The closing and awards ceremonies of The Hiroshima International Film Festival’s (HIFF) Short Film Competition were held at the first theater in NTT Cred Hall on Sunday, November 26th at 19:00. Mr. Michita Kimura and Ms. Pauline Baldwin served as the MC’s.

The Chairman of the Executive Committee, Mr. Kazutaka Yamamoto greeted everyone and provided his closing statement, then the award presentation and ceremony were held for the winners of the HIFF Short Film Competition, of which 6 films collected from all over the world had competed.
First of all, the Audience Award, dedicated to the film most frequently appreciated by the audience vote, was awarded to, "Hanne and the national holiday", directed by Guillaume Brac. Director Albert Serra, of the jury, introduced by stating, "It is said that the customer is always right in any field and this film is the highest rating among them." Director Brac showed gratitude to the audience with excitement stating, "I am glad that my film is well understood in Japan!"
Next, the ceremony moved to the announcement of the Jury Award. Director Rithy Panh of the jury, announced the award of director Huang Sheng-Ming's "Stuck", and then said, "I feel like I want to give everyone a prize, but one was finally decided." Director Huang who is still a student smiled full of joy and said, "Sometimes I was lost to which way I would go. I feel I have got something."
Finally, the HIFF Grand Prix Award was announced. The Jury President, Director Kim Dong-Ho said that, “It was a difficult choice!”, and awarded, "Barbs, Wastelands", directed by Marta Mateus. When the name of Director Mateus was called, the venue was filled with joy and great applauses.
Director Kim gave her a glass trophy made from the sand of Ōta River and a prize of 300 thousand yen, appreciated as "highly directive, expressing the farmers' living so graphically, and superior image technology." Director Mateus said, "I want to thank everyone who worked for this film. Especially, I am proud to work with the farmers who were not actors and can’t read or write. In addition, Hiroshima is worthy of respect for spreading peace. I think it shows courage to continue appealing. Words can sometimes help people, but words can also kill people." She sent a strong message to Hiroshima.
In the end, the President of HIFF, Ms. Kyoko Heya said, "Please come back to Hiroshima and let's meet again next year!" And the Hiroshima International Film Festival 2017 closed with a big applause.

The cute couple told us that this is their first time visit to Hiroshima International Film Festival, and they will definitely come back next year.

I knew about Fredy in this film. I got impression from the movie so much. I am glad that I could see movies I can not see usually.

This film gave me a chance for thinking. I am very glad that there is such a cultural event in Hiroshima. I was able to feel the movie familiarly.

Hiroshima Grand Prix Award
Marta Mateus: Director
"Barbs, Wastelands"[Portugal]

Jury Award
Huang Sheng-Ming: Director
"Stuck"[Taiwan]

Audience Award
Guillaume Brac: Director
"Hanne and the national holiday"[France]

On the 25th of November, from 18:00, Hiroshima Peace Award Ceremony was held at NTT Cred Hall No.1. Jury president Shinji Fukuoka came up to the stage and announced the awarded film.
This year, the award was presented to “ERNESTO” directed by Junji sakamoto.
Mr. Sakamoto gave a small speech to the audience, “ The words peace, relief, and safety addressed by a government are estranged from what I think they are. Some people say peace is something existing between the time of wars. I think peace might be like the blink of an eye. It is my honor to receive the award with the name of peace.”
Joe Odagiri who played Freddy Maemura in the film expressed his pleasure telling his own background “I was born and grown up in Okayama and I had chances to visit Atomic bomb dome or Miyajima, so I have been feeling a special connection with Hiroshima. It’s my great pleasure to receive this award". He also referred to the words of the director, “Peace might be an blink of an eye. That is very serious words for me. War is just strife for the benefit for a government itself, however, it is obviously not what the people need. In Japan, in al all over the world, I wish the peace lasts as long as it can” and he continued, “While wishing for those peace, I’ll go back to my home by the last train”, and the laugh came from the audience.
After the comments from them, Ms. Carlos Miguel , the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Embassy of Cuba made a speech of congratulations. She expressed her admiration, saying “This film very sensitively depicts the life of Freddy Maemura living in Cuba who devoted his own life through the revolution. This work has a soul, I can feel the fates of each character following the story. She closed the speech with her precious message, “I hope this film tell the message of peace to Cuba, Japan and the world” and the venue was filled by great applause.

“ERNESTO” Director Jyunji Sakamoto filmed and Joe Odagiri acted mainly was shown at the 1st venue of NTT CRED Hall at 3:00 p.m. on November 26th (Sun).

