short films with the theme of global warming were submitted. The STOP! Global Warming Program was showcased with free admission and successfully raised public awareness on the issue of global warming. Robert Redford’s "The New Environmentalists" and "everyday" starring Ryo Kase and Yoko Maki were screened as specially invited shorts.

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Special Programs

iShares® presents Academy Program

The Academy Program supported by iShares® presented 5 excellent nominated/winning short films from the Academy Awards®, including "Toyland", the winner of the Best Live Action Short of the 81st Academy Awards®.

Swedish Program & Swedish Event

As a special program, SSFF hosted the Swedish Program and talk event with LiLiCo, who was born in Sweden. For the Swedish Program, 9 Swedish shorts were screened including ABBA’s music clips from Lasse Hallstrom and a rare short from Ingmar Bergman.

French Program

The French short film program from "Festival du Film Francais au Japon 2009" was screened again on June 11 and 13. The program featured short films directed by French actors and the participation of popular singer Bemjamin Biolay and the voice of Julien Boisselier.

Seminar

The former programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, Roberta Munroe held a lecture titled "How Not To Make Short Films" based on her experiences as a short film programmer. The venue was filled with an enthusiastic audience.

TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills

SSFF again hosted the All-Night Screening at TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills on June 6 and 7. To encourage young Japanese filmmakers, SSFF presented again the "NEO Japan Program" and special programs including "Life is･･･" and Academy Program were screened. For the "Life is･･･" program, special guests, cast members, and filmmakers came to greet the audience.

Opening Event

On June 4, SSFFA 2009 kicked off with an opening press event at Omotesando Hills for the first time, instead of Laforet Museum Harajuku. MC LiLiCo, announced the programs and special line-up of the festival along with promotional clips. Mr. Genki Sudo, a former winner of the Spotlight Award, came to present the award to one of the short films from the compilation short film project "BLUE PACIFIC STORIES". The winning short, "Fish Bone", was directed by Anna Tsuchiya who made a surprise appearance.

Award Ceremony

1,500 guests attended the Award Ceremony that was held at Meiji Shrine on June 14. A large number of media also gathered to cover the ceremony. Popular J-Pop artists came to celebrate the newly established competition category, Music Short Competition. In addition, Maki Oguro and Shigeru Izumiya, whose songs were made available for use in the competition, appeared as special guests on stage and sent out encouraging messages to young filmmakers.

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Jury

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Awards

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Moving forward to the 10th anniversary, SSFFA hosted innovative collaborations.

In order to establish a newly introduced category, the "Music Short Competition" presented music clips with a short film style. The very first winning clip was GLAY's "SAY YOUR DREAM" which depicts the memories of an old Japanese businessman who was a captive in an American military base during the war. In addition, SSFFA hosted the project "Short Story Nagoya", which showcased selected shorts located in Nagoya by aspiring filmmakers. As one of the special features of the year, "Focus on India" showcased 5 excellent Indian shorts. For the first time in the festival history, a Best Actor and Actress Awards were established with the sponsorship of luxury jeweler, FRED.

3 cities in Japan & Mexico City

The festival toured 4 cities: Mexico City, Mexico and across Japan; Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya. For the second time, Brillia Short Shorts Theater hosted the national tour in Yokohama. Once again it was a great success and a wonderful way to approach the local fans and businesses to expand the appreciation for short films. In addition, Short Shorts Film Festival Mexico expanded its scale and the festival itself has become an influential and acknowledged event in the area.

Over 3,600 films from 90 countries

From over 3600 short films submitted from throughout the world, the committee selected 17 shorts from 5 countries/regions. For the Japan Competition, 12 films were selected.

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Competition Programs

Asia International Competition

17 short films from 5 Asian countries/regions were screened. Recently, Korea has become the number one country for submissions in the Asia International Competition. This year, a new piece from popular actor and director Yoo Jitae was once again nominated.

Japan Competition

In keeping with last year's sensational Japanese Grand Prix winner Ben Suzuki's acclaimed film, the nominated shorts of 2009 were all high in quality and technique with rich storylines.

Music Short Competition

The newly created "Music Short Competition" emerged with Korean music clips in 2009 to present promotional music clips that have a short film look and style. A total of 19 music videos were introduced along with a special screening of Ringo Shina's "Momoiromegane". For the 2009 presentation, Korean music clips merged with the new Music Short Competition and invited participating artists and filmmakers to discuss the current trend in both Japanese and Korean music clips. One of the acclaimed Korean filmmakers in the music clip industry, Jang Jae-hyuk came to present his music clips following talk sessions with other participants. Masayuki Furuya emceed the program.

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Special Programs

Focus on India

The film industry of India is one of the biggest in the world with the largest number of film productions every year. As a Maestro short, the program invited Mira Nair's social commentary piece "Migration" and 4 Indian shorts from aspiring Indian filmmakers.

NEO Japan Program

The second round for the NEO Japan program! Since a Japanese animated short film won the award at the 81st Annual Academy Awards®, the public's eyes were focused on short films. Meanwhile the NEO Japan program screened 14 selected Japanese shorts that showcased hi-tech animation and filmmaking techniques.

TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills

SSFF again hosted an All-Night Screening at TOHO CINEMAS at Roppongi Hills on June 6 and 7. To encourage young Japanese filmmakers, SSFF presented again the "NEO Japan Program" and special programs including "Life is･･･" and Academy Program. For the "Life is･･･"program, special guests, cast members and filmmakers came out to greet the audience.

Opening Event

On June 4, SSFFA 2009 kicked off with an opening press event at Omotesando Hills for the first time, instead of Laforet Museum Harajuku. MC LiLiCo, announced the programs and special line-up of the festival along with promotional clips and a presentation of the new competition category for 2010, the "Let's Travel Project!" sponsored by the Japan Tourism Agency. Mr. Genki Sudo, a former winner of the Spotlight Award, came to present the award to one of the short films from the compilation short film project "BLUE PACIFIC STORIES". The winning short "Fish Bone" was directed by Anna Tsuchiya who made a surprise appearance.

Award Ceremony

1,500 guests attended the Award Ceremony that was held at Meiji Shrine on June 14. A large number of media also gathered to cover the ceremony. Popular J-Pop artists came to celebrate the newly established competition category, the Music Short Competition. In addition, Maki Oguro and Shigeru Izumiya, whose songs were made available for use in the competition, appeared as special guests on stage and sent out encouraging messages to young filmmakers.

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Jury

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Awards