The Hiroshima International Film Festival (HIFF), launched as Damah Film Festival in Hiroshima in 2009 and renamed to its present name in 2014, is an annual film festival held in the city of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

in Japan each November. Its focus is on "positive and inspirational films".

History

The Damah Film Festival, a festival of

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s focused on spirituality was established in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, United States, in 2001, before relocating to

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

. ''Damah'' is a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

word sometimes translated as "

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

". The Damah Film Festival in Hiroshima was held annually from 2009 until 2013, with the theme "Connecting our hearts together", in some years also being presented in Fukuyama. The inaugural Hiroshima International Film Festival (under its new name and with an expanded program) was held at NTT Cred Hall in Hiroshima City in 2014. In 2019, the Damah Film Festival began as a separate festival in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, focusing on short films, with Mayumi Fukuhara as the inaugural director. It continues today, with a 2025 festival planned in the spring. Mark Joseph, co-founder, is president of the festival

Description

It is a three-day film festival held annually in November Hiroshima. Films are submitted from around the world, subtitled in Japanese and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and the program is bilingual. Its focus is on "positive and inspirational films". The festival is presented by the

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and various other bodies.

People

The president of the festival is production designer Kyoko Heya. Kazutaka Yamamoto is chairman of the executive committee of the festival, while the secretary general of the festival is Hitoshi Kono.

Past festivals

The inaugural Damah Film Festival in Hiroshima in 2009 included past winners of the U.S. festival, new nominees from Asian countries, and a special showing of the thriller ''The Least of These'', executive produced by Ralph Winter. Supported by the Hiroshima Film Commission, the festival relied on around 100 volunteers to stage the event. Prizes awarded were the Hiroshima Grand Prix Award, Jury Award, and Audience Award were elected by audience voting and five jury members. In 2010, a Competition Division was created. The 2011 event was affected by the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

, and Japanese actor

Etsushi Toyokawa is a Japanese actor. Biography Born in Yao, Osaka, he studied at Shimizudani High School is a prestigious Japanese public co-educational senior high school (secondary school), located in Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan. Overview Shimizudan ...

was a special guest at the festival. In 2012, the Chūgoku Region Award was introduced. In 2014 the inaugural rebranded festival (as Hiroshima International Film Festival) introduced three new competitions and programs: the International Short Film Competition, Special Screenings, the "Hiroshima EYE". In 2015, the festival took place across four venues in the city, including NTT Cred Hall, Hiroshima City Cinematographic and Audio-Visual Library, Yokogawa Cinema, and Hatchoza, from 20 to 23 November. the Swiss documentary film '' The Day the Sun Fell'' by

Aya Domenig Aya Domenig (born 1972) is a film-maker and anthropologist of Japanese– Swiss origin. Early life and education Born in Kameoka, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, Aya Domenig has joint Swiss and Japanese citizenship. Her mother is of Japanes ...

was presented at the festival. The film links the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. Domenig's maternal grandfather was a doctor at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. In 2018, the festival presented Swiss films selected by the newly created Helvetica Swiss Film Festival. In 2023, the festival opened with ''The Village'', directed by Michihito Fujii and starring Ryusei Yokohama. Ryusuke Hamaguchi's '' Evil Does Not Exist'' had its Japanese premiere at the festival. The short film competition was held for the first time in four years, and there was a special program dedicated to

Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy (''The Twilight Samurai'', ''The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography He was born in Osaka, but due to his father's job ...

, who has made many films in Hiroshima Prefecture.

Footnotes

References

External links

*{{official website, http://hiff.jp/en/
Hiroshima International Film Festival
at IMDb 2009 establishments in Japan 2014 establishments in Japan Film festivals in Japan Film festivals established in 2009 Film festivals established in 2014 Festivals in Hiroshima