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Omotesando Hills - 06/08 20:00 Stop! Global Warming Exhibition Special Guests

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Our own Tetsuya Bessho, Mayor Nakata of Yokohama, & Minister Kamoshita of the Ministry of Environment
For the last screening of the 2-day "Stop! Global Warming" exhibition @ Omotesando Hills we were fortunate to have 2 very special guests make an appearance. Being one of the new "centers" of the Tokyo cultural scene, there were many people who stopped by to check this special exhibition out @ Space O.
For this last screening, we 1st had the chairman of the Short Shorts film festival Tetsuya Bessho give a greeting to the audience. He explained how this competition category came about by 1st starting a "sweepers" event in the morning with the guest directors from around the world to help keep Harajuku, the site of the festival, clean. Then the festival began a collaboration with "Team Minus 6%", an organization backed by the Ministry of Environment. This being the 10th anniversary of the festival, it seemed a good time to make this new competition category.
The 2 special guests, Ichiro Kamoshita, the minister of the Ministry of Environment, & Hiroshi Nakata, the mayor of Yokohama made an appearance & spoke a few words to the audience. Minister Kamoshita said that short films are a energy-efficient art form & was very happy that the SSFF added this category. He also started that the global warming issue is at a crisis stage & perhaps the best way to fight this was to have everyone participate as a network rather than passing laws & regulations, in other words, work horizontal rather than from the top down.
Next Mayor Nakata informed the audience that Yokohama currently has 15 categories for dividing garbage & waste, & have decreased the amount of waste processed by 40 %! he said that what a politician can do is to implement programs that will be accepted by & participated by as many people as possible.
Minister Kamoshita also added that for the up-coming Tanabata festival, it would be good for everyone to turn the lights down to enjoy the summer night sky during the festival.
All the short films of the "Stop! Global Warming" competition were screened for this exhibition. Of course, the importance of the message that these brilliant films convey do not end with the end of the festival, and it is the sincere hope of the Short Shorts Film Festival that the message reaches as many people as possible & that as many people as possible actually start to take action to stop this life/planet threatening crisis.

Omotesando Hills - 06/07-08/08 16:05 Stop! Global Warming Exhibition Starts

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The always busy Omotesando Hills shopping complex
From what's now a landmark shopping complex in Omotesando, the Omotesando Hills. In the special event hall called "Space O", located in the sub-basement 3rd floor, we held a special free screening of the Stop! Global Warming Competition short films. This exhibition fit in nicely with the Hills complex's "ecology month" of June where they featured or displayed various themes & projects related to ecology.
At the main SSFF site @ Laforet, we incorporated a short form the category at the end of each program but here, we were able to present all the "Stop! Global warming" short films together in 2 days. The films, made by film-makers from around the world, all are unique, full of originality, & display a sense of humor in a very serious matter.
The audience all were very serious in checking what they had just seen against the schedule of films posted at the entrance to make their choice for the audience award selection. At the award ceremony which will be held on the 15th, the selected film will be awarded a special award from the Environment Mininstry & a special J-Wave (a major FM radio station here in Tokyo) award.




Laforet 06/07/08 17:22 A & J-D Program

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Takeshi Kishimoto - Tall, handsome, & concerned about global warming!
We had director Takeshi Kishimoto fro this program to talk about his Stop! global warming short titled "what Should We do?", a stop animation style film.
When I asked him how difficult it must have been to use this method to make a film, he replied that it was very different from the "usual" animation techniques but as an animator he always wanted to try this method, so no regrets. When he came up with the theme & story, he realized that this would be the best style. I asked him if he ever wanted to quit mid-way & he said that it didn't take as long as he thought it would but the process of making the cardboard cut-outs was the hardest & most time-consuming. This short is 2'05" long & I asked him if would ever consider making a full length film. Takeshi, without hesitation, replied that he would not!
An audience member remarked that the film was short but to the point with his message & thought that was done very well. The message that appears towards the end was timed & balanced very well. I praised the person for watching the film with so much attention but Takeshi admitted that he really wasn't thinking too much about the speed or the timing, he was concentrating strictly on finishing the film & the speed & timing was a happy result. I told him those lucky "accidents" happen because Takeshi was very good at what he did, coincidence, maybe, but also brought about by his talent as a film-maker.

Friday 06/06/08 - 17:40 Asia & Japan Program B

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I'm back. Things are progressing very smoothly. For this program, Asia & Japan - B, we included a short from the Stop! Global Warming Competition titled "I Have Gas". Directed by Sho Kataoka, this 5:35 short has a unique take on the global warming crisis by having it told through the imaginative minds of 2 6 year old friends, Kotaro & Hina. Their idea of how to get rid of "darbon cioxide" might just be the cure to all sorts of problems assaulting our world. Not just global warming but wars & violence as well!
The director & his 2 "stars" Ren Yasuda & Mikie Nakagawa came up on stage afterwards for a Q & A session. It quickly became evident that little girls have a lot more presence & poise than little boys! It was revealed that they both could have done without the kiss scene but according to the director Sho, his 2 stars perormed magnificently & lent a lot of charm to his film.
Just before this group we started the Q & A with director Keiki Yokokawa came up to talk to us about his 24:42 film titled "Life Is Something Like It". It's a road movie starting in L.A. & crossing th U.S. across Tuscon, through a memorable sequence in New Orleans to Florida, then up to New York. Being familiar with these areas, I was surprised that Keiki managed to show a lot of America that even American may not recognize. The accompanying soundtarck featuring music by "Saru" was quite cool & the film mirrored what the director & cast experienced on their journey.
stay tuned for more from the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2008! 
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SSFF & ASIA 2008 opened up today with a great success of the Opening Event!

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A huge crowd of people gathered for the event.
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Tetsuya Bessho awarded Mr. Tadanobu Asano for his achievement
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6 talented actors and musicians who challenged to create short films

The Opening Event was held today at Laforeｔ Museum, Harajuku to present this year's line-up. 100 people were invited to enjoy and experience the event. A huge crowd of media also gathered to witness the winners of the Spotlight Award; “R246 STORY.”

After the outline of the festival was introduced, Tetsuya Bessho, the Founder of SSFF & ASIA, invited 6 talents, Tadanobu Asano, Shido Nakamura, Genki Sudo, VERBAL (m-flo), ILMARI (RIP SLYME) and Yusuke Santamaria, onto the stage and asked about their films and passions towards their art works. The producer of this R246 STORY project commented, “You will see how much passion and energy these 6 talents have put into their films. They did such a wonderful job on creating short films, so please come see the R246 STORY!”  

These short films will be screened at the scheduled time, so please check out the special page of “R246 STORY” at http://www.shortshorts.org/2008/en/r246.html for more details.

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