Short Shorts Film Festival's blog

The Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA) is one of the Asia's biggest short film festivals and a qualifying film festival for the annual Academy Awards®. The festival was started by Japanese actor Tetsuya Bessho, and was initially called the American Short Shorts Film Festival. The first festival in 1999 screened a variety of short films, including six from director George Lucas, whose support of the festival continues to this day. In 2001, the festival underwent a name change to become the Short Shorts Film Festival (SSFF), becoming a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards® just a few years later in 2004. This designation allowed the winner of the festival’s Grand Prix to become eligible for nomination in the short film categories at the Academy Awards®. This also meant that the Short Shorts Film Festival became a gateway to an Oscar for young Japanese filmmakers. The same year, the festival became a qualifying film festival for the Academy Award®, Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara requested the festival to further showcase up and coming Asian filmmakers and their short films, leading to the formation of the Short Shorts Film Festival Asia. Organized in conjunction with the original Short Shorts Film Festival the combined festivals now form the annual Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, introducing short films from all over the world. http://www.shortshorts.org/index-en.php