Visit to Jordan of Director Makoto Shinkai in January 2008


One of the most successful visual artists among the rising generation in Japan will visit Jordan for workshop, screening and talks.

Quick glance at the visit
5 Centimeters per Second
The voices of a distant star
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
(c) Makoto Shinkai/CoMix Wave Films
Japanese animation film director Mr. Makoto Shinkai will visit Jordan in the last half of January for a one-week workshop, screening his films and talks on them, which Jordanian artists will have the chance to learn and share expertise, the key to success, and joy of creation with one of the most successful visual artists among the rising generation in Japan.

The two-week visit, organized by the Royal Film Commission (RFC), the Japan Foundation, and the Embassy of Japan, with the support of SAE Institute Jordan, the Royal Cultural Center, Aranim Media Factory and relevant bodies, will include a one-week workshop for visual artists on the intermediate level, activity at INTEL Computer Clubhouse in East Amman, screening of the director’s and his colleagues’ films, and talks on animation both from an artistic point of view and business perspective, so as to support and encourage visual creators and business in Jordan. This project is the first in its kind ever organized in Jordan by Japan, which pop culture has received full recognition in the world, from the young people in particular.

Director Makoto Shinkai
Director Makoto Shinkai astonished the animation industry and the public in 2002, at the age of 29, by his 25 minute long film “The voices of a distant star”. In addition to its story, beautiful art works, and direction, the people were stunned by knowing that he had finished it almost alone with a single computer. Every part of making the film was done by him only with the exception of composing music and audio engineering. He played even the part of a voice actor. “I had a trial of independently producing a high-quality film with the digital technology.” He mentioned at his web site. As the animation industry is considered as one of the heavily labor intensive industries, his single-handed production had been watched with keen interest. This love story about a couple in the extreme distance (Outer space separated them) won many prizes including “the best new comer award” at Tokyo International Animation Festival in 2002. Its DVD sales have recorded ninety thousand in Japan and seventy thousand in more than twenty countries abroad.

Following the success of the first commercial work, he released his first feature film “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” in 2004. The director replied to a question in a TV interview saying: “I came to know the advantages of both solo and team play. The movie I completed with one hundred staff was not very different from what I had independently elaborated when making the storyboards for the same film. On the other hand, its quality was very much improved with the team’s effort.” Both screening and DVD sales of this feature film went very well and it also won awards of international film festivals such as Canada Fantasia Film Festival, as well as awards in Japan.

“Neither the universe nor giant robot is to appear on screen. It is a story of the people who lives in Japan at present” the director had described his third work before its release. “Five Centimeters per Second” was started its screening on 3 March 2007 and since then it has enjoyed a long run screening in Japan. The film recently won the Best Animated Feature Film from Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

At last but not least, it is worth mentioning that the director has a good sense of business and balance in addition to a gift for art. He had ingeniously uploaded part of his debut film on the web, with which it attracted a great deal of attention of possible audience and sponsors. Later, he decided to join hands with CoMix Wave Films, a Japanese production which has supported independent visual creators. Its managing director Mr. Kawaguchi will visit Jordan along with Director Makoto Shinkai in order to deliver a few lectures about the Japanese animation business. The managing director kindly arranged screening two films under his company’s license other than Director Shinkai’s three films.

Animation and cinema industry in Jordan
Good news about the opening of SAE Institute Jordan and the Red Sea Institute for Cinematic Arts in fall 2007 and 2008 respectively, and the recent success of Rubicon, Jordan’s multimedia production company, which signed with MGM to co-produce the Pink Panther & Pals TV series, has revealed a new horizon of Jordan’s future. Considering a number of talented people with ICT skills in Jordan, and the big population of children in the region, the animation industry would be of great promise.

The visit of Director Shinkai and his business partner has been realized based on the partnership between the Japan Foundation which is represented by the Embassy of Japan and the RFC. The partnership, whose aim is to provide Jordanian people with the opportunity to touch Japanese visual arts other than the western ones and experience the richness of the Japanese cinema, will be given a further boost to it by the project in January.

Director Shinkai’s success story that he produced a film alone and won the highest praise by it, would definitely change a preconceived idea of the Jordanian visual artists and unleash their potential. The director’s films also would further remind the Jordanian people that animation is not kid’s stuff, but a way of art expression. The director said: “I tried to show visually what I couldn’t express in words.”

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The Royal Film Commission  -Set Your Inspiration In Jordan-
The Royal Film Commission was established in July 2003 with a mandate to develop and promote an internationally competitive Jordanian audio-visual industry through the advancement of human, technical and financial capacity in addition to providing comprehensive production support services to local, regional and international productions. The Royal Film Commission is a financially and administratively autonomous Jordanian government body led by a board of Commissioners chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein. The RFC believes that filmmaking is a form of creative expression that transcends borders promoting cross-cultural understanding through the sharing of stories, thoughts and ideas. Jordan is a staunch supporter of Intellectual Property Rights. The RFC is the first Middle Eastern member of the Association of Film Commissioners International. For more information about the Royal Film Commission, visit www.film.jo.


A team that has supported this project
The Embassy would like to express its great gratitude to the following friends for their dedication to this project


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