One of the characteristics of KINEKO (Tokyo) is how the festival turns the entire city into a movie theatre: the Teen section was screened at a café and studio in a shopping street, the Kineko Marche took over the Central Square, there were street performance and a Street Piano Event… The most peculiar location was the iTSCOME Studio & Hall, turned into a dream theatre with fluffy cushions and sofas for families to watch films.
Following a two-year break, the KINEKO Film Festival finally returned. The largest film festival for children and families in Japan, KINEKO welcomes around 100,000 visitors every year in its venues in Futakotamagawa, Tokyo. Over 50 film titles were screened at a variety of venues, including conventional cinema theatres. Screenings for the younger audience came with a live voice-over performance by professional voice actors done on the spot. Experience a glimpse of the festival’s unique atmosphere in the aftermovie.
The KINEKO Children Section Jury were Michiko Tachimoto (Japan), Jitendra Mishra (India), Michael Harbauer (Germany) and Jo-Anne Blouin (Canada); The Teen Section Jury were Wuan-ling Guo (Taiwan), Heleen Rouw (the Netherlands), Dimitris Spyrou (Greece) and Gert Hermans (Belgium). Films awarded by the juries were MEZQUITE’S HEART (Ana Laura Calderon, Mexico – Best Feature for Children) and WALTZ (Mari Miyazawa – Best Japanese Short for Children), BETWEEN US (Yasuo Okuaki, Japan – Best Feature for Teens) and SHOWER BOYS (Christian Zetterberg, Sweden – Best Short for Teens).
This year’s Hospital Project was a festival’s first-time initiative to bring films screened at KINEKO into the hospitals, in cooperation with the National Centre for Children’s Health & Development.
KINEKO is already planning its 29th edition for November 2022; the call for submissions is open.