The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is proud to collaborate for the eighth year with Children Meet Cinema, which runs youth filmmaking workshops, on TIFF 2024: Teens Meet Cinema, a production workshop for teens. A special project of the festival’s Youth Section, it strengthens one element of TIFF’s goal to foster a future for film by cultivating young talent and cinema enthusiasts.
 
This year’s lead mentor will be director Nishikawa Miwa, whose films have won a slew of awards at major international festivals, including The Long Excuse (2016) and Under the Open Sky (2021).
 
Students will gather in Ota City to participate in the workshop. With Nishikawa 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 37th TIFF, to be held from October 28 to November 6 in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area of Tokyo.
 
Applications are open from June 3 to July 15 on TIFF’s website.
Please find more details on the program here (in Japanese only).
 

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NISHIKAWA Miwa
Film director. After working as a freelance assistant director from 1996, she made her debut as a writer-director with Wild Berries in 2003, followed by such titles as Sway (2006), which was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, Dear Doctor (2009), which won the Best Screenplay Award at the Japan Academy Film Prize in 2010, Dreams for Sale (2012), which had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and The Long Excuse (2016), which also premiered as a Special Presentation at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Her sixth feature, Under the Open Sky (2021), adapted from a prize-winning novel, became a double winner at the Chicago International Film Festival, with the Audience Choice Award for International Feature and Best Performance Award for star Yakusho Koji. Nishikawa is a member of action4cinema, a Japanese version of France’s Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC) co-founded with fellow directors Kore-eda Hirokazu, Suwa Nobuhiro and others.

Comment from Nishikawa Miwa
I am a filmmaker by profession, but I have never made even a single independent film. Since I first started working in this field, I have only had the experience of making films in a professional setting, with each professional assigned roles and professional procedures. Therefore, I was surprised when I heard about how the TIFF Teens Film Workshop operates. Forming a team with people you meet for the first time, without even deciding who will be the director, sharing everyone’s ideas, and filming without a script—can a film really be made that way? I have no idea how it works. But I think it would be amazing if it could be possible. I am excited that my own sense of values could also change drastically. I encourage them to take on the challenge and enjoy making a film in a way that none of the adult filmmakers have done, and I would be happy to help in any way I can for the eight days of the workshop.

 

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TIFF 2024: Teens Meet Cinema
Workshop dates: 8 days (August 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11)
Participants: Junior high school students (Maximum enrollment: 18)
Fee: Free *DVD including the making-of documentary and booklet: 6,000 JPY
Place: Venues in Ota City and nearby (TBA)
 
Organized by: Unijapan　(37th Tokyo International Film Festival Executive Committee)
Co-organized by: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Ota City
Supported by: Ota City Cultural Promotion Association
Project organization: Children Meet Cinema
For further inquiries: 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 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 2024: Teens Meet Cinema is a career training program that will also cultivate communication skills and media literacy 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
throughout Japan and abroad. It celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024.