Yes, I know it’s been a while since I updated the blog about this trip, but can you really blame me for having such a good time in Tokyo that I only got about 4 hours of sleep each night, if I was lucky? Actually, it’s pretty much like it was at SXSW– stay out all night partying with other filmmakers, wake up early for panels and screenings. I managed to meet this schedule all week until I completely crashed out on the flight back. Now that I’m back at work, I’m reliving my trip through these blog posts. YEAH!
For those that don’t know, my film “The Golden Egg” was selected for the Short Shorts Film Festival, and they invited me (and paid for me) to fly out to Tokyo. They even paid for my hotel, which was an incredible room…
With an incredible view…
The film festival held welcome ceremonies at the Meiji Shrine in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Before you enter the Shrine, it is customary to wash your hands and drink a bit of the holy water.
The Meiji Shrine is located in a large forest, and we were quite lucky to visit. We were led through some Shinto prayers that I had to guess were wishing us a good festival. It was led entirely in Japanese so I couldn’t understand. And when I asked one of the bilingual volunteers what they were saying, she said it was held in Ancient Japanese, so she couldn’t understand either!
Tons of people from all over the world visit the Meiji Shrine. Visitors are allowed to write prayers on small blocks of wood to hang up near the shrine– I was very tempted to spend the whole day reading foreign prayers, but I can’t read most of them, and there was too much else to do.
Here we are just getting out of the ceremony.
Pictured from left to right are myself, Shalini Kantayya, Yue Kataoka, Daniel Wyknenko, Faustino Prieto, and Aki Isoyama. Shalini is a filmmaker from the Bronx who brought her beautiful film “A Drop of Life” to the festival. Yue was the most incredible volunteer who was a godsend during the entire festival. She actually became our very good friend, and led us around town, goofed off, and translated for us even when she wasn’t on duty. Daniel and Faustino are friends from my hometown, supporters of my film, and also friends of the Bunny. Daniel temped as our office manager here for a week, and Tino has helps me out here and there with an Excel question or two when I’m creating budgets. Aki was a coordinator for the festival - she worked tirelessly coordinating all the international filmmakers, their flights, their stay, and getting us all from point A to point B in a very confusing Tokyo.
After the ceremony, I dashed off to the Brillia Short Shorts Theater in an area called Yokohama, a little outside of Tokyo. The Short Shorts Theater is owned by the film festival, and shows short films ALL YEAR ROUND. As a champion of short-form storytelling, I really wish we had something like this in the Los Angeles. There I watched Shalini’s movie (excellent) and then travelled back to Harajuku for our Welcome Dinner at Sakura Restaurant.
Doug Williams, co-founder of Short Shorts, walks up to make a speech. I’m not sure, but I think that’s Tetsuya Bessho, the other founder, handing him the mic:
And of course the glorious food:
II have NEVER had sushi like this sushi. Oh my god.
From left to right, DJ John (who led my Q&A the day before), Yue, Shalini, her friend Nancy, and myself.
All of the filmmakers signed the festival poster. I can’t say what became of them, but the act of signing something at a welcome dinner in honor of yourself sure makes you feel like a rockstar. Thank you, Short Shorts.
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