SAPPORO SHORT FEST 2020

PROGRAMMES

プログラム

Japan

TWILIGHT

Yumi, an office worker who is struggling with the death of her best friend in high school. She recalled that she buried a softball with her friend in the school backyard where people rumored that wishes come true if you bury something important to you. When Yumi visits her alma mater that has already been closed for the first time in seven years, she meets a boy who discovers the whole area behind the school building.

Teppei ISOBE

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:19:07

TELEKONG - REMOTE CONTROLLED ROBOT FOR CRISIS

A huge monster is attacking our city. The giant robot Telekong is in danger!! The inspiration of Mr.Kong saves the world.

Hikaru TSUKUDA

Fiction | Comedy | Japan | 2020 | 0:01:46

0107 - B MOLL

The city is made up of much life, light. There is loneliness in the city where self-existence is buried. However, it also feels bright and lively. Each light affects the activities of the city, and the city is transformed by a lot of light.

Hiroshi Kondo

Experimental | Music Video | Japan | 2020 | 0:03:15

STAY TRICKY

Having fun at home by changing the way you think. Even under the influence of COVID-19, you can still choose to have fun. During isolation, there must have been many who thought about their roots. That's when I found my fingerboard. I built various obstacles using old, treasured items and had fun. Produced by NION

Tomoyuki Kujirai

Experimental | Action/Adventure | Japan | 2020 | 0:02:23

Prize & Screenings

Straight 8 Shootout 2020 – Gold

| SOUND OF THE SEA

A girl who has never seen the sea. Her childhood friend gives her the shell. "When you put your ear on the shell, you can hear the sound of waves.

Kenichiro Ashitaka/Toshinori Watanabe

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:03:00

ATOM'S BLOOD

Why do I fight? Why do I have such power? Who am I? One day something like “life” fell down from the sky. That thing, given the name ATOM, grew up to have an extraordinary power and kind heart.

However, people’s desire didn’t leave his power alone. ATOM throws himself in to fight the war which no one knows when to end. Left with people hurt and land devastated, what is the decision ATOM made…?

This is a story of “life” by artist Seitaro Kuroda, dedicated to Osamu Tezuka, whose work inspired Seitaro to become an artist.

Junko TEZUKA

Animation | Action / Adventure | Japan | 2020 | 0:22:02

CREATIVE EVOLUTION

This movie is based on the history of modern art centered on "creative evolution" written by Bergson and the birth of Delaunay's abstract paintings. The creative worlds of Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Black, Delaunay and many artists are connected with each other, and the story of the evolution of new life begins.

SONG YUNGSUNG

Animation | Fantasy | Japan | 2019 | 0:05:00

Prize & Screenings

15th Indie AniFest 2019、韓国、審査委員特別賞、競争部門、音楽・サウンド部門特別賞
アニフィルム2020 国際アニメーション映画祭、チェコ、短編アニメーション競争
フロリダ・アニメーション映画祭2020、アメリカ、競争部門、1st PLACE(Frame by Frame部門)受賞

15th Indie AniFest 2019, Korea, Independent Walk, Jury Special Prize, Special Prize for Music&Sound
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED FILMS ANIFILM 2020, CZECH REPUBLIC, INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OF SHORT FILMS
The Florida Animation Festival 2020, USA, THE FRINGE, “1st PLACE” in the ‘Frame by Frame’ category

LIVING IN JAPAN AND DYING IN BANGLADESH

A documentary about Jerome, the most famous singer among Bangladeshi in Japan. The film depicts how he quit his job and tried his new business to build a nursing home for elderly pople in his home village in Bangladesh after spending 32 years in Japan. He ended up failing and why he didn't stop pursuing his dream in spite of the financial difficulties.

Fujii Shota

Documentary | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:06:16

FLIPPED ALL THINGS

Everything is always changing. What was taken for granted until yesterday turns into something completely different. An abstract animation film using woodblock printing technique with the theme of impermanence.

Yuka Sato

Animation | Music Video | Japan | 2019 | 0:03:53

SOMEONE

One day, Yuko receives a divorce notice signed by her husband who had already left their apartment. Being struggling to put her stamp on it to agree to a divorce, she goes to work and makes and sells stamps for customers. She is asked by her elder sister to look after her nephew after work, and reluctantly spends half a day with him. While spending time with her nephew, Yuko starts questions herself about “not having become a mother”, “non-returnable time with her husband”, and “her own future”.

