The works nominated for the “East Asian Experimental Competition” have been decided!

The “East Asian Experimental Competition” received a total of 461 submissions from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea, and after two carefully conducted rounds of screening the following 24 works were selected for nomination. These nominated works will be screened at each venue of the 36th Image Forum Festival. The final evaluation will be conducted during the screenings at the Tokyo venue by the final jurors, and 7 of them will be awarded prizes.

The 24 works nominated for the “East Asian Experimental Competition”

A Bite of Bone YANO Honami / digital / 10min. / 2021 (Japan)
A Long Walk Elysa WENDI & LEE Wai Shing / digital / 15min. / 2022 (Singapore, Hong Kong)
A Pile of Ghosts Ella RAIDEL / digital / 70min. / 2021 (Taiwan)
A SHORT STORY BI Gan / digital / 15min. / 2022 (China)
Anxious Body MIZUSHIRI Yoriko / digital / 5min. / 2021 (Japan)
Bird in the Peninsula WADA Atsushi / digital / 16min. / 2022 (Japan)
Dozens of Norths YAMAMURA Koji / digital / 64min. / 2021 (Japan)
End Time and The Trajectories of Ancestors Edwin LO Yun Ting / digital / 34min. / 2022 (Hong Kong)
Flos Pavonis MOMOSE Aya / digital / 30min. / 2021 (Japan)
Grandma's Scissors Erica SHEU / digital / 6min. / 2021 (USA / Taiwan)
Humoresque ISOBE Shinya / digital / 46min. / 2022 (Japan)
I'm Late KABUKI Sawako / digital / 10min. / 2021 (Japan)
Kaigan MAEDA Aozora / digital / 12min. / 2022 (Japan)
Melting Icecream HONG Jinhwon / digital / 70min. / 2021 (Korea)
MOLTING BOWDA Katsushi / digital / 14min. / 2021 (Japan)
One Thousand and One Attempts to Be an Ocean WANG Yuyan / digital / 12min. / 2021 (China / France)
Rehabilitation of Synthetic Human SERIZAWA Yoichiro / digital / 49min. / 2022 (Japan)
Silver Cave CAI Caibei / digital / 14min. / 2022 (China)
Sleepin'ager Waking FUJII Anna / digital / 11min. / 2021 (Japan)
Thawing Katsuki Nogami / digital / 3min. / 2021 (Japan)
The cleaning lady after 100 years : Spectre SHICHIRI Kei / digital / 19min. / 2022 (Japan)
The House of Loss JEON Jinkyu / digital / 10min. / 2022 (Korea)
The Lighting Musquiqui CHIHYING / digital / 21min. / 2021 (Taiwan / Germany)
TUNOHAZU TEZKA Macoto / digital / 32min. / 2021 (Japan)

A Bite of Bone YANO Honami

A Long Walk Elysa WENDI & LEE Wai Shing

A Pile of Ghosts Ella RAIDEL

A SHORT STORY BI Gan

Anxious Body MIZUSHIRI Yoriko

Bird in the Peninsula WADA Atsushi

Dozens of Norths YAMAMURA Koji

End Time and The Trajectories of Ancestors Edwin LO Yun Ting

Flos Pavonis MOMOSE Aya

Grandma's Scissors Erica SHEU

Humoresque ISOBE Shinya

I'm Late KABUKI Sawako

Kaigan MAEDA Aozora

Melting Icecream HONG Jinhwon

MOLTING BOWDA Katsushi

One Thousand and One Attempts to Be an Ocean WANG Yuyan

Rehabilitation of Synthetic Human SERIZAWA Yoichiro

Silver Cave CAI Caibei

Sleepin'ager Waking FUJII Anna

Thawing Katsuki Nogami

The cleaning lady after 100 years : Spectre SHICHIRI Kei

The House of Loss JEON Jinkyu

The Lighting Musquiqui CHIHYING

TUNOHAZU TEZKA Macoto
※Title  Director / Format / Duration / Year (Director’s region of birth / current region of residence)
 

Application

“The Image Forum Festival,” the largest festival of moving image art in Japan, is accepting submissions of original moving image works. There are no restrictions whatsoever on genre (art films, documentaries, animated works, dramas, and so on), techniques used, or length. We are looking for works that go beyond existing concepts to expand the horizon of visual expression.

