Four filmmakers have been selected for the initial round of Japan’s Film Frontier Global Networking Program, aimed at supporting young filmmakers aiming for overseas festivals.
The initiative, which is sponsored by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, will help creators refine their pitches, learn how to give presentations at overseas film markets and provide opportunities for networking.
The filmmakers and their projects were selected for their viability as well as their potential appeal to co-producers from outside Japan.
The four selected filmmakers are Shingo Ota, whose documentary feature The End Of The Special Time We Were Allowed was selected by the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 2013; Emma Kawawada, whose debut film My Small Land was awarded the Amnesty International Film Award Special Mention at the Berlinale in 2022; Kohki Hasei, whose feature Blanka won the Magic Lantern and Sorriso Diverso awards at the 2015 Venice Film Festival; and Mai Nakanishi, who has directed several shorts and has been nominated for this year’s Sundance Institute/NHK Award.
The results were announced at the Tokyo International Film Festival today (November 1) by programming director Shozo Ichiyama, who noted that over the last five to six years, more young filmmakers from Japan have been emerging on the international film festival circuit after a period in which those such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Koreeda and Naomi Kawase dominated festivals.
Ichiyama was joined on stage by actor and director Takumi Saitoh, who pointed out that while festivals abroad such as Cannes have implemented similar support programmes for years, such initiatives are more rare in Japan. Saitoh emphasised the importance of such efforts and expressed a desire for them to take hold in the country.
The programme will be implemented by Unijapan, the non-profit organisation which holds TIFF, and will last 18 months from December 1 to May 31, 2026. It will be followed by a second programme from October 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 which will offer an overseas residency to develop projects and screenplays.
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