Ai KAWAMATA

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:26:10

MEKAKURE

Shun regretted this. He still can’t understand why he was playing with these four who are not really friends, nor actually people he likes.The unbearable heat and the heavy atmosphere at the shrine deepen Shun’s depression

Akifumi Nonaka

Animation | Horror | Japan | 2019 | 0:05:30

Prize & Screenings

DigiCon6 JAPAN Awards 2019、日本 、JAPAN Gold 受賞
Kaboom Animation Festival 2019、オランダ、ノミネート
DigiCon6 JAPAN Awards 2019、japan 、JAPAN Gold prize
Kaboom Animation Festival 2019、Netherlands、Official Selection

HIKARI

"There is no name in her mind again." The only soothing thing of Tsukasa Kishijima, who spends days doing dispatch work, is at a coffee shop in the neighborhood. "I'm not interested in my boyfriend," says the manager, who always tells the store manager that his eyes are...

yuuki kanazawa

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:08:36

Prize & Screenings

48 Hour Film Project , 2019, Japan/Tokyo, Nomination
6th Tachikawa Meijizadori Film Festival , 2020, Japan, Nomination
19th Ozu Yasujiro Memorial Tateshina Kogen Film Festival Short Film Competition, 2020 , Japan, Nomination

TUNA-KAI

In Sibecha town, Hokkaido,
Picking flowers and collecting leaves draws together a tale of natural crayons.

Michito Tanaka

Documentary | Other | Japan | 2019 | 0:05:09

PUNK SAVE THE QUEEN

Darko, a punk artist in Myanmar, tries to rebuild peace between ethnic minorities and liberalise the situation of aspiring young musicians in the oppressive country. He strums the guitar to prove that people can coexist peacefully regardless of different ethnicities.

Toru Kubota

Documentary | Social Issues | Japan | 2020 | 0:19:42 | Student Film

THE STREAM X

In the man-made waterways of rice paddies, the water in nature must follow artificial rules. In that way, nature is made abstract, giving rise to a new form of beauty distinct from the natural state. The theme of this work is the liveliness of the water as it follows the man-made course.

Hiroya Sakurai

Experimental | Nature | Japan | 2019 | 0:06:53

Prize & Screenings

7th Fine Arts Film Festival" 2020,USA, Best Experimental Film Award
24th Rhode Island International Film Festival",2020,USA , Official Selection
32th Girona Film Festival,2020,Spain , Official Selection

THE GREAT ACTRESS REIKO INUI

A rookie director was extremely nervous at the shooting site of "Gorgaga, the Giant Monster." Today is the first day for the leading actress, superstar "Reiko Inui", for the shooting. As we expected, she had started being elegant and mean to everyone. This is a short comedy about the struggle of people who love movies and working at a shooting site.

Kazuhiro Nakagawa

Fiction | Comedy | Japan | 2019 | 0:11:04

RAMETOKKOR YAN

In 2009, UNESCO said that Ainu Language is critically endangered. Today, none speaks Ainu as a mother language. Kenji SEKINE tries to make Ainu language alive and teaches it to the children in Nibutani, Hokkaido. However, he is not Ainu. 20 years ago, he just happened to visit Nibutani on the way of traveling. He met Maki there and got married with her next year. He became one of the most important people for the revival of Ainu language now.

Yuichiro Yamada

Documentary | Portrait | Japan | 2019 | 0:09:59

DREAMS INTO DRAWING

The painter KUWAGATA KEISAI lived over 200 years ago. He illustrated Ways to Sketch a series of picture books depicting humans and animals, all richly expressed. One day he was sketching a carp when suddenly he fell asleep and, in his dream, transfigured into a carp. The carp was enjoying his swim, but when a fisherman caught him things suddenly took a turn for the worse..

Yamamura Koji

Animation | Comedy | Japan | 2019 | 0:10:10

HONEY&LEMON

Single mother Misato watches over her high school daughter as she grows into womanhood. With her budding interest in wearing makeup, Misato’s little girl is no longer a child. She is growing up to be a sweet, caring young woman considerate of the well-being of the mother.

