Seychelles hosts second edition of the Japanese Film Festival |25 January 2024

Mr Ishizu and PS Kalebi during the press conference (Photo: Kurtrine Albert)

The second edition of the Japanese Film Festival will this year take place from January 31 to February 2.

This entertaining festival is spearheaded by the Japanese embassy, in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts and Deepam Cinema.

Yesterday, the second secretary of the Japanese embassy in Seychelles, Tomotaka Ishizu and permanent secretary of the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts, Cecile Kalebi, met with the local media at the embassy’s headquarters at Maison Esplanade to announce the event and share details about the movies to be screened.

There are altogether three films that will be screened at Deepam Cinema in Victoria starting at 6pm and open to everyone.

February 1, the second day of the festival, is reserved for primary and secondary students, offering them a unique opportunity to engage in the Japanese culture through the cinematic world. This is from 10am onwards.

“This is the highlight for this year,” said Mrs Kalebi.

The invitation for this festival was sent to several schools namely, Mont Fleuri primary and secondary, Perseverance primary and secondary, Plaisance primary and secondary, English River as well as private schools.

“We are inviting 10 students and two teachers from each school,” explained Mrs Kalebi. 

The first film is titled ‘After the sunset’, which revolves around two mothers and a 7-year-old boy. The second one, ‘Children of the sea’, is an animated film about a secondary school girl who causes a little bit of trouble at home and school and spends time at her father’s workplace during the holiday where she met two brothers. ‘Our sound’ is a musical comedy about a delinquent who later joined a band.

“Production of ‘Our sound’ is pretty amazing because more than 4000 illustrations were created by hand drawings instead of computer generated images. It took seven years to complete it and it won an award at the Anime Film Festival held in Canada,” shared Mr Ishizu.

Mrs Kalebi said what is different from last year’s movies’ list is the storyline and how the public will be able to relate to it more. Furthermore, they will be able to see how another culture deals with social problems. 

The films will be in Japanese but with English subtitles. She added it will also be a great opportunity for anyone interested in film making to learn new techniques and concepts.

Mrs Kalebi stated this is a project they will firmly like to pursue with the Japanese embassy. It is good to note that Japan and Seychelles will commemorate 50 years of diplomatic relationship in 2026.

“I encourage the public to take this opportunity to come see the films,” said Mrs Kalebi.

“We are truly grateful for the support from the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts as well as Deepam Cinema,” said Mr Ishizu, adding this will help to further promote the Japanese culture among Seychellois.

The screening, which is free, is on a first come first served basis. People will be able to collect their tickets as of today from 8:30am to 3pm at the National Library or contact 4321333 to book their tickets.

Anika Cathene