Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2020 in ACHI Report
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2020 in ACHI
Achi-Village, Nagano Prefecture
Day 1, Sunday Aug. 9:
The day started with everybody meeting at Shinjuku station to hop on the JR Azusa train to Kami-suwa where we hopped on a bus for Achi Village located in the mountains of southwest of Nagano Prefecture.
As part of the collaboration with the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Japan Arts Council, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2020 is having its second year of screenings here.
We were happy to have invited 3 young, up & coming creators to join us this year to experience a piece of Japanese culture high up in the mountains. Two are from China & one from Ukraine who all live, work & study here in Japan in one form or other in the visual arts.
After checking in at the super ryokan hotel “Keizan,” we took a quick walking tour of this quaint mountain village. We went to Achi Jinja (shrine) right down the street from our ryokan. Then we worked our way down to the sparkling clean river, dipped our feet & headed back for a sumptuous full course Japanese dinner before heading further up the mountain on the ropeway to “Tenku No Rakuen,” (loosely translated as paradise in the heavens). There was a huge plateau where thousands had gathered to watch the stunning night star-filled sky & watch short films.
We were fortunate to have director Daichi Tomida & producer Chuk Beshar come along & we had an interesting & fun post-screening talk show. Their documentary film “Future Is Mine – Ainu My Voice –,“ the 7th in a series of films about women in search of empowerment. The film traces the journey of Rie, born an Ainu who are indigenous to Japan. Her journey takes her to meet with the Native American Seminole Tribe in Florida where she finds a people who, like her, want to preserve & honor the traditions & culture of their people.
A beautiful film in an absolutely beautiful & stunning setting!
Stay tuned for Day 2 update tomorrow.
See-ya
DJ John