Greetings
International Signs
American Sign Language
First of all, I want to thank all the people who supported the Tokyo Deaf Film Festival in 2017 from the bottom of my heart.
Thanks to all the encouragement, there were as many as 1,500 people who came to the Tokyo Deaf Film Festival in 3 days, which all the staff and I are deeply grateful for.
In an attempt to internationalize this film festival, we decided to rename it Tokyo International Deaf Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as TDF).
We are now working very hard to hold the 2nd TDF from May 31 to June 3, 2019.
The theme for TDF 2019 is Possibility.
This world is full of various possibilities. And these possibilities come out of nowhere in our lives, whether it is good or bad.
What we want to do as TDF is to use our imagination and provide people, through films, with many different possible stories that could actually happen in the reality we live in.
Also, as a next step that TDF is going to take, we decided to invite film makers around the world to enter and submit their films to be chosen and screened in TDF 2019.
TDF wants a film which has a new approach to a film itself, and makes the audience question themselves what a film really is. We want your unique sensitivity and a film that has created with your own understanding of intelligence of the sight.
I hope that TDF will continue to be the place for people to thoroughly enjoy and connect to the world of the Deaf films.
Tokyo International Deaf Film Festival Director and Producer
Eri Makihara
About Tokyo International Deaf Film Festival
Tokyo International Deaf Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as TDF) is a film festival where all the films are selected by the Deaf staff.
It is held every 2 years in Shibuya, Tokyo by both the Deaf and hearing staff altogether.
The main theme of the films screened in this festival is Deaf itself, and they are mostly feature films.
The main goal of the TDF is to contribute to the development of the Deaf society and the Deaf art, and to create a place where both the Deaf and the hearing can come together and understand each other by providing both the hearing and also the Deaf themselves with films concerned with the Deaf so ciety with sign language and the Deaf culture.
There are lots of various events held in the TDF such as film screenings with a kinema-interpreter in sign language, Japanese film screenings with Japanese subtitles, talk shows and symposiums with guests both from Japan and overseas, a photo exhibition, and workshops.
The first TDF was held at a movie theatre called EuroLive in Shibuya, Tokyo from April 7, 2017 –April 9, 2017, with its main theme being Intelligence of the Sight.
12 unique films including the ones that had never been screened in Asia, or Japan were selected from all over the world. There were as many as 1,500 people who came to the TDF 2017, which shows that the TDF has influence on many people. Also, one of the films screened in the TDF 2017 has been purchased by a film distribution company, and will be available in theaters in Japan from October 2018.
The influence of the TDF is surely expanding even outside of the TDF.
In order to internationalize this festival and invite people from all over the world, the TDF will continue to evolve by creating multi-language environment. For instance, film screenings with English subtitles, International Sign interpreters, and voice recognition app for people from overseas are now in progress to be available from next year.
