The Toronto Japanese Short Film Festival now taking submissions!

by Chris MaGee

Talking with folks here in Toronto I've often remarked that it's a very funny thing how rich the city is in Japanese cultural events when it has a relatively small Japanese population, say in comparison to a Canadian city like Vancouver. It's a fantastic thing, it's just odd in happy kind of way. The celebration of Japanese cinema that goes on here is obviously fostered by the Toronto International Film Festival, which pioneered bringing cinema from around the globe to city's movie audiences, but one festival that has been quietly making a huge impact on the Japanese cultural community for nearly a decade is the Toronto Japanese Short Film Festival.

Founded in 2003 and overseen by fest director Akiko Ohata TJSFF is a wonderful opportunity not only for Toronto film audiences to see short films from Japan, but also for up and coming filmmakers to get exposure overseas in North America. Keeping that in mind the TJSFF is now accepting submissions for their seventh year which will take place between March 18th at 21st at Innis Town Hall Theatre on the campus of the University of Toronto. If you're a short filmmaker in Japan reading this then make sure to check out all the submission details here.