KEIKO UMENOKI

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:14:59

Prize & Screenings

Aichi International Women’s Film Festival 2020, 2020, Japan, Film Competition Nomination

WALTZ

A sausage named Nine slipped into a world where foods that are made from wheat live. As he is not made of wheat, he is imprisoned, but thanks to his clever friend, he is accepted as a comrade. After a brief period of peace, another fight begins in a neighboring country. In a small word, small differences cause confrontations and conflicts. Is it really difficult for all of us to be good friends?

Mari Miyazawa

Animation | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:14:10

VAMPIRE BUS STOP

The novelist was reading a book at the bus stop in search of material. There was a woman walking towards him. talking on the phone angrily.. Whenthe battery ran out and she couldn't call, she asked the tree, "Do you have a mobile battery?"

Yuta Katsuyama

Fiction | Comedy | Japan | 2020 | 0:14:19

SCHOOL RADIO TO MAJOR TOM

The summer of 1989, high school boy. Eisuke, single-handedly wrote and produced a play for the school radio station. Though they never met, a girl attending night school began writing and voicing sections of the play. Eisuke worked on it during the day and the unknown girl made her contributions at night. Together, though apart, they crafted a fantasy world that was broadcast to the entire school.

Takuya Chisaka

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:10:14 | Student Film

Prize & Screenings

41nd Pia Film Festival,2020,Japan,PFF Award 2020
31st Tokyo Students Film Festival,2020,Japan,Short Film Competition

DROWNING

Yumi, a Japanese student, struggles to cope with the loss of her friend and an inattentive mother while juggling her last year of high school and romance.

James Honeycutt

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:16:45

CAT'S HOME

Rina visits her ex-boyfriend, Hiroshi, at his apartment, where they lived together until recently. When they broke up, they once decided Hiroshi would take their cat, Eve. But now, Rina is to take the cat because Hiroshi says he has become allergic to cats.
At one point, Eve runs away from the apartment, so now they must find the cat….

今尾 偲 | IMAO SHINOBU

Fiction | Mix-Medias | Japan | 2019 | 0:19:43

Prize & Screenings

75th. Tokyo independent movie festival Gran Prix.
Canadian & International Short Film Fest. Award of Excellence
Evening show released at Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa in January 2020

THE PULSE

One day, Mitsuru finds Takahashi who screams and screams on the ground with a phone in his hand near the station. The surrounding people avoid the annoying involvement and pass quickly as if nothing happened. Mitsuru tried to ignore him and return home, but at that time, he remembered that day.

Shinada Makoto

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:27:51

Prize & Screenings

Tanabe,Benkei Selection 2019 Official Selection
Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa 2020 Double Feature with “Cat’s Home(Dir. Imao Shinobu)”

PLEASE GIVE ME POCKET TISSUES

She is "Sachiko", a single woman aged around 50 and has a boring life, and he is a young man who gives out tissues she sees on the way to work. This is the struggle of tissues between the two.
It is an action-comedy in which the unexpected truth and conclusion are continuously unfolded from the intention of both sides hidden in the struggle.

Kaoru Tanabe

Fiction | Comedy | Japan | 2020 | 0:17:44

THE CAMERA HAS STOPPED

Shinpei is aspired to be a film director, but his camera is still on his desk today again. Yori wants to be an actress and it was her dream to be in Shinpei's film. Shinpei only dreams about film making, and frustrated Yori starts her own projects.

Yui Wakita

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:18:13

BIRDLAND

An old man spends the remainder of his life on his bed with an occasional visit by a caretaker. One night, he sees snow outside the window which awakens memories from his past.

古川原壮志 | Takeshi Kogahara

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:20:00

Prize & Screenings

Japan cuts 2019
Busan International Film Festival

THE WAY OF THE HERO

In the middle of the "Soran Dragon" show, a real monster suddenly appears at the site. Soran Dragon actors in hero suits cuts in the way when the monster attempts to attach the audience by his evil beam. In the ray of beam, the actor realized that he was in a different world. This is a story to question the philosophy behind local mascot culture, the fandom, or even the real definition of being a hero. Can be you a hero on your own?

Tomoki Kuroda / Takumi Shimada

Fiction | Action / Adventure | Japan | 2020 | 0:18:20

MONTAGE OF HONG KONG

HongKong. Free city as known as "The pearl of the Orient” 
In 1997, Hong Kong was returned from the UK to China. 
Now, from control by the Chinese government,
 Endless protests continue throughout Hong Kong, 
calling for true democratization and liberation from Chinese government. Why do Hong Kong young people fight?
We interviewed people involved in the demonstration in various ways and followed their trajectory from Nov. 19, 2019 to Jan. 1, 2020. Reconstructed the records in 24 hours.

