JSFF Japanese Serbian Film Festival ()

Festival start: 04 November 2022      Festival end: 15 November 2022

About JSFF

JSFF is a 9 years lasting bi-City annual film festival recognized for its immersive themed cultural exchange platform premiering in Tokyo and Belgrade. This year, JSFF is part of the official ECoC (EU Capital of Culture) program at Novi Sad 2022, containing 6 days of condensed film and collateral art program, after which the screenings in Tokyo and Belgrade will be conducted. All authors of selected pieces will have the opportunity to be screened in front of a large audience under the light of ECoC in Novi Sad from November 5th – 10th.

JSFF 2022 THEME: CULTFRONTATION
"Space between two frames"

It is not wrong to say that the film industry as we know it today would not exist without the mutual influences of different cultures. Only one example of such artistic complementarity can be seen in the work of Fumio Kamei, who applied the editing techniques he acquired abroad in the format of haiku poetry, giving more importance and space to shots between the work itself.

In the spirit of the traditional concept of JSFF as a format of cultural exchange of film representatives of two cultures, CULTFRONTATION aims to further confront the author's views in the domain of the program category "Other? Europe". This category refers to the "culture of the different". By re-examining the dominant values in European culture and art, we come to the discovery of different, alternative, marginalized, minority, rebellious expressions.

For the first time since its founding, JSFF will expand the program into 3 categories united by the theme CULTFRONTATION:

1. JSFF - Will maintain the original selection of the films produced in Japan or Serbia (including conditional exceptions regarding the filming and crew background), which will present the views of authors on annual theme CULTFRONTATION, but also contemporary social phenomena in the spirit of "Other? Europe" program narrative of NOVI SAD 2022 - ECoC.

2. EAST ASIA – WEST BALKANS - According to the principle of traditional JSFF format, EA-WB will expand the field of CULTFRONTATION to the regional level which will screen works from the group of EA (East Asia) countries, as well as the countries of the Western Balkans.

3. JSFF - INTERNATIONAL - Global selection of films around the world that deal with the broader aspect of cultural confrontation. One of the terms of cultural confrontation implies confronting the values of an adaptable cultural environment with an extremely protective cultural environment. Also, every kind of re-examination of the canon, generalization, position in society, etc. it can be interpreted as a kind of CULTFRONTATION.

Special attention to:
- Premiere (All categories)
- ECOC Area background (JSFF INTERNATIONAL Category): 2023: Elefsina (Greece), Veszprém (Hungary) and Timisoara (Romania); 2024: Bad Ischl (Austria), Tartu (Estonia) and Bodø (Norway)

JSFF - CORE CATEGORY:
■ GRAND PRIX (Best Feature Film)
■ SILVERWARE (Complementary Best Feature Film)
■ JSFF RISING (Best Short Film)
■ BEST SERBIAN SHORT (Japanese Jury Award)
■ BEST JAPANESE SHORT (Serbian Jury Award)
■ „Nikola Stojanovic“ Honorable award

EAST Asia – WEST Balkans CATEGORY:
■ EW GRAND PRIX (Best EW Feature Film)
■ EW SILVERWARE (Complementary Best Feature Film)
■ EA Best Short Film
■ WB Best short Film
■ Solidarity Award

INTERNATIONAL CATEGORY:
■ JSFF INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIX (Best Feature Film)
■ ECoC Award (Other? Europe Best Short Film)
■ Best Debut Award (Short Film)

GEOGRAPHIC CRITERIA:

■ JSFF CORE SELECTION (Country of origin: Japan, Serbia)

■ EA - WB SELECTION (East Asia & West Balkans)

■ INTERNATIONAL SELECTION (Global - No geographical limitations)

* special treatment to ECoC hosts for 2023: Elefsina (Greece), Veszprém (Hungary) and Timisoara (Romania); 2024: Bad Ischl (Austria), Tartu (Estonia) and Bodø (Norway)

Qualification terms

-Feature film Length: Minimum of 60 minutes.
-Short film Length: Maximum of 30 minutes.
-Genre: All genres
-Year of Productions: All movies made after January 1st 2020.
-Video format: h.264 (DCP - conditional to venue)

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I fully understand that by applying on the Japanese Serbian Film festival I allow the festival to use my work for screenings, education, and/or for purpose of festival promotion; that JSFF can use the prints for purpose of PR with maximum care and caution but cannot be held for any unpredictable damage of the file during shipping, use, preview or screening; JSFF also is not responsible for copyright, trademark, credits to all participants or author rights.

By submitting my work, I hereby allow the JSFF event to screen my work for a period of 12 months in the line-up of the festival's re-run.