Tokyo Lights Up with Short Film Festival Magic at SSFF & ASIA 2024

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Experience SSFF & ASIA 2024, a leading short film festival showcasing 270 films from 114 countries, with AI innovation and multilingual introductions in Tokyo.

The Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2024 (SSFF & ASIA), one of the largest international short film festivals in Asia and accredited by the U.S. Academy Awards, launched its grand opening at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. This year’s festival, themed “Illuminate Your Life,” features around 270 films chosen from over 4,936 submissions from approximately 114 countries and regions. Audiences can enjoy these films both online and across five venues in Tokyo.

The festival began with a unique touch: an AI-generated voice of Tetsuya Bessho, the festival’s representative. Created by “FutureVoice,” a cutting-edge voice synthesizing solution from NTT TechnoCross Corporation of NTT Group, the voice provided a multilingual introduction to the festival experience in Japanese, English, Korean, and Chinese.

During the opening ceremony, seven prestigious awards were presented, including the Shibuya Diversity Award, J-WAVE SOUND OF CINEMA Award, U-25 Project, Smartphone Competition, Amic Sign Award, and Illuminate SSFF & ASIA Movie Contest. Japan Airlines (JAL), a partner of the U-25 Project, awarded international round-trip tickets to the winners of the Excellence Award. Additionally, a new collaboration was announced at the Amic Sign Awards to introduce the “DAO Fun Token Service,” a future-oriented crowdfunding initiative aimed at fostering a “creator economy” where anyone can create, share, and sell their work.

Tetsuya Bessho, the representative of the festival, concluded the ceremony by saying, “The festival will start today at both real and online venues, and we hope you will enjoy the cinema travel and find a short film that reflects your heart or an encounter that shows what life is like. The ceremony ended with the enthusiastic words, “I hope you will enjoy the Cinema Travel and find a short film that reflects your heart and life.”