The 2012 Asian International Children’s Film Festival selected three films by eight high school students from the Philippines as the country’s official entries. The films were jointly screened by he Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) of the Japanese Embassy and the University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI) and out of the 41 entries submitted, these three were chosen.
The finals in November 24, will also showcase finalists from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, and Myanmar. The film fest, now on its sixth year sees this festival as an opportunity to strengthen international relations between the young people of all participating countries. As an added bonus, the youngsters will also go on a tour of key sites in Japan, including areas that were devastated by the Great East Japan earthquake of last year.
This tour is part of the Kizuna Project, a program that aims to bring 10,000 youths from all over Asia to visit the affected places and see for themselves all the ongoing repair and rehabilitation these areas are still experiencing. The reconstruction of Japan after the earthquake has already attracted worldwide praise and the organizers of Kizuna (which means “bond” in Japanese) believe it will be of great importance for these young people to personally witness this process. The Japanese embassy in the Philippines said they will be inviting 285 Filipinos to participate in this program.
[ via Philippine Daily Inquirer ]