Here at True Colors Festival, we’re one big family of artists, creators and planners. This week, we introduce Noriko Sasaki, a film event producer and promoter. Her passion is in promoting new films and encouraging people to visit the theater, in short, watch movies!

By True Colors Festival Team

Name: Noriko Sasaki

Accolades: Noriko Sasaki is a film promoter and event producer. Her goal is to get people to watch movies in the theater. Noriko was one of the producers and promoters of the True Colors Film Festival 2021. She also creates and designs websites for films.

Q: How did you come to be involved in the film industry?

When I was a teenager, I had an experience where my perception of the world changed after stepping out of a movie theater. That’s when I realized that I wanted to work on things related to films.

Q: You were involved in the recently concluded True Colors Film Festival. What was your scope of work?

I was in charge of selecting the Japan-made films, negotiating the rights for the screenings of those films, promoting the festival on various digital media, and also working on Japanese subtitles for the English language films.

Q: There were more Japanese films in the program this year compared to the 2020 edition.

Yes, many Japanese-produced films were screened — there was the screening of our original documentary “Clothes in Conversation”, which won a New York Film Award  earlier this year and was also selected as an official selection of the London Fashion Film Festival. There were also two films by the director Hiroki Kawai, including “Uta no Hajimari” (“When a Song Begins”), a documentary that traces the journey of a deaf photographer, Harumichi Saito, who discovers singing, which he had despised in the past. There is also a unique short film directed by Momoko Fukuda, “Dad’s Marriage”, about a daughter who returns to her parents’ home to celebrate her father’s remarriage, only to find out that her father is the “bride”! In addition, many of the English language films were screened for the first time with Japanese translation. 

Q: What was the most memorable part of working on the program?

I was touched by the fact that there are still many wonderful films in the world that have not yet been introduced to Japan. Many films are subtitled in Japanese for the first time, and I wouldn’t have known about them if I wasn’t involved in this film festival. I’m thankful for the Singapore team for selecting these great films!

Q: True Colors Festival works to advocate the importance of embracing diversity. How do you think film can further its cause?

In my opinion, films offer plenty of information, making it a useful medium to convey important ideas and intentions such as the importance of inclusivity and diversity.

Q: The message of True Colors Festival is “One World One Family”, what does this mean to you personally?  

I think it means for every one of us to be willing to empathize with others, just like we empathize with people we love, such as our family. Regardless of who we are or where we come from, each of our situations is different from the other so it’s important to be open to listening and to have an attitude of compassion — to me, this is what the phrase stands for.