Message from KIFF 2022 Ambassador
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KIFF 2022 Ambassador
Sahel Rosa
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Hello. My name is Sahel Rosa, and I was born in Iran.
This film festival is taking place in the windy, scenic city of Kyoto, the beloved ancient capital of Japan.
Films have comforted and supported me at numerous turning points in my life.
A film is something that lingers in a person’s memory.
This year, as usual, the Kyoto International Film and Art Festival has brought together films that will become a part of your life.
I’m sure you are all excited to see the wonderful movies that have come into being while their creators search for meaning in film and struggle to express themselves in a reality altered by COVID-19.
I hope that the Kyoto International Film and Art Festival weaves for you a beautiful pattern of memories like the Nishijin fabrics of Kyoto that have designs and pictures woven into them.
I am proud to have been chosen as an ambassador for this wonderful occasion.
This festival is a miracle of free expression.
Although it has been difficult to go out into the world these past few years, I hope that you in Kyoto will feel connected with the world.
With peace in my heart, I look forward to seeing you in Kyoto.
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Message from KIFF Executive Committee
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Sadao Nakajima
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The Kyoto International Film and Art Festival had to be held again this year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I consider this to be an excellent opportunity for building on the experience and knowledge gained in recent years and to add further ideas and innovations to create a film festival with more content and greater appeal than ever.
As with last year, the festival is taking place at several locations within Kyoto, but in any event, we are determined to make every effort to ensure that the festival is conducted with proper speed and exactitude.
Finally, this event is called a “film festival”, but it is really a festival of art with an insatiable drive.
Please leave your worries behind and dress comfortably when you come!
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Ichiya Nakamura
- Enyaraya! For the first time in three years, the Gion Festival float parade was held. The Taka-yama float returned after a 196-year absence. For the first time in three years, the Gozan no Okuribi bonfires were lit. There was a severe thunderstorm just beforehand, but they persevered. Kyoto is back. Welcome back. All of it, including films and art. The Kyoto International Film and Art Festival is also back in a big way. And we’re expanding it. A city with a thousand years of culture, where the creation of films, games, anime, and pop culture continues. Kyoto continues to compete for the world’s top spot in tourism popularity rankings, and it is home to the Agency for Cultural Affairs. The people who love Kyoto are connected to it. They enjoy everything about Kyoto, and they are the ones who create it. This year will again feature a hybrid online-offline format. I would like to create a new format for the post-pandemic Reiwa era. Thanks!
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Kazuyoshi Okuyama
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Essentially, both film and art are founded on belief in humanity. Thus they are permitted to communicate within an unlimited framework of free expression.
The Kyoto International Film and Art Festival is a film festival that was clearly intended for just that purpose. The times have clearly turned a corner. What was just a premonition a few years ago is now a realization—a change that challenges the very values of humanity. This change will only accelerate in the future.
It is precisely because we live in a time when the future landscape is impossible to see that we need to reaffirm the role of this film festival and enhance the content of our program to send a stronger message.
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Kenta Oka
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Given our difficult predicament—the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine, China, and other global issues as well as the fact that wages haven’t increased despite rising prices—the future is uncertain. Measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 had been lifted, and we thought we were back to normal, but then, sure enough, the seventh wave struck. The liberating feeling of finally being able to stay up late talking with friends, yet wondering if I might somehow get infected—that risk is always on my mind.
“We want to get back to pre-pandemic daily life.”
Just as we learn the value of health by becoming sick, we are able to appreciate our earlier endeavors only now that we are in the midst of a global crisis. The ideal world or “utopia” is something I used to hear about when I was young. The concept of utopia, an idealized fictional world with no drawbacks, is contrasted by the dystopia—an irrational future world that is dark and deeply flawed. These two sides of the same coin have become muddled in recent years, and the boundary that separates them is disappearing. It was under these circumstances that we made plans for the 2022 Kyoto International Film and Art Festival in the hopes that all aspects of the festival, including both films and art, would serve as a means of finding utopia in the midst of dystopia.
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Koji Ueno
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This is the third time holding the Kyoto International Film and Art Festival since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The first was online only, and the second was a hybrid of online and in-person sessions.
During that time, online events quickly became a part of our lives out of necessity.
This year, the ninth Kyoto International Film and Art Festival will treat the online format as a forward-looking means of expression and embrace the challenge of a new hybrid format.
Of course, we will retain the warmth that is so important to people, and with the help of everyone in Kyoto, we aim to communicate this year’s film festival from Kyoto to the world.
And then we’re looking forward to next year, which will be the tenth-year milestone for this festival!
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Message from the Mayor of Kyoto
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The Mayor of Kyoto
Daisaku Kadokawa
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From Kyoto, the birthplace of Japanese cinema, to the world. The Kyoto International Film and Art Festival continues to create and communicate novel arts and culture while maintaining respect for tradition. I am very pleased that this event be held again this year, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, under a hybrid format that combines the best of online and in-person sessions.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Honorary Executive Committee Chairman Sadao Nakajima and to Executive Committee Chairman Ichiya Nakamura, as well as to the Kyoto International Film and Art Festival Executive Committee and to all the people involved who have worked so hard to make this festival possible and to create an appealing program brimming with ideas.
This year’s festival, being held for the ninth time, will not be limited to films but will include painting, performance art, theater, music, and other programs in a variety of fields, which will all take place at various locations within Kyoto. Furthermore, the Creators Factory, which nurtures talented cultural and artistic leaders, will shine a spotlight on wonderful works of art that have regrettably missed out on awards in the past in order to “rediscover” the talents of those artists.
I am looking forward to it very much.
The City of Kyoto will further promote urban development with a cultural focus in cooperation with the Agency for Cultural Affairs, which will soon be fully relocated to Kyoto. I would ask for the continued support of all lovers of culture and the arts.
Lastly, I would like to say that I hope that this film festival will be a rewarding and productive experience.
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