American Short Shorts Film Festival 2000

The last day in Osaka: A first step for everyone

Today is the last day of the Osaka edition of the festival. Our staff is busy preparing to open the theatre. The first screening of the day is "Program B" which begins with "The Great Train Robbery," an antique film made by the Thomas Edison's company.
"The Great Train Robbery" is said to be the first film with a story, and it was an important first step in the golden years of Hollywood.
Cinema is one of the greatest inventions of this century, so ASSFF decided to pay homage to some of the greatest moving images of the early 20th century in the "Vintage Shorts" category.
We included one vintage short at the top of each program to show the evolution of filmmaking. In every evolution, there always is an unprecedented "first step."
We are glad that our audience had an opportunity to discover such important short films, and we hope that our volunteer staff also encountered a new experience through ASSFF.

Hundreds of people are coming!

Here at Mido-kaikan, Osaka, we also had a large audience. Among them, there were some who had repeatedly come to the screenings. One of them even wished, whole-heartedly, to go to the Okinawa edition of the Festival afterwards!
The voice of volunteer staff selling our official catalog resounds lightly in the hall. In this catalog, we introduce not only each selected short, but also interviews with guest filmmakers including their "behind-the-scene" stories.
Messages of support from American Ambassador Thomas S. Foley, Japanese Ambassador to the United States of America, Shunji Yanai, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese are also included in the catalog. In the theatre, the audience checks out their catalogs.

Questionnaire! Questionnaire!

For a very young festival like "American Short Shorts," there is nothing more valuable than honest opinions and suggestions from the audience. There are so many people who took the time to complete our questionnaires here in Osaka.
We value this opportunity to hear the voices of the audience and the festival improves each year because we listen to every one of them.
The Osaka edition has started today, and the festival committee is excited that we've received such a large response from the audience. Our enthusiasm continues as our next adventure in Naha, Okinawa awaits….

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