The Asian Film Awards Academy (AFA Academy), with the support of Create Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Film Development Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government and the co-organization with the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF),  lead a Student Visit, titled Journey to the Fest, to the TIFF from October 23 to 30, 2018.

This project strengthens one facet of AFA Academy and TIFF’s vision, To Be Enlightening, which aims to foster a future for film and cultivate young talent. It gives Hong Kong film, media and humanities students the opportunity to develop their skills and enrich their outlook and experience through the visit to an international film festival for networking opportunities with their peers and professionals from around the world. Through communication with them, we expect that Japanese students joining TIFF can also deepen their experience and knowledge. Students on the visit can participate in various festival events and talks, attend networking events and watch films. The student group is led by AFA Academy staff and comprise 12 to 16 students chosen by application and nomination*.

Takeo Hisamatsu, Festival Director of TIFF, says, “We are delighted to invite students from Hong Kong as a member of AFA Academy. As To Be Enlightening is one of our important missions, we hope that the participants is interact with many other students visiting TIFF, have unique experiences at TIFF, and inspire each other.”

Roger Garcia, Executive Director of the AFA Academy, comments, “We hope to expose the students to different horizons of film programmers, and to give them the opportunity to meet both their peers and filmmakers from around the world. TIFF always has a great range of visitors and films. The exposure to this spectrum of works

and professionals would certainly help the students in their understanding of the industry.”