February 14, 2007

The Second Annual Let's Film Festival

Top three things to do with the state-of-the-art video camera you bought in Japan:

3. Leave it in the box and wait for obsoleteness to increase its value as a kitsch item.

2. Make a sex tape in hopes that you’ll become famous and need it as an internet-exposure boosting PR stunt.

1. Join the 2nd Annual “Let’s Film Festival” in Fukuyama on April 22 and make a movie you can refer to anecdotally for the rest of your life!

Now, should you have already been through the box and sex-tape options, and are ready to put some serious mileage on your camera by, say, entering a film festival, here’s what you need to know:

Content
Entrants must produce one of the following:
A) a 30-second commercial for a product or service of your own creation
B) a five-minute film featuring three “ingredients”: a line, a prop and a location. These elements will be universal to all the movies entered and determined by way of a semi-democratic process. As for the rest of your film, the sky’s the limit.

Format
All films must be in digital format, burned to DVD and readable by common software programs (Windows Media Player or Quicktime).

Entrants
ANYONE is eligible to enter the Let’s Film Festival, be ye JET, NOVA, AEON, GEOS or otherwise acronym enabled, and whether you’re English or Japanese-speaking. Films in either language are welcome and make for a much more interesting playbill.

Timeframe
1) The deadline to announce your intent to participate is March 8. Please write us at letsfilmfestival@gmail.com with a team name and contact information for at least one of the participants. Teams may be of any size and you may enter as many times as you wish in as many different incarnations as you wish. Once you’ve signed up, we’ll send confirmation along with this year’s three ingredients.
2) The deadline to submit your finished film (and the event itself) is April 22.

Judging
Let’s Film Festival winners are determined by audience vote so it’s in your best interest to stock the place with friends, family and co-workers.

Details
Date: April 22, 2007
Time: From 4 pm til it ends
Place: Otagai-sama Yokocho, 1-11-20 Minami Miyoshi-cho, Fukuyama. (Close to Ito Yokado/Happy Town)
Contacts: Grahaeme Cowie or Natasha Mekhail at letsfilmfestival@gmail.com
Fee: Registration is free but there will be a small door fee to cover costs. All profits go to charity.
Inspiration: Check out last year’s films on the links below.

Hope you can make it. Now dust off your camera and Let’s Film Festival!

Posted by tokidoki at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)

July 04, 2006

Let's Film Festival-Part One:The Movie Is Online

A Grand Review

The first ever “Let’s Film Festival” happened Sunday, June 25. Considered a “great success” by at least one of the attendees, the evening’s guests were not daunted by the monsoon-style rains or the fact that the film count shrunk to a mere four from the originally promised 12. In all, about 50 people with varying levels of English took in the film fest from a makeshift theatre in Fukuyama’s fashionable West End district.
(Rice paddies are still fashionable, right?)

As part of the competition, each film had to contain three elements. These were:
1. Prop: A rubber ducky
2. Location: A castle
3. Line: “Not hung well enough, I’m afraid.”

Not only did the two of us organize the event, we also produced one of the films. You can watch our little slice of cinematic genius, “Black to Basics: A Ninja Story,”below.
This link has a word file you can read. Also, here's the google video link, it's bigger, but possibly just as difficult to read. Please follow the links below to the other contributors who put their films online.

Josh Zimmerman’s blog plays host to “Pocky.” Not only the name of a tasty pretzel snack, “Pocky” is a Japanese-influenced spoof of Sylvester Stallone’s triumph-of-the-will classic. One word of caution, though: this movie may contain a montage.

Helen Truax and life-commitment-partner Jessie produced the short, sweet, yet sometimes disturbing “Philip Goes to Europe.” In this film, the title character (a rubber ducky finger puppet) sets out on a seemingly harmless tour of the Louvre. However, conflict arises when Philip finds himself experiencing an unrequited attraction to Venus de Milo.

The night’s winner was Jackie Hoffart (incidentally, a former Edmontonian) who wooed the audience with her film “Just Not Enough, I’m afraid.” A wind-up robot named Galaxy stars in this semi-animated short. Turns out the poor little thing has a lot of trouble with public transport and the same-system dating scene. Fortunately, the evening’s big think piece prompted more than enough votes for Jackie to take home the coveted Golden Ducky Award. See the movie on her blog.

Again, thanks to everyone who helped out and everyone who came to watch the films. A special thanks to Yoko and Rob who were super helpful in getting the space lined up.

Finally, here is the link to Liz's photos of the event. She came and shot some really nice black and whites and they're great so check them out.

Stay tuned for details about the next Let’s Film Festival which may or may not be held in Onomichi and may or may not contain subliminal messages urging viewers to drink tea.

Posted by tokidoki at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)