The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is proud to collaborate for the 5th year with Children Meet Cinema, which runs youth filmmaking workshops, on TIFF 2021: Teens Meet Cinema, a production workshop for junior high school students, 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 Natsuki SETA, whose feature debut film A Liar and a Broken Girl was screened in the 23rd TIFF Japanese Eyes section as well as at such international film festivals as the Taipei Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival in Taiwan and Japan Cuts in New York. Her latest work, Georama Boy Panorama Girl, was also invited to the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival this year. With Seta overseeing them, students will develop a script, shoot and edit a film assisted by professional crew through the workshop.
 
The completed film will have its world premiere at the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival, to be held from October 30 to November 8 in the Hibiya-Ginza area of Tokyo.
 

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Director Natsuki SETA
Natsuki Seta was born in 1979 in Osaka. While attending the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts, she directed the graduation production A Letter from Elsewhere (2008). Her commercial debut feature was A Liar and a Broken Girl (2011). Her directorial works include the short film 5 windows series (2011-2015), the feature films Parks (2017), Georama Boy Panorama Girl (2020), and the TV dramas “Setoutsumi” (2017), “Voice Girls!!!” (2018), “Curry Songs” (2020) and “Ano ko no Yume wo Mitan Desu” (2020).

Comment from Hiroyasu ANDO, Chairman of TIFF
Film is the most familiar art, as it gives us the opportunity to contemplate life and society. Not only watching films, but also being involved in actual filmmaking can be a great help in deepening such consideration. We hope that this year’s Teens Meet Cinema workshop, in which junior high school students will participate, cultivates talents who will lead the Japanese film industry in the future. Even if they don’t go into the film industry, it would be wonderful if their TIFF 2021 experience enriches their future development. We look forward to your participation.
 
Comment from Etsuko DOHI, 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. Creating a film cannot be achieved without interacting with others and facing yourself. It will be a great confidence-booster for them to experience filmmaking while still in junior high school, the most sensitive and difficult period of their lives. This collaboration with TIFF is in its fifth year and is steadily showing results. TIFF 2021: Teens Meet Cinema is a career training program that will also cultivate communication skills and above all, provide a great opportunity for the children to grow as human beings.
 

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TIFF 2021: Teens Meet Cinema
Workshop dates: 9 days (August 8, 10, 12, 17,19, 24, 26, 27 and 28)
Participants: Junior High School Students (Maximum enrollment: 15)
Fee: Free
Place: Kageoka no ie
*Depending on the COVID-19 situation, the workshop may be hybrid (physical and online) or move completely online.
 
Organized by: Unijapan　(34th Tokyo International Film Festival Executive Committee)
Project organization: Children Meet Cinema
 
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.