TOKYO, JAPAN – May 2nd, 2016 – Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA), a qualifying film festival for the annual Academy Awards® and one of Asia’s largest international short film festivals, presents BRANDED SHORTS; a program focused on branded movies which have been produced to deliver a brand’s message. For the first time ever, we opened a call for entry for branded movies around the world. We received over 200 submissions and have selected only 36 branded shorts to be screened at the festival.
The program is separated into the International Category and the National Category, and 9 jury members with various backgrounds will select the Branded Shorts of the Year for both categories.
Events focusing on Visual Marketing will also be held, which will feature international creatives and other special guests.
SSFF & ASIA has built a network of ad agencies and clients in addition to over 50,000 filmmakers/creators and production companies. With Branded Shorts, the festival aims to connect these four parties and boost each business by providing a platform that adapts to the ever-evolving entertainment landscape.
GLOBAL CONFERENCE
“The Latest Trends in Branding and Visual Creativity in Branded Movies” powered by Nestlé Japan Date: June 7th, 2017 Time: 14:30 – 18:00 Place: Ebisu act*square Filmmakers and high-profile creatives who have made popular commercials will discuss the current state and the future of branded movies. They will also look into the current issues with video marketing and offer solutions through a creative perspective.
Guest List: Peter Grasse (Executive Producer of Dictionary Films) Jani Guest (Managing Director of Independent Films) Katsuyuki Motohiro (Film Director) Yuki Saito (Film Director)
This conference is powered by Nestle Japan, the leader of digital video marketing in Japan. Along with the special guest speakers, Kohzoh Takaoka, CEO of Nestle Japan, will also be in attendance.
The event will also include a Premiere Announcement for Nestle Japan’s new branded short, and the Award Ceremony for Branded Shorts of the Year 2017 will also be held.
BRANDED SHORTS OF THE YEAR Out of more than 200 branded shorts submissions from around the world, the Branded Shorts of the Year for the International Category and National Category will be selected according to 7 criteria: Cinematic Appeal, Storytelling, Emotional Appeal, Idea, Originality, Production Quality and Global Element.
Nominee of Branded Shorts of the Year
The winners will be chosen by 9 jury members with commercial and creative backgrounds, featuring high-profile industry names as well as filmmakers and creators.
【Jury Members】 Yoichi Sai (Film Director) ※Jury President Kamiko Inuyama (Essayist) Jun Kitada (President, Condé Nast Japan) Kosai Sekine (Film Director) Takuma Takasaki (Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Inc.) Fumitaka Takano (Creative Director/Communication Architect, ADK Tokyo) Morihiko Hasebe (Executive Creative Director, Hakuhodo Inc.) Ū-ki Yamato (Film Director) Isao Yukisada (Film Director)
【Guest List for GLOBAL CONFERENCE】 Peter Grasse (Executive Producer/Dictionary Films) Peter Grasse is an awarded producer who shaped the reputation of Asia-Pacific’s most dynamic production companies in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and most recently Japan. Born in Pennsylvania, Grasse arrived in the region as an anthropologist writing on the Ainu, Hokkaido’s indigenous people. Following a brief stint at Quaker City Mercantile in the USA & Germany, Grasse returned to Hong Kong as General Manager of Gyro Asia for client Puma AG. Traversing hemispheres in flight from the SARS epidemic, Peter joined Curious Film Auckland as General Manger in 2004. Soon thereafter he launched new Curious’s production offices in Sydney & Singapore to supply a growing global demand. Under his leadership, Grasse’s Australasian team was awarded 3 Grands Prix, 3 Gold Lions, the Cannes Film Festival’s Semaine de la Critique Grand Prix for Stephen Kang’s Blue, as well as being name Ciclope’s Asia Pacific Production Company of the Year from 2013 to 2015. Augmenting their commercial success, Curious also succeeded in seeing its feature, The Rocket, selected as the Australian entry to the Academy Awards, as well as sharing Oscar & BAFTA wins in 2015 as the distributor of Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida in both Australia & New Zealand. Following the release of Curious-produced an NZ box-office record setting feature film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Peter moved to Japan in 2016 in search of fresh thinking and new challenges. There, Grasse launched Dictionary Films Tokyo and soon produced film craft finalists the world’s top advertising honours. Grasse has chaired the film craft jury at Ciclope, Spikes and Award whilst also leading sessions on craft at advertising around the globe. For more than a decade Peter Grasse has produced some of the World’s most talked-about and awarded commercial campaigns. Having been ranked in the Top Three Production Companies of the Decade by BestAds, he continues to cultivate the Asia-Pacific region’s most inspiring new talent.
