The way Tetsuya Bessho, the Japanese actor and founder of Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, views it, a short film is like an espresso coffee, or alternatively a haiku or a tanka.

"Films aren't just a matter of length," he said in a recent interview with Kyodo News. "Even if it is short, it can convey many messages."

Using the coffee analogy, he said a short film -- a cinematic piece of work that can last as little as a minute or as much as half an hour -- can "convey an essence, just like how an espresso coffee can squeeze out an enriched taste in a concentrated form."

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the event, now one of Asia's largest short-film festivals and accredited by the Academy Awards.

Bessho's love affair with short films dates back decades, from after he made his Hollywood debut in sci-fi film "Solar Crisis," a 1990 Japan-U.S. joint production, in his early 20s.

The role gave him an opportunity to join the Screen Actors Guild, and through his networking there, he got invites to a number of screenings of short films.

The 52-year-old festival president recalled that at first he assumed that short films were the work of up-and-coming film directors still struggling to find their style or niche in the film industry. But he soon decided there was more to them than that.

When he had an occasion to watch 10 short films in the United States, he was hooked. "It was really an eye-opener, and I felt short films are so interesting," he said.

Bessho further saw the potential of shorts after watching such works created by George Lucas before the director became a big name behind the Star Wars franchise. To this day, Lucas has showed support for the festival.

Short films, Bessho says, have great potential in the film industry amid the popularity of Internet-driven entertainment.

They are able to "tell stories about wars and other global issues in an uncomplicated way."

While Japanese audiences were not familiar with the short-film form before the festival was launched, the style of shedding the fat and condensing elements is similar to haiku and tanka, two short poetic forms originating in Japan, he says. Haiku has just three lines while tanka has five.

"Haiku and tanka have a limit in the number of words, but...it sparks boundless imagination," he said.

The films on show at the festival tackle wide-ranging topics from social issues to those with human themes such as stories about families and romantic comedies. In recent years, more films have taken up environmental issues.

Recounting the festival's two-decade history, he said he never imagined it would last this long, as he had been initially focused on "taking care" of each festival as it came without an eye on the future.

The festival's Grand Prix winner can be nominated in one of the short film categories for the Oscars the following year. For the official festival competition, entries are restricted to less than 25 minutes.

Since the film festival was created in 1999, it has evolved to draw more works, participating filmmakers, attendees and exposure to the public.

Bessho draws his inspiration for film festivals from having attended the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in the late 1990s.

"There was director Spike Lee, who was already famous, walking with coffee in one hand, while a then-unknown Ben Affleck was just beside me passionately talking about movies," he recalled.

"I thought what a great place for everyone to gather, regardless of whether they are famous or not, professional or amateur, actor or not," he said.

"Having participated in various international film festivals, I was told how people around the world wanted to know what Japanese people value or how they look at the world, but do not get to hear about it from performers in Japan."

For Bessho, who continues to juggle his career as an actor and managing the film festival, both of which he calls his "lifework," he believes the festival acts as both a "receptor" and "transmitter" in receiving and conveying information.

Interest in short films has also grown in the film industry of other Asian countries including Southeast Asia, as evidenced by an increase in entries from this region to the festival since its Asian division was created in 2004.

No longer is the short film seen as a mere stepping stone for feature-length films. Rather, he says, a short film using new technology "projects the future of films."


For more information about the upcoming event, visit Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia official website.