This year's theme – “Meta Cinema: Transcend, Discover, Begin”
SSFF & ASIA 2022, Asia's biggest international short film festival and accredited by the Academy Awards®, will be held from June 7 (Tues) through June 20 (Mon) at various venues in Tokyo and online. Special features and programs will begin on their online venues on April 28 (Thu).
This year's festival theme is “Meta Cinema: Transcend, Discover, Begin”
Presents a virtual theater experience, short films made with AI-generated scripts, and an analysis of films using brain waves.
This being the first year of the “Metaverse”, the film festival will transcend the cinema experience with the theme, “Meta Cinema: Transcend, Discover, Begin”. SSFF & ASIA 2022 will present new visual expressions and new ways to enjoy films. With COVID in 2020 and 2021 came advances in online systems and use. The festival would like to start a movement to create a platform where people can experience the future of visual filmmaking in a more three-dimensional way and find new styles of entertainment to create a visual culture together with the creators and the viewers.
Please look forward to a new era of the festival, including a “Virtual Theater” experience, a presentation of a short film “Boy Sprouted” created from a script using AI, a talk event exploring how neuroscience, which uses human brain waves to analyze films, can be used in the future of visual expression, and the hot topic NFT initiative.
The Official Competition supported by Sony
Diversity of expression from around the world, now and into the future.
The “Official Competition supported by Sony” which can lead to a nomination for the Academy Awards®, received 3263 submissions from 110 countries and regions. The films created in the midst of social instability include those that depict relationships with family and friends from various angles during the COVID pandemic, and those that satirize modern society by using fantasy, magic and dreams from the viewpoints of immigrants and refugees in an attempt to find hope out of the darkness occurring in the real world. You can feel the strength and diversity of visual expression of the filmmakers who create these stories.
Smartphone Film Competition supported by Sony's Xperia
Including a short film by a 13-yr-old director, the youngest in the history of the competition.
The Smartphone Film Competition supported by Sony's Xperia, now in its 2nd year, features a wide variety of films. From one-minute short films that sound a warning to mankind, to bona fide dramas of dreams and hopes, to expressive films that take place in a very personal space.
The films embody the breadth of the filmmakers' creativity and expands opportunities to try various styles of visual expression. Filming on smartphones broaden these possibilities and these films that are only made possible by smartphones offer new entertainment possibilities that bring the filmmaker's point of view much closer to the audience.
Official Competition Leading to the Academy Awards®
(International, Asia International, and Japan), continuously supported by Sony.
Sony Group Inc. and Sony Corporation (the two companies are collectively referred to as “Sony”) are committed to providing a platform for creators to create a new visual culture and trends in the future. As an entry point to success, Sony has supported since 2020, the Official Competitions (International, Asia International, and Japan), which lead to consideration for nomination at the Academy Awards® for Best Live Action Short Film. In addition, the “Smartphone Film Competition” is supported with the aim of further expanding the range of expression and opportunities for creators to take on challenges, and to create new visual styles unique to smart phones. The Smartphone Film Competition will continue to be supported by Sony's Xperia in 2023.
There are more than 130 Academy Award® accredited film festivals around the world. A Grand Prix or nomination slot at an accredited festival qualifies a filmmaker for the Academy Award® for Best Live Action Short Film.
Other Awards and Competitions
The SSFF & ASIA Grand Prix will be selected from the Official Competitions (International, Asia International, Japan), Non-Fiction and Animation categories, and the Grand Prix – George Lucas Award will be presented.
The Governor of Tokyo Award will also be given as an additional prize to the winners of the Official Competitions in the Asia International and the Japan Competitions.
In addition to the Non-Fiction category, the Academy Award® for Best Short Film in the Animation category will be nominated for the following year's Academy Award® for Best Short Film, making this the only festival in Japan accredited by the Academy Awards®, bringing it shoulder to shoulder with the Sundance and Palm Springs Film Festivals.
The “Smartphone Film Competition supported by Sony's Xperia”, the Cinematic Tokyo Competition, Branded Shorts, Musical Short Film Pitch Competition, the U-25 category, as well as the Shibuya Diversity Award, the Save the Earth!, The Minister of the Environment Award, J-WAVE Award, Biogen Award and other awards will be announced and presented at either the Opening Ceremony or Awards Ceremony of the festival.
Short Shorts Film Festival & ASIA 2022
- SSFF & ASIA President: Tetsuya Bessho
- Dates: Festival – Tuesday, June 7 to Monday, June 20
＊Online venue: Thursday, April 28 – Thursday, June 30 - Screening venues: Online venues and multiple venues in Tokyo
*Screening period differs for each venue. - Entry fee: Free of charge with the exception of special events
(Reservation bookings scheduled to begin April 28) - Enquiries: ＋81-3-5474-8844
- Homepage: https://www.shortshorts.org/en
*2022 website will be open on April 28 - Organizer: Committee for Short Shorts / Committee for Short Shorts Film Festival Asia
*Program details are subject to change.
*The times or content may be subject to change based on the status of the spread of the COVID infection.
SSFF & ASIA 2022 SDGs Initiatives
SSFF & ASIA has digitalized distribution of printed materials since 2020. They will develop as a film festival by implementing SDGs step by step. They will also continue to develop programs with themes of “Diversity” and “War and the Power to Live,” as well as “Save the Earth! The festival will encourage the awareness of filmmakers and participants about SDGs through programs like the “Ladies for Cinema Project” and various awards for these SDG programs.
