Press Release
October 16, 2011
Grand Prize for Feature Length Competition: “Kinyarwanda”
Prizes were announced at the Closing Ceremony dated of October 16 (Sun). SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL (sponsored by: Saitama Prefecture, Kawaguchi City, SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL Committee, and others) has launched to discover and support talented filmmakers in 2004 and completed the 8th edition, which was held from October 8 (Sat) to 16 (Sun), 2011.
■Feature Length Competition
This year 494 submissions received from 81 countries. 12 films (9 from overseas, and 3 from Japan) have been selected and screened. The Awards were judged by 4 producers as jury members.
President of the Jury for Feature Length Competition： Satoru Ogura（Japan）
Juries： Shinji Ogawa（Japan）、Sonoko Sakai（USA, Japan）、Lars Knudsen（USA）
Grand Prize: "Kinyarwanda"
(2011/Rwanda, USA/100 min)
Director: Alrick Brown
▶Certificate and trophy are given by the festival organizers
▶Trophy and cash prize of 1,500,000 yen are given by Sony, Sony Business Solutions, and Sony PCL.
Best Director: "Beyond The Steppes"
2010/Belgium, Poland/83 min
Director: Vanja d'Alcantara
▶Certificate and trophy are given by the festival organizers
▶Trophy and cash prize of 500,000 yen are given by Sony, Sony Business Solutions, and Sony PCL.
Best Screenplay: "Chance"
2010/Columbia, Panama/90 min
Director: Abner Benaim
▶Certificate and trophy are given by the festival organizers
▶Trophy and cash prize of 500,000 yen are given by Sony, Sony Business Solutions, and Sony PCL.
Special Jury Prize: "Simple Simon"
(2010/Sweden/83 min)
Director: Andreas Öhman
▶Certificate and trophy are given by the festival organizers
▶Trophy and cash prize of 500,000 yen are given by Sony, Sony Business Solutions, and Sony PCL.
SKIP CITY Award: "Don't Stop!"
(2011/Japan/109 min)
Director: Kenji Kohashi
▶Trophy are given by the festival organizers
※Granted the recipient free access to the audio and video facilities at Sai-no-Kuni Visual Plaza for a certain limited time
■Short Competition
12 films out of 189 submissions from Japan were screened and the Awards were judged by 3 jury members.
President of the Jury for Short Competition: Shoji Masui (Producer)
Juries ： Yasushi Utagawa (Producer)、LiLiCo(Film Commentator)
Best Picture - Kawaguchi Citizen's Award: "A Drop of Memories"
(2011/Japan/23 min)
Director: Daisuke Hatanaka
▶Certificate and trophy are given by the festival organizers
▶Trophy and cash reward of 500,000 yen are given by the Citizens' Circle to Support SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL.
※Granted the recipient free access to the equipment at Sai-no-Kuni Visual Plaza for a certain limited time
Honorable Mention - Kawaguchi Citizen's Award: "List"
(2010/Japan/25 min)
Director: Tomofumi Tanaka
Honorable Mention - Kawaguchi Citizen's Award: "Ken and Kazu"
(2010/Japan/23 min)
Director: Hiroshi Shoji
▶Certificate and trophy are given by the festival organizers
▶Trophy and cash reward of 300,000 yen each are given by the Citizens' Circle to Support SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL.
~SPEECHES at the Ceremony~
Kiyoshi Ueda
Chairperson, SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL Committee, Governor of Saitama Prefecture
“We hope all filmmakers who are attending the current Ceremony would move up to the World through the SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL. We will keep announcing the lots of possibilities of digital cinema and so we would like you to pay attention to our activities.”
Koshiro Okamura
Vice Chairperson, SKIP CITY INTERNATIOANAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL Committee, Mayor of Kawaguchi City
“We are very pleased and surprised that the quality of the films is getting higher and higher year by year. We are more than happier if the filmmakers will step up to the worldwide.”
Satoru Ogura
President of the Jury for Feature Length Competition, Ogura Jimusho Inc., President, Film Producer
“I understood the SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL is an excellent film festival which has a specific concept to discover international young talents with specializing digital-formatted films. The selected films were rather analog, in other words, they were the ones to express the humanity deeply, even though they were shot in digital. I hope the filmmakers would keep making emotional films in digital.”
Shoji Masui
President of the Jury for Short Competition, Alitamira Pictures, Inc., President, Film Producer
“I found a great selection this year again. High quality short films are produced in Japan lately. The Grand Prize winning film has very high standard in all aspects of the filmmaking process. I expect your great success in the future.”
Darren Dean
Producer of “Kinyarwanda”, a Grand Prize winner of Feature Length Competition
“This prize must contribute to our future film producing. I would like to thank our cast and crew for their great efforts, but I will take this award to remember a sad memory happened in Rwanda.”
Daisuke Hatanaka
Director of “A Drop of Memories”, a Grand Prize winner of Short Competition
“When I found a beautiful book, my film making began. The book has not only the emotion to families but also the love to films. I am truly honored to receive such a great prize, because my thoughts to my grandmother were just synchronized with the theme of the book. I would like to make good film more and more.”
～ Contact ～
SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL
Publicity： Hasegawa / Matsunaga
TEL：048-263-0818
FAX：048-262-5635
E-mail：press@skipcity-dcf.jp
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