Jani Guest (Managing Director/Independent Films) Jani Guest is the Managing Director of Independent Films, which she cofounded in 2002. Independent Films is a BAFTA winning production company responsible for some of the highest profile commercial advertising films of the last decade from the UK and Europe. The company’s roster of talent includes major international directors Guy Ritchie, Gary Freedman, Philippe Andre, Mark Osborne, Reynald Gresset, Shekhar Kapur, James W Griffiths and Cry Joji Fukunaga. Independent has produced over 650 commercial campaigns. It is one of the few production companies to have won both a Cannes Lions Grand Prix and a BAFTA. In 2011, it was responsible for the award-winning Write the Future World Cup Football campaign for Nike. The campaign attracted 12 million hits on YouTube in the first 48 hours and it has since become the most awarded commercial campaign in history. In 2013, Independent picked up the BAFTA for Best British Short Film for Room 8, a branded content film sponsored by Bombay Sapphire gin, and the only brand-funded short film to ever win such an award. It has since gone on to create commercial campaigns for major brands including Nike, Heineken and McDonalds.
Katsuyuki Motohiro (Film Director) Katsuyuki Motohiro was born in 1965 in Kagawa Prefecture. After graduating from high school, he went to film school and began working in a production company. In 1996, he directed his debut, “July 7th, Hare.” His feature film, “Bayside Shakedown 2” was the highest grossing live action Japanese movie on domestic screens in 2013. In addition to making films, he has also worked in TV, theater, animation, games, music videos, short films, and commercials. In 2017, he was appointed as festival director of the Sanuki Film Festival. Recently, he has directed “Maku ga agaru” which he also directed as a theatrical play. His recent works include “Ajin” (release in September, 2017) and “Donten ni Warau” (release in 2018.)
Yuki Saito (Film Director) Yuki Saito studied film in Hollywood for eight years and returned to Japan in 2006. He went on to assist many famous filmmakers including Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. He has won the Audience Award four times at SSFF & Asia. One of his works “Shabushabu Spirit” has been screened in over 50 countries. His work “PENGUIN NAVI” won a gold prize at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and he has continued to win awards at the festival for three consecutive years. He has also produced many branded movies including for Nestlé “Matcha!!!,” BURUBON “Zuruiyo Amasugikun!,” Nifty “Todoroki Mitsuru no Sennyukan,” & FUKUYA Fudousan “Localmi-ha no Uta.” His TV dramas “ROBOSAN” (14) and “Hiruno Sentozake” (16) were popular hits as well. In 2016, he directed and produced a modern version of “Koto,” which was originally written by Nasunari Kawabata. Yasuko Matsuyuki, Ai Hashimoto, Riko Narumi, Takeshi Ihara and Eiji Okuda were all aprt of the stellar cast. This film marked his feature-length branded movie debut.
【Jury Members】 Yoichi Sai (Film Director) Sai Yoichi was born in 1949 in Nagano. In 1976 he served as assistant director under Nagisa Ooshima on the film “Ai No Korida.” He debuted as director in 1983 with the film “Jukkai no Mosquito.” His 1993 film “All Under the Moon” won the Japan Academy award as well as many others. He moved to Korea in 1996 to study. Other films as director include “Itsuka Darekaga Korosareru,” “Hana no Asuka Gumi,” “A Sign Days,” “Marks,” “Dog Race,” “Buta no Mukui,” “Doing Time,” “Quill,” “Blood and Bones,” and “Kamui.” He is currently the president of the Director’s Guild of Japan.
Kamiko Inuyama (Essayist) Kamiko Inuyama lived in Sendai and worked as an editor for a fashion/culutre magazine. After leaving that job she moved to Tokyo and spent 6 years as a NEET spending her nights bar-hopping with a series of pretty friends. After turning 30, she and her friends were still looking for the “right” guy. She began blogging about her experiences which became a viral hit via twitter and she was asked by a publisher to write an e-book based on her blogs titled “Makebijyo.” The e-book struck a chord with women in Japan & became an instant hit. She now appears regularly on TV, radio, in magazines and on the web making her a sub-culture superstar as well.
Jun Kitada (President, Condé Nast Japan) Jun Kitada is President of Condé Nast Japan, and Publisher of VOGUE JAPAN, GQ JAPAN, VOGUE girl, VOGUE Wedding and WIRED magazines. After graduating in Economics from Musashi University in 1991, he began his career at Ad Dentsu Tokyo as an advertising sales rep. The following year, he moved to Chuokorun Shinsha and was placed in charge of advertising for GQ JAPAN and Marie Claire. In 1997, he was recruited by Condé Nast Publications Japan, where he became Manager of the VOGUE JAPAN Advertising Department in 2001 and became Manager of the GQ JAPAN Advertising Department in 2003. In 2006, he was promoted to Vice-President in Charge of Advertising and Marketing. In 2010, Kitada was appointed President of Condé Nast Publications Japan and its subsidiary Condé Nast Digital. Condé Nast Japan is leading the fashion media market in Japan, with Kitada’s initiative on digital development, events, and recent digital video business development.
