It’s been a couple of weeks since the inaugural Shinsedai Cinema Festival took place at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre here in Toronto – time enough to take stock and for festival organizers and special guests to recover from post-festival exhaustion. Not that the whole weekend was work, not at all. We’re very happy to announce that the first ever Shinsedai Cinema Festival accomplished exactly what it set out to do: to introduce new and exciting independent Japanese filmmakers to North American audiences. Nearly 2,000 people made it out to catch everything from the harrowing Iraq War documentary “Little Birds” directed by Takeharu Watai, the subtle experimentation of films like Kei Shichiri’s “Hottentot Apron: A Sketch”, and the visual and musical works of video artist and composer Takagi Masakatsu, as well as crowd-pleasers like Yuki Tanada’s “Electric Button (Moon & Cherry)”, Yuya Ishii’s “Girl Sparks”, and the undisputed hit of Shinsedai Touru Hano’s “Thunderfish (Raigyo)”.
Another goal that we had for the Shinsedai Cinema Festival was to make it an event where young and emerging filmmakers who wouldn’t normally get a chance to meet and discuss their work could do just that. By the end of the festival contacts were established and our guests from Japan also got to meet and spend time with festival audiences and volunteers, something that we want to continue next year.
Next year? Yes, you heard that right. Keep checking back for the official dates of Shinsedai 2010, but until then make sure to check out Eric Evans’s,contributing writer for the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow’s, take on days two and three of Shinsedai here and here.
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