島ぜんぶでおーきな祭-第7回沖縄国際映画祭-

Shigenobu Asato, Vice-President of the Okinawa International Movie Festival Organization Committee, met with the international press to discuss the role of the Festival. He emphasized that Japan is focusing on the international market for its entertainment content and that his organization is eager to create a new entertainment culture.

First, he addressed the new developments in the movie festival. “This is the 7^th edition of OIMF and every year we’re getting more support so we've brought it to a new level this year.” He expanded the explanation saying, “We changed the title to the “All Islands Festival” meaning it’s more of a festive event than only a film festival. Generally the purpose of a film festival is to introduce great films to the public, but with the support of Yoshimoto Kogyo we are positioning this festival as an overall entertainment and content fair.”

Asato continued to explain that the festival is part of a larger project. “We are also working with the government on the Cool Japan initiative so we hope to export the charms and attractions of Japanese culture to the world.” In addition to entertainment one aim is to address tourism. He noted, “As a part of the Visit Japan initiative one of the goals is to increase the number of tourists to Japan.

2020 is the year of the Olympics in Tokyo and by then we are hoping to reach out to the world and let everyone know about Japan and Japanese culture.”

Okinawa is the number one resort area in Japan and in one year 6.5 million visit from mainland Japan and 1.2 million from overseas. Asato sees the Cool Japan project as increasing this. “All these initiatives will bring more attention to Okinawa and continue to send out the message about it to the world.”

In harmony with this is the theme of the fest, which Asato sees as perfect for the task at hand. “With the festival theme of “Love & Peace” we believe can convey a positive message to the world. We believe that Okinawa, as it’s the closest part of Japan to the rest of Asia, is the best place to do this.” He continues, “We have a lot of government subsidies and we’re working on various projects with those subsidies.  Okinawa is the only prefecture in Japan where the population is actually increasing. With the year 2020 approaching we’re probably going to have big changes coming up. Japan has to envision what will happen after the Olympics and Tokyo as a capital and Okinawa as a leading prefecture we hope that we can build something together. We hope that Tokyo-based and Okinawa-based creators can work together to create new innovative content that can be viewed as local culture as well.”

Asato elucidated the festival theme in a humanistic way. “The Laugh & Peace slogan informs this festival. I understand it to mean that people can laugh together because to laugh is to give so, in that, we can become peaceful. The world is in a difficult situation right now and the mutual respect and communication is the most important thing. Okinawa has the terrible experience of war and I believe that’s one of the reasons why Okinawa is an appropriate place to set up this kind of project. It’s not about who did what to whom but rather to get together as a community and work together to realize a better world.”

 Lastly Asato addressed the fact that the understanding of Japan internationally has often been limited. “We surveyed travelers to Japan and we found their image of the country was Mt. Fuji, geisha, samurai, ninja and sumo. So we believe it’s time to create a sense of new possibilities for Japan using entertainment.” He outlined the mission, “We hope to create a more international, new Japanese culture using the Japanese comedic world, which is cherished here. We hope to create something that values entertaining people, laughing and enjoying together.”