Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia’s U-30 Japanese Filmmakers are Focused at The 49th Jugend Film Tage

The program «Heartbeat of Japan» presents seven remarkable short films by emerging Japanese filmmakers.

SHIBUYA WARD, TOKYO, JAPAN, February 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA), one of Asia‘s largest international short film festivals accredited by the US Academy Awards^®, is pleased to announce that SSFF & ASIA’s Japanese directors are featured at the Jugend Film Tage, the 49th edition of the international film festival in Zurich, Switzerland, which is dedicated to films by young filmmakers under 30 years old.

https://jugendfilmtage.ch/events/cafune/?book=1&s_id=1ebdd239-423e-455f-ac8d-e65bb7ee2771
　
The Jugend Film Tage’s focus program, the festival puts the spotlight on the young filmmaking of a selected country and work together with internationally renowned film festivals.
This 2025, Japan is the focus country with a program of short films curated by SSFF & ASIA and the Pia Film Festival.

SSFF & ASIA‘s special feature program titled “Heartbeat of Japan”, will include “cafune” (dir. Sara Masuda), winner of the Audience Award in 2024, “DOCOOK” (dir. Solami Habu), winner of the 2023 U-25 Excellence Award, ”Origami” (Director: Kei Kanamori), which won the Silver Award at the Student Academy Awards and made this year’s Oscar shortlist, “Teleporting” (dir. Arum Nam, Chifumi Tanzawa, Nana Noka & Ohyeon Kwon), as well as “what YOU eat” (Director: Ryo Sena) and “Warmth in a Puddle” (Director: Sorao Sakimura), which were born from the Kodansha Cinema Creators Lab project, and the 2024 U-25 Best Short Award winner “Mother’s Recipe” (dir. Izumo Kawabe).

The program «Heartbeat of Japan» presents seven remarkable short films by emerging Japanese filmmakers. From deeply emotional dramas to nostalgic animations, as well as thought-provoking and unconventional works, you will feel the strong heartbeat of each filmmaker and be captivated by their talents.

In addition, the Jugend Film Tage will invite a director Izumo Kawabe as a recommended filmmaker by SSFF & ASIA to the four-day ‘Talent Camp’ during the festival, where he will learn about filmmaking with filmmakers from around the world.

About Jugend Film Tage（Swiss Youth Film Days）
The Swiss Youth Film Days are the oldest and largest national festival, which mainly shows films by young filmmakers. The heart of the festival is the short film competition, to which over 3,000 young participants submit their films every year. The competition is complemented by a diverse program that celebrates young filmmakers from all over the world and at the same time intensively promotes young Swiss filmmakers. The main goal of the Swiss Youth Film Days is to get as many young people as possible to actively and reflectively engage with the medium of the moving image. That is why most of the Swiss Youth Film Days' offerings are free or inexpensive and are designed to be as accessible and low-threshold as possible.

The 49th Swiss Youth Film Days will take place from March 12 to 16, 2025 at the blue Cinema Abaton in Zurich and Planet5.
https://jugendfilmtage.ch/

About Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia
Tetsuya Bessho, an actor and member of the American Actors Guild (SAG), founded the American Short Shorts Film Festival in 1999 with the aim to introduce short films, which he had discovered in the United States, as a new visual genre to Japan. In 2001, the name was changed to Short Shorts Film Festival (SSFF), and in 2004 it was certified as an Academy Award-recognized film festival. Also, in the same year, "Short Shorts Film Festival Asia (Co-hosted by SSFF ASIA: Tokyo)" was born with the aim of disseminating new visual culture from Asia and nurturing up-and-coming young filmmakers. We are holding a film festival under the collective name "SSFF & ASIA". In 2018, to commemorate the film festival's 20th anniversary, the Grand Prix award became the George Lucas Award, named after director George Lucas. In January 2019, the "Short Shorts Film Festival in Hollywood" was held to commemorate the festival’s 20th anniversary. Also in 2019, four competitions, and from 2022, five competitions, including the Animation Competition, have acquired the right to be eligible for nomination at the following year's Academy Awards^®︎ in the short film category. SSFF & ASIA will continue to support young creators through the film festival.
https://www.shortshorts.org/index-en.php

Fuyumi Tanaka
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia
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