The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is proud to collaborate for the sixth year with Children Meet Cinema, which runs youth filmmaking workshops, on TIFF 2022: Teens Meet Cinema, a production workshop for teens, a special project of the festival’s Youth Section. This strengthens one element of TIFF’s goal to foster a future for film and to cultivate young talent and cinema enthusiasts.
 
This year’s lead mentor will be director HAYAKAWA Chie, whose feature debut Plan 75 was selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard section and received a Special Mention from the Caméra d’Or jury.
 
Students will gather in Chiyoda Ward, also the site of TIFF’s main venues, to participate in the workshop physically for the first time in three years due to the impact of COVID-19. With Hayakawa overseeing them, they will develop a script, shoot and edit a film assisted by professional crew. The completed film will have its world premiere at the 35th TIFF, to be held from October 24 to November 2 in the Hibiya-Ginza-Yurakucho-Marunouchi area of Tokyo.
 
Applications will be open from July 7 (Thu) through July 13 (Wed).
Please find more details on the program here (in Japanese only).

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Director HAYAKAWA Chie
Japanese writer and director Hayakawa Chie studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 2014, her short film Niagara was screened in the Cannes Film Festival Cinéfondation program and won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Vladivostok International Film Festival, two Grand Prizes at the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul, and Grand Prix at the Pia Film Festival. Her short film Plan 75 was the opening film in the Ten Years Japan anthology film, executive produced by Kore-eda Hirokazu in 2018. Her first feature, also called Plan 75, was selected by the 75th Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard section and received a Special Mention from the Caméra d’Or jury. In 2009 and 2010, she was a volunteer staff member for the Eiga no Jikan Film Workshop for Children organized by Tokyo Filmex, and was in charge of making the behind-the-scenes video for Children Meet Cinema @ Shibuya 2021.

Comment from director Hayakawa Chie
I wanted to make a film since I was a junior high school student, but I never took the first step because I thought too much about what would happen if I have failed, or what I would do if I found that I didn’t have any talent. It wasn’t until 13 years ago, when I was a volunteer staff member for a children’s filmmaking workshop, that I gained the courage to take that first step. Seeing the elementary and junior high school students enjoying the challenges of filmmaking, I was impressed at how liberating filmmaking could be! Through this experience, I came to believe that I could make a film if I had a camera and people to help. Shortly after that, I knocked on the door of a film school, and here I am today. So for me, youth film workshops are special places. They’re where I first learned the joy of filmmaking, a place like my starting point. I am happy to be able to come back to such a place after so much time has passed.

 

 

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TIFF 2022: Teens Meet Cinema
 
Workshop dates: 6 days (July 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, and 28)
Participants: Junior High and High School Students (Maximum enrollment: 18)
Fee: Free

Place: 3331 Arts Chiyoda

 
Organized by: Unijapan　(35th Tokyo International Film Festival Executive Committee)
Project organization: Children Meet Cinema
For further information: teens_meet_cinema@tiff-jp.net
 

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Comment from DOHI Etsuko, Representative of Children Meet Cinema
There is no “right answer” in film. There is only “conviction,” which is the judgment of everyone on the team as to what is the best answer. The workshop participants will think, communicate and make decisions on their own without adult interference. By meeting filmmakers, they will experience “what a film is” from their serious perspective and attitude toward filmmaking. The mentor and staff members will watch over, support and acknowledge the students. It will be a great confidence-booster for them to experience filmmaking. For impressionable junior and senior high school students, the experience of creating a film “that cannot be completed without interacting with others” and “confronting oneself” will be of great significance in their lives.TIFF 2022: Teens Meet Cinema is a career training program that will also cultivate communication skills and above all, provide a great opportunity for the teens to grow as human beings.
 

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Children Meet Cinema kodomoeiga.com
Children Meet Cinema produces filmmaking workshops at schools and organizes symposia to promote a bright future for children and film.