Kosai Sekine (Film Director) Kosai Sekine began his career with his directorial debut short film, “RIGHT PLACE” in 2005. In 2008, he began work as a freelancer and joined the production company GRASSLOFT in 2010. Along with his work in commercials, music videos, web movies and short films domestically, he is represented by international production STINK. With his work for Adidas UK and Volkswagen Hover Car movie in China, he has spread his talents worldwide. His recent works include ‘Ichibanshibori’ (KIRIN), ‘Nike Music Shoe'(Nike), campaign of Shiseido HAKU series, Google mobile sagasou series, ‘UYUNI’ (UNIQLO) and a series of commercials for Fuji Xerox.
Takuma Takasaki (Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Inc.) Dentsu Inc.’s Creative Director Takuma Takasaki has been recognized many times over with awards like 2010 & 2013 Creator of the Year, TCC Grand Prix, ADC Award, & ACC Award. He has been responsible for the promotional campaigns for avex Entertainment’s “dVideo”, JR East Japan’s “Ikuze, Tohoku,” “Orangina” for Suntory, ANA, Intel, JAR, Asahi Newspaper and others. He was selected to be the creative director for the presentation to the Olympic Committee to bring, successfully, the Olympics to Tokyo in 2020.
Fumitaka Takano (Creative Director/Communication Architect, ADK Tokyo) Since Fumitaka Takano joined ADK Tokyo, he has been involved in numerous campaigns for major brands such a Toyota, Air New Zealand, Ikea, Mondelez and many others. As a creative director and a communication architect, that builds the entire campaign from strategic planning through creative execution, Fumitaka is integrating film, interactive, branded content and PR into campaigns that produce results. In 2014, he made up digital creative team ‘NOIMAN’ within ADK Tokyo pursuing innovative approaches. Fumitaka’s work has been recognized at the Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, The One Show, New York Festivals, Adfest and so on. He has also served on the Cyber jury of Cannes Lions 2016, Promo & Activation jury of Cannes Lions 2014. His original short film ‘Kakuzato’ was screened in Japan & Asia selection at Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2012.
Morihiko Hasebe (Executive Creative Director, Hakuhodo Inc.) After graduating from Gakushuin University in 1986, Morihiko Hasebe began working for Hakuhodo Inc. as copy writer and CM planner. As Creative Director, he has created world-wide promotional campaigns and has served on the jury for Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, AdFest, One Show, D&AD, Dubai Lynx, and AD STARS. He directed his 1st theatrical release film in 2014 which won awards at festivals around the world including the Canada International Film Festival.
Ū-ki Yamato (Film Director) While studying in Sophia University, Yamato made a directorial debut with a short film “That Girl is Dancing by the Seashore”, which won the Jury Awards at 2012 Tokyo Students Film Festival. Second short film “Her res” was elected the 2012 PFF Award. Her first feature “Five count to Dream of You” has released in March 2014, achieved the youngest record of director of Shibuya cinema rise, the most famous art theater in Tokyo. Third short film “Like a Fairy Tale” broke the box office record of late night screenings at Theatre Shinjuku, which is known as a gateway to success for independent films. In 2015, she received the Japan Film Professional Awards for Best New Director. Her second feature “Drowning Love” had 500,000 admissions, it made over 700 million yen. This is a record for Japanese female directors in their 20s. Other than film directing, Yamato has been directing music videos for various artists such as idol group Nogizaka 46. Her latest work was music video titled ‘Light’, song of for a popular Japanese rock band RADWIMPS, who made music and songs of “Your Name.
Isao Yukisada (Film Director) Acclaimed director Isao Yukisada was born in 1968 in Kumamoto. He made his theatrical debut with his 2000 movie “”Himawari (Sunflower). His 2001 film “GO” won Best Director at the 25th Japan Academy Awards. His subsequent films “Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World,” “Year One in the North,“ “Spring Snow” were all hits making him one of the most successful Japanese directors. He also won the 18th Koreya Senda Award for “Buenos Aires Zero Hour” (2016) and “Tango・Winter’s End” (2015). His up-coming films include “”Ustukushii Hito, ca va?” for Kumamoto Films” (Summer 2017), “Narratage” (Fall, 2017), & “River’s Edge” (2018).
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