Application period: March 5th (Sat) to May 9th (Mon), 2022

Application section: East Asian Experimental Competition
▶ Application guidelines
▶ Application form(PDF)
▶ Application form

 

What is the Image Forum Festival’s “East Asian Experimental Competition”?

The Image Forum Festival is a festival of moving image art that brings together for screening works with a high degree of expression, artistry, and creativity. A successor to “New Works of Underground Cinema” (1973-1975) and “Experimental Film Festival” (1981-1985), this festival, which expanded to include more international content and an open competition section, began in 1987 and is being held for the 36th time this year.
The festival’s open competition section has come to be known as a gateway to success for groundbreaking young filmmakers in Japan, and in previous years has featured works by filmmakers and artists who have gone on to international success such as YAMAMURA Koji, KAWASE Naomi, IGUCHI Noboru, ISHIDA Takashi, and WADA Atsushi. Last year we have expanded this section (formerly known as the “Japan Tomorrow” section) that had been restricted to Japanese works and relaunched it as the “East Asian Experimental Competition.”

▶ Previous year : 35th Image Forum Festival
▶ Previous year : The awarded films and Jury comments


 

What does it mean to be nominated?

The (approximately 20) works that make it through the first and second rounds of selection will be screened at this year's festival along as works nominated for prizes. The final selection will begin when the festival opens and the following prizes will be awarded.

 ●Grand Prize (1): ¥300,000 + Prize certificate
 ●TERAYAMA Shuji Prize (1): ¥100,000 + Prize certificate
 ●SHIBUYA SKY Prize (1): ¥100,000 + Prize certificate
 ●Excellence Prize (3): ¥30,000 + Prize certificate
 ●Audience Prize (1): Prize certificate

Image Forum will also recommend nominated works for selection at various film festivals both in Japan and overseas and include them in programs it curates for overseas festivals.

We curated the selected program of recent years’ nominated works for the following festivals and projects this year:

2021
- “Crossroads program: IMAGE FORUM” The 6th Moscow International Experimental Film Festival, Moscow
- “Chase After-Images: IFF2020 selected program” Bali International Short Film Festival MINIKINO FILM WEEK 7, Bali
- “Gardens Inside Box: IFF2020 selected program” SeaShorts Film Festival 2021 online, Malaysia
- “Me, Between Somewhere and Nowhere: Women Animation Artists from Japan” REDCAT, California
- “Image Forum Short Films Program: Whose eyes?” Wathann Film Festival #10 online screening, Myanmar

2022
- “The 34th and 35th Image Forum Festival selected program” Lumen Quarterly 2021 Winter, Beijing
- “Image Forum program 1&2” Slow Forward #4 by Indeks, Indonesia
- “Japanese Experimental Cinema: Contemporary” LIGHTS FROM THE UNDERGROUND, Yangon
- Festival Accès Asie, Montreal

 

Final evaluation jury

HAMA Haruka (director of Tokyo Office, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival)
IP Yuk Yiu (filmmaker, media artist, curator)
MA Jungyeon (researcher in film and new media studies)

 

Schedule・Outline

Image Forum Festival 2022

■Venue, Date:
・Tokyo: September 16th ( Fri ) to 25th ( Sun ), 2022 / Spiral Hall, Theatre Image Forum, SHIBUYA SKY
・Kyoto: October 7th ( Fri ) to 13th ( Thu ), 2022 / Kyoto Minami Kaikan
・Nagoya: November 25th ( Fri ) to 27th ( Sun ), 2022 / Aichi Arts Center

■Main Program:
East Asian Experimental Film Competition
Experimental Panorama
Filmmakers In Focus

■Organizer:Image Forum
■Co-organizer:SHIBUYA SKY, Kyoto Minami Kaikan, Aichi Prefectural Museum of ART
 

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