Facing nonexistent government support, meager prospects for private-sector funding and even diminishing turnout at box offices, any aspiring filmmaker in Japan might lose sight of their movie-making dreams.
Though there will always be art-for-art's-sake diehards out there with a ready answer, the Nextframe film festival at least is giving young independent directors of all nationalities more marketable reasons to stay behind the camera.
Nextframe is a touring festival of jury-selected international student films. Founded in 1993 by a graduate student of film at Philadelphia's Temple University, it has been held in Japan since 1999, organized by Temple's branch campus in Tokyo.