IKUMA HORII

Documentary | Drama | Japan, Others | 2020 | 0:27:29 | Only on line Oct. 14-18

Prize & Screenings

Kadoma International Film Festival 2020, Grand Prix

AFTER THE NIGHT ON THE BRIDGE

Yusuke quietly lives in Tokyo with his brother after their mother passed away by suicide 14 years ago. One night, Yusuke met Natsuki who resembles his mother by fate on the bridge. Shota, Yusuke’s brother stares at this incident from a distance. One day, Shota gets to know Natsuki’s secrets...

団塚唯我 | Yuiga DANZUKA

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:28:43 | Student Film

Prize & Screenings

Nara International Film Festival 2020 , Japan. Nara-wave Official Selection
第12回下北沢映画祭 2020年、日本、オフィシャルセレクション
第24回ながおか映画祭 2019年、日本、グランプリ

STAIN

Yoko, who lives with her father Takashi, is spending her last summer break in senior year. One day, they receive a postcard sent by Yukiko, Takashi's sister and Yoko's aunt. They visit Yukiko's house for the first time in seven years after her husband, Makoto, disappeared. On a summer's day, the delicate hearts of each of them sway in the nostalgic sea breeze.

Hashida Nana

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:29:08 | Student Film

OLLA

Olla has answered an ad on a dating website for eastern women. She moves in with Pierre, who lives with his old mother. But nothing goes as expected.

Ariane Labed

Fiction | Drama | France | 2019 | 0:27:02

DREAMS INTO DRAWING

The painter KUWAGATA KEISAI lived over 200 years ago. He illustrated Ways to Sketch a series of picture books depicting humans and animals, all richly expressed. One day he was sketching a carp when suddenly he fell asleep and, in his dream, transfigured into a carp. The carp was enjoying his swim, but when a fisherman caught him things suddenly took a turn for the worse..

Yamamura Koji

Animation | Comedy | Japan | 2019 | 0:10:10

BIRDLAND

An old man spends the remainder of his life on his bed with an occasional visit by a caretaker. One night, he sees snow outside the window which awakens memories from his past.

古川原壮志 | Takeshi Kogahara

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2019 | 0:20:00

Prize & Screenings

Japan cuts 2019
Busan International Film Festival

THE CAMERA IS HAS STOPPED

Shinpei is aspired to be a film director, but his camera is still on his desk today again. Yori wants to be an actress and it was her dream to be in Shinpei's film. Shinpei only dreams about film making, and frustrated Yori starts her own projects.

Yui Wakita

Fiction | Drama | Japan | 2020 | 0:18:13

PLEASE GIVE ME POCKET TISSUES

She is "Sachiko", a single woman aged around 50 and has a boring life, and he is a young man who gives out tissues she sees on the way to work. This is the struggle of tissues between the two.
It is an action-comedy in which the unexpected truth and conclusion are continuously unfolded from the intention of both sides hidden in the struggle.

Kaoru Tanabe

Fiction | Comedy | Japan | 2020 | 0:17:44

JUST A GUY

JUST A GUY is an animated documentary short film about love. Three women share glimpses of their affection, attraction and relationship with Richard Ramirez: A serial killer and rapist they contacted after he was convicted.

Shoko Hara

Animation | Mix-Medias | Germany | 2020 | 0:15:00

DANIEL

A young novice at an isolated convent is confronted with the sudden desire to explore her sexual self in the wake of meeting a blue-tongued lizard. DANIEL is a religious erotic drama set in rural New Zealand which explores female sexual repression.

Claire van Beek

Fiction | Drama | New Zealand | 2019 | 0:19:03

MERRY GO ROUND

The year 1991, there was a man who lived in the countryside of Isan with two women. The first woman was his wife. The second woman is Mali. she was the maid and now the mother to his son. He has great fortunes, as to why the first wife envies Mali. Mali is delusional, her illusions are now her reality. She does the unthinkable. What was a twisted scheme against Mali, is now a plot twist of revenge.

Siridech Sukkam

Fiction | Fantasy | Thailand, China | 2019 | 0:25:44 | Student Film

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