TOKYO: Judging from the tiny number of awards given out in the Film Craft category at ADFEST 2010, this year’s Film Craft Jury at ADFEST was not easy to impress.

Overall, the Jury gave out just 1 Gold, 8 Silvers and 6 Bronze Lotuses in Film Craft, with Australia and New Zealand outdoing Bangkok and India in terms of winning the highest number of awards.

We asked Jury President Kazuyoshi Hayakawa for the lowdown. (We also asked him why he made his Jurists do Japanese stretching exercises every morning!)

What did you think of the overall quality of entries in Film Craft this year?

“Some people on our Jury thought the quality wasn’t that high, but I personally didn’t think so. Unfortunately we could only give 1 Gold in Film Craft, but I thought there was more than one that qualified.

“Overall, I don’t think the quality was bad at all. Of course advertising has a lot to do with the economy and market conditions, so from that point of view I think there were some very good spots – especially from Australia, we saw a lot of good ideas. That was the impression I got. Thai and Indian advertising has been a hot topic over the past few years, but this year I think we saw a lot less of that.”

 What about Japan?

“This is probably homework for the Japanese film industry, but I think ADFEST needs to solicit more Japanese production companies to enter in the Film Craft category. There should have been a couple of Japanese candidates to win but they simply didn’t enter this year.”

 Why did McCann Worldgroup win this year’s only Gold in the Film Craft category? 

“It was a Thai coffee advertisement and it was very comical, which meant it was evaluated very high. It made everybody happy; everyone was laughing when they watched it.”

 What were your responsibilities as Jury President?

“I wanted to listen to what other people said as much as possible and encourage discussion among the group, even if that opinion might not live until the end. I also wanted to have a very relaxed, friendly atmosphere. I practiced Japanese exercises that a lot of Japanese elementary schools begin the day with – I made everybody do it at the start of each day. Everybody could say whatever they wanted to say, and I think we’ve been very successful.”

To you, what’s the difference between Gold, Silver and Bronze?

“Gold has to have a magnetic effect right away, the moment you see it, and it has to have a lot of emotion. Silver doesn’t go quite as far, but it still has very good strength and power. Bronze is something that is maybe not as refined as the others, but we see some value to it.”

Did your Jury have any arguments?

“I think a lot of our arguments were about entries in the Direction section, that was the hardest issue. We were struggling all through the day whether we should give any Golds in this segment, and then we decided no.”

Why have enjoyed so much success as a Director in Japan? 

“You have to enjoy what you’re doing with your job and for me personally, I like people, I like to communicate with people, and at the same time I like to illustrate human beings and also capture emotions and communicate that to other people. It’s like giving life to something that doesn’t have life. See, film itself is just a film, it doesn’t have life. A director gives life to it, and that’s what I enjoy.”

What’s been the proudest moment of career?

“I used to work a lot in Thailand 15 years ago and a lot of Thai people really responded to the commercials I shot, they had a certain influence in the culture. A lot of great Thai directors began to spring out of that market, and I was there just prior to that. I was very happy about that.”

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