2nd Edition of Japanese Film Festival in Seychelles starts on Jan. 31

Three films that will be screened this year were provided by the Japan Foundation. (Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts) 

(Seychelles News Agency) - The second edition of the Japanese Film Festival in Seychelles will feature a special screening for school children this year, said a top official of the Japanese Embassy.

Tomotaka Ishizu, the second secretary, said, "We are very honoured to be able to do this a second time. This year we will have a special event for children, it will be on the second day of the festival. While we would like to promote Japanese culture through this occasion, we also want to engage students. That's why the second film is an anime."

This project is a collaboration between the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts (SNICHA), Deepam Cinema and the Embassy of Japan.

The principal secretary for culture, Cecile Kalebi said, "We have invited students from several primary and secondary schools nearby. Each school can select 10 students and two teachers. It is also an opportunity for aspiring filmmakers here in Seychelles to see what Japanese filmmakers are doing and the techniques and concepts they are exploring."

Three films that will be screened this year were provided by the Japan Foundation, a Japanese institution dedicated to promoting the country's culture and making cultural exchanges worldwide.

The three-day festival will begin on Wednesday, January 31, at 6 pm with a screening of the film 'After Sunset' which features a mother, her adopted child, and his biological mother and their relationship. The story takes place on a small island in the south of Japan and in it the adoptive mother is very happy to raise a seven-year-old boy then she finds out that his biological mother lives close by.

The second, an animated film for school children, is called 'Children of the Sea' and is about a student having trouble dealing with situations at home and school. During the summer holiday, she goes to the aquarium where her father works and there she meets two mysterious brothers who are swimming in the water tank with fish. The film will be screened at 10 am on February 1 and will be by invitation only.

'Our Sound' is the third film in the festival and it is a musical comedy anime based on delinquent high school students who get together to form a musical band and participate in a live concert. It is an animated film that was made using hand drawing instead of computer animation and took seven years to complete. The film will be screened at 6 pm on February 2. 

Kalebi said, "We feel that the themes chosen for the films this year will resonate well with the Seychellois people. Free tickets will be given to watch so we are encouraging all that can attend to come. Since the screening will be done at Deepam Cinema, we have limited seats; so, the free tickets will be given out on a first come first serve basis at the National Library. People are being asked to use the entrance on the side near the fountain."