This works is the collaboration and described LIFE of Freddy Maemura Hurtado who was a second generation Japanese-Bolivian and “Ernesto” Rafael Guevara de la Serna who was a revolutionary for the first time in 48 years between Japan and Cuba. Production required three and a half years and filming in Cuba required nine months, because five Japanese crewmembers were sent to a hospital in Cuba during the period because the location for filming was harsh. Director Sakamoto had felt that it was not easy filming because Cuba is a socialistic country and there are many differences of culture between Japan and Cuba. They offered the star role to Mr. Joe Odagiri by giving him the brief script and saying, "Please reply right now." Mr. Odagiri said, "I am interested in this works because I found out that the director is trying to film a very hard movie. I would always rely on Director Sakamoto if I did not put him in a severe place, but the director was really serious, so I felt like I could return to the beginning. Mr. Odagiri's Spanish is more natural even though local dialects were also spoken!

At the talk show, an audience member asked them about their impressions to each other. Director Sakamoto answered, “He is sensitive, but also has strong faith in his mind. It is very clear to see what he won’t give up or what he wants to keep. I could see Freddy in him, that’s why I casted him.” Mr. Odagiri also talked about his impression to Mr. Sakamoto, “In one word, he is the most honest director to films. His life goes around films.” Answering the next question, “What would you say this movie is about?”, Mr. Sakamoto said that, “We tried to depict the history of a real country in the past, I thought we should not have made any mistakes. This is the film drawing his early student days, which his family even never knew. Mr. Odagiri answered the question from an audience member, “What is your most favorite scene in the film?”, “I would say it is the stop motion scene at the end of the film. It might be not really clear enough to see, but you can feel various things which were not written on the script.” Otherwise, Mr. Odagiri said, "I was most impressed with the scene where all the villagers gathered and they dedicated with candles and could sympathize with the feelings of the people of Cuba, anger against America and frustration with themselves."

Also, there were stories of Mr. Odagiri staying in Cuba and that is the art Sakamoto thinks. At the end, the talk show ended with excitement.

Korea’s renowned Director Hee-Jun Park’s comeback-film after a 9-years absence, “Brothers in Heaven” was screened at NTT Cred Hall A1 on Sunday, November 26th at 12:00 p.m. This film features two Korean actors as main characters, who are admitted for their versatile acting skills and attractive features, Hoon Sung and Han Sun Jo. This film depicts the life of departed fraternal twin brothers, Tae-Seok and Tae-Joo, portraying the feud with their reunion as a criminal and a policeman, forgiveness and reconciliation.

This film takes place in Busan, where a lot of famous Korean noir films are featured. The original title of this film is “Come back to Busan Port”, which is a name of a very famous song by Korea’s most admired singer, Yong-Pill Cho. The song portrays a sad and touching story of a man and a woman, which the director incorporated as a theme of his movies in different ways. According to Director Park, he wanted to show the brotherly love and innocent emotions which are lost. He has thought about writing this scenario for a long time. His inspirations were manifested by the component of fraternal twin brothers, who are different but alike in many ways. This film features a lot of exhilarating action scenes as well as hidden philosophical symbols embodied by religious allegory.

“The Cats of Mirikitani (Special Edition)”, was screened at the Yokogawa Cinema on Sunday, November 26th at 13:00.

After the screening, Masa Yoshikawa, the producer and the director held a talk show. The interviewer was Ms. Kimura from Gallery G.
This special edition contains two stories, “The Cats of Mirikitani” (2006), and “Remembering Mirikitani” (2016), which was screened for the first time in Hiroshima city.
Mr. Yoshikawa explained the reason of making the second story saying, “There were some facts we found out after the first story and we also wanted more people to watch his film.” Mr. Mirikitani was a Japanese-American born in U.S., but he and his family came back to Japan soon after his birth. Therefore, he grew up in Hiroshima from infancy to 20 years old. He also often wrote in his painting that he is from Hiroshima.
Mr. Yoshikawa told the audience a story about how he had gotten involved with Mr. Mirikitani and that he was told by Director Linda Hattendorf about the first story while they were in the elevator. Director Hattendorf had been already in touch with Mr.Mirikitani for 3 weeks at that time, and she needed a person who knew about Japanese culture and who could translate Japanese, as Mr.Mirikitani often wrote some Japanese sentences in his paintings.
As Ms. Kimura told Mr. Yoshikawa that he resembled Mr.Mirikitani more and more every time she sees him, Mr. Yoshikawa revealed that he is often mistaken to be one of Mr. Mirikitani’s relatives or son. He then drew laughter from audience by saying, “I was even mistaken to be Mr. Mirikitani himself one time in U.S!”
In the Q&A session, an audience member asked about the relationship between Mr. Mirikitani and Director Hattendorf. Mr. Yoshikawa said, “Linda is a really kind person. As they saw each other almost every day, they became trusted friends.” He also said that the reason Director Hattendorf invited Mr. Mirikitani to live with her after 911 was not for filmmaking, but for saving Mr. Mirikitani, who was living on the street at the time, from toxic gas in the air after the collapse of the buildings. In addition, she continued to visit him after the completion of the first story as well, and in Mr. Mirikitani’s last years, she even made a visiting schedule with her friends to check in with him every day. Mr. Yoshikawa said “I think Linda was like a daughter to Mr. Mirikitani.”
After the talk show, audience enjoyed the exhibition of Mr.Mirikitani’s original paintings at “HON TO JIYU”, near the theatre.

