[June 19] [June 18] [June 17] [June 16] [June 15] [June 14] [June 13]

June 17, 2002

Much to the relief of the filmmakers and volunteers, today was the last day of ‘Sweepers.’ The streets surrounding LaForet look pretty clean. For now. After the first round at 10:00, volunteer Yohei Suzuki (who’s on break from his studies at Kentucky University ? yes, Kentucky!) led a troop of filmmakers through Akihabara, Tokyo’s consumer electronics district. “I had no idea it was really a town,” Dean Kapsalis said, noting that the area is often called “Electric Town.” “It just went on for blocks and blocks. It was pretty amazing.”

Programs E, F, G and A played to nearly full theatres. During program F, James Allen was asked whether it was at times difficult to have an English sense of humor in Los Angeles. “Sure,” he said, “We have a humor that is based mostly on our ability and our need to laugh at ourselves.” Another member of the audience asked “Judge is God” producer Minae Noji if she had any intentions of producing, now that she’s mastered acting, singing, and producing. “Watching James inspired me, so…who knows?” she said.

The Short Shorts Film Festival welcomed Jeon Sooil, director of the Pusan Asian Short Film Festival to its late night screening of Korean Short Shorts at the Cinequinto venue in Shibuya. After screening three shorts, “Out of Bounds,” “Amarita Muscaria,” and “The Lighthouse Keeper,” Mr. Sooil talked about the festival he heads and the volume of short films produced in Korea annually. “About 400 shorts films are made each year in Korea, the bulk of which are student films,” he explained. And the interest in those films is growing, as Korean networks broadcast the films regularly in their late-night programming. The evening concluded with two more shorts, “Goat’s Lover,” and “O-Hoo.”