The 10th Okinawan International Movie Festival officially came to an end in the early evening of April 22 with a closing ceremony. The MCs were the Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy duo Garage Sale, which includes Toshiyuki Teruya, who also directed the film Born Bone Boom that screened during the festival. The topic of their humorous banter was the heavy rain, which caused the red carpet event to be delayed and the closing ceremony to move indoors. They joked that they have already checked the weather forecast for next year’s festival and found that it will be raining every single day.

Naha Mayor Mikiko Shiroma was more serious on the subject, saying the rain this year was hard to deal with, but at the festival next year or the year after that, it will be something that people will have strong memories of. And Yoshimoto Kogyo CEO Hiroshi Osaki insisted that he loves rain, saying it makes everything look unified.

Then it was time for the awards to be presented. Actress Meisa Kuroki presented the Audience Choice Awards. The Chinese historical epic In Pursuit of the General was selected by audiences as their favorite film in a language other than Japanese. And the body switch comedy Reon was the best-loved film in Japanese.

The Jimot CM Awards went to the best 30-second films presenting one of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The short Yonabaru: Propose won in the category for the 41 municipalities in Okinawa. Kyoto’s submission, Safety Over Convenience won in the category of the other 46 prefectures of Japan, and in the overseas category the prize went to the NPO YouMe Nepal, which made a video about its efforts to build schools for children in remote areas.

The Creators Factory 2018 U-25 Competition accepted submissions from filmmakers or younger, since they rarely have a chance to participate in film festivals. The prize went to director Fuka Miyajima for her feature-length film Wisdom Tooth, which she made as a university graduation project.

Finally, the dates were announced for next year’s festival. The 11th Okinawa International Movie Festival will run April 18 to 21, 2019, giving cinema fans something to look forward to for a full year.

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