On Sunday, November 26th at 16:30, 4 films from Côté Court, “General Assembly”, “Hugues”, “You Want a Story?”, and “The Painting” were screened at the second venue of NTT CRED Hall.

After the screening, in the afterglow of the last film, the Talk Show was held with Mr. Jacky Everard, who established Côté Court, and Mr. Pascal Cervo, who directed “Hugues” and also performed in “The Painting”. Nanako Tsukidate, who is in charge of International Program, served as the interviewer. Director Laurent Achard, who directed “The Painting”, mainly talked, as Director Cervo performed in many of his films. Director Cervo said about his being directed, “He does not explain much. It was like a dance choreography.”

In replying to the question about “Hugues”, Director Cervo said, “I did not mean to select an actor as the main character, but I wanted to describe a naked human. My friend had an experience of encountering a naked person, then I came to think about his feeling, embarrassment, and what is the problem of being naked.” In this Talk Show, we could catch a glimpse of his faces as an actor, and as a director.

“The Park”, directed by Damien Manivel, was shown at Yokogawa Cinema on Sunday, November 26th at 16:00. It was his second feature film screened at Cannes festival in 2016.
The story features young man and woman's encounter and farewell in a day from the morning to the next morning at the park.
Before the screening, the director greeted the audience in fluent Japanese. When he said "It's a beautiful movie, but it's a bit strange, too,” the audience laughed. Regarding the production of a film edited with a magical rhythm, he explained that, "The rhythm remained in my body when I was a contemporary dancer.”

After the screening, a talk show was held. Ms. Syoko Fujii, a freelance broadcaster, served as the interviewer.
In replying to a question, "The story is developing freely, how did you write the script?” Director Manivel answered, "Actually, I had not decided anything, but only a rough story was in my head." Then he said, "I decided the story off the cuff while shooting with the actors."
When he was asked the reason why he had switched from dancer to director, he answered, "Both film and dance use the body and rhythm is important. So I don't feel strange particularly."
In replying to the next question, "Where is the big park that was the location of the film?" "Actually, I shot five parks and combined these images into one. It is the magic of film that it seems to be one." he said happily. One of the audience asked the question, "At the end of the story has the heroine grown up as a woman?" He answered, "She should have grown up. However, I didn't express it in direct language, but only by representation of the actress. I'm glad that you noticed."
Finally in replying to the question, "What do you think about the meaning to exist of the international film festival?" he answered, "For young film makers it is meaningful because they can learn a lot and expand the exchange between directors.”
His latest film, "The Night I swam" is a co-directed works with Kohei Igarashi. The story features the adventure of a boy in Aomori. "Look forward to it!" he concluded with a smile.

“Entretien entre Serge Daney et Jean- Luc Godard” was screened at the Hiroshima City Cinematographic and Audio-Visual Library on Sunday, November 26th at 10:30 a.m.

A masterpiece of Godard's film, "Histoire (s) du cinéma" consists of eight chapters and runs for about four and a half hours. At the beginning of making this film, Director Godard and a film critic, Serge Daney talked about "Histoire (s) du cinéma". As if the audience were observers, the fixed camera captured the dialogue all the time.

This two-hour story starts with the scene of the dialogue between Godard and Daney at Godard’s house, as well as an atelier, which was located in Rolle, Switzerland. The story ends with the same scene. Godard’s style of free talking with a cigarette in replying to Daney’s theory made us question whether it is really a “dialogue”. However, we could feel something like the “trusting relationship” with Daney, and their talk never ends.

After the screening, a Professor of Kansai University, Junji Hori, a researcher of Godard, show up on the stage and gave us his comments on the film. He said, “I think you could feel the personality of Godard. He never tries to have a normal conversation, but this is his playful mind and his technique of communication.”

There are 4 points in this dialogue. The first point is about “the montage”, the second point is “the confrontation of seeing and saying”, the third point is “the relationship between TV and films”, and the fourth point is about “the concentration camp”.

Professor Hori concluded his comments by saying, “There are a lot of words which were not described in the film. Please find your own words”. The audience nodded to his comments and gave him a big round of applause.