The 1st Okinawa International Movie Festival was held from March 19 to March 22, 2009 and took place at the American Village at Mihama Chatan-cho in

Okinawa City is the second-largest city in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, following Naha, the capital city. It is located in the central part of the island of Okinawa, about north of Naha. As of December 2012, the city has an estimated population of 138,431 and ...

. The inaugural events saw 38 films being shown and was supported by the Ministries of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Foreign Affairs, along with the Cabinet Office in Okinawa. Most of the films for the first

Okinawa International Movie Festival The Okinawa International Movie Festival is an annual Film Festival held in Ginowan City and Naha City on the Japanese island of Okinawa Island. The festival was founded by Japanese century-old comedy-entertainment giant Yoshimoto Kogyo in 2009 a ...

were shown free of charge, with a few priced at ¥800/ ¥400 for adults/ children. The Chatan Town Sunset Beach also hosted performances by Okinawan artists Rimi Natsukawa and the

Rinken Band is an Okinawan band that helped popularize their homeland's musical forms and Okinawan music, traditional Okinawan music starting in 1985, when their first hit, "Arigatou", was released. Rinken Band was founded by , the son of well-known Okinawan ...

. The Competition Grand Prix was awarded to Japanese director Katsuhide Motoki for his film '' Battle League Horumo''.

Official selection

The official selection of films shown in competition included three domestic films out of 8 in competition, all of which were given their world premiers. The five competing foreign films were given their Japan premier at the festival.

Competition

The following films were selected as In Competition:

Out of Competition

The following films were screened out of competition: ;Special Invitation ;Special Screening ;Yoshimoto Special Presentation ''(all world premieres)''

Jury

1st Okinawa International Movie Festival 002

;Competition * Kim Dong Ho, Executive Chairman of Pusan International Film Festival *

Jerry Zucker Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film producer, director, and writer known for his role in directing comedy spoof films such as ''Airplane!'' and ''Top Secret!'', and the Best Picture-nominated supernatural drama film ''Gh ...

, Writer & director from the United States * Somemaru Hayashiya, Comic storyteller * Gordon Chan, Hong Kong filmmaker *

You (actress) , known as , is a Japanese television personality and actress, and former singer and model. Career Ehara was scouted in Harajuku and began working as a model. She began a career as a singer under her birth name, releasing her first single "Chotto ...

, Japanese actress * Bokunen Naka, Woodblock artist

Awards