Prize-Winning Works of East Asian Experimental Competition 2024
This year’s “East Asian Experimental Competition” received a total of 442 submissions from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and South Korea, and after two carefully conducted rounds of screening 16 works were selected for nomination. The final evaluation was conducted during the screenings in Tokyo by the three jurors listed below.
On 18th October, award ceremony has held at Theatre Image Forum, and 6 works were awarded prizes and 1 work was selected by the audience’s voting, it’s as below.

>> the Award Ceremony

>> in the middle: JIN Jiang (director, “Republic”)
■ Prize-Winning Works and Jury’s comments
Grand Prize

Republic
JIN Jiang / digital / 107min. / 2023 (Mainland China)
In a small room, young people attempts independence or escape from society, or struggling to find their stand point. They are carefully observed by the filmmaker’s somewhat air-like gaze and camera, which doesn’t make their presence. The relationship between the filmmaker and those filmed is thrilling, and the jury would like to recognize the filmmaker’s ability to contain this into a one feature film.
TERAYAMA Shuji Prize

Queen’s Crochet
CHO Hanna / digital / 35min. / 2023 (South Korea)
A participatory coming -out film weaving through family stories and the routine of knitting. In memory of her grandmother while tracing her passage from childhood to adulthood, we see the director’s obsession to crochet which challenged the idea of this feministic hobby and her own gender confusion with a conviction to achieve an ultimate goal of making a big crochet project. This auto- biographical film is humorous, domestic but captivating.
SHIBUYA SKY Prize

DESK BUGS
KIM Hakhyun / digital / 3min. / 2024 (South Korea, Japan)
The film is awarded in recognition of its vibrant, fresh, and playful punk sensibility, as well as its boundary pushing aesthetic which expands the possibilities of animation art.
Award for Excellence

The House with Nobody
KITAGAWA Miku / digital / 15min. / 2024 (Japan)
A meditative film that gives lights and poetry to an empty house of the director’s grandmother though subtle intervention of tangible objects and remains, while creating intangible memories of the space for the viewers.
Award for Excellence

In Your Shoes
Florence LAM, CHAN Tze Woon / digital / 30min. / 2024 (Hong Kong)
Through correspondence between physical performance and poetic imagery, stories of trauma of a pair of lovers are told in a creative documentary style. We look forward to seeing future works of the filmmakers that delve deeper into the issues within contemporary society.
Award for Excellence

She Crossed
Daisy Ziyan ZHANG / digital / 18min. / 2024 (Minland China, USA)
The film is awarded for its unique storytelling ability as a personal documentary that blurs the boundaries between life and art as it creates an unexpected bond between filmmaker and subject.
Audience Award in TOKYO

“Unbuilding” documentary film
MOCHIDA Atsuko, AOYAMA Shinya / digital / 50min. / 2024 (Japan)
Audience Award in NAGOYA

Queen’s Crochet
CHO Hanna / digital / 35min. / 2023 (South Korea)
Audience Award in KYOTO

Distant Voices
ITO Takashi / digital / 53min. / 2024 (Japan)

>> rom left to right: KUDO Masa and Johan CHANG (director, “Jouhatsu Letters”) / KITAGAWA Miku (director, “The House with Nobody”) / JIN Jiang (director, “Republic”) / Leslie RAYMOND (jury) / Elysa WENDI (jury) / KIFUNE Sonoko (jury) / KIM Hakhyun (director, “DESK BUGS”) / MOCHIDA Atsuko and AOYAMA Shinya (director, “Unbuilding documentary film”)
■ Final Evaluation Jury

Leslie RAYMOND (executive director, Ann Arbor Film Festival / USA)
KIFUNE Sonoko (filmmaker / Japan)
Elysa WENDI (filmmaker, artist, curator / Hong Kong, Singapore)
*From left to right
2024.10.20
The works nominated for the “East Asian Experimental Competition” have been decided!
The “East Asian Experimental Competition” received a total of 442 submissions from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea, and after two carefully conducted rounds of screening the following 16 works were selected for nomination. These nominated works will be screened at each venue of the 38th Image Forum Festival. The final evaluation will be conducted during the screenings at the Tokyo venue by the final jurors listed below, and the award winning works will be announced at the award ceremony.
→Click here for details
2024.09.27