Gift for an Afflicted World

I had always felt that the Japan Media Arts Festival was
a competition in a different world, distant from an analog
person like me. Being unexpectedly invited to join the
jury for the Entertainment Division this year, I decided
to participate to be a representative of ordinary citizens.
Considering the diversity of the entries, including films,
TV programs, multimedia production, advertisements,
products, games, and applications, I was at first doubtful of evaluating them all together.
However, in the context of entertainment, opportunities to encounter a truly moving and valuable piece
are not so abundant for us who are always surrounded
by a large amount of information and entertainment.
Although the encounter with the entries for judging
was a special occasion, I tried to evaluate them based
on whether or not the entries had the ability to simply
touch people’s hearts or to change people’s awareness
or worldview.
The jurying process took quite a long time, partially
because it was my first time, but it was very fruitful to
listen to and hold discussions with other jury members from different fields about each work on site. In
a pandemic-struck, uncertain era with many people
feeling lost, entertainment is no exception to suffering
various limitations. Despite such a situation, a variety
of solutions were found in the entries, such as ones
to overcome or take advantage of adversity, and to
achieve sharp expressions imperturbable in any situation. Precisely because of the current situation, I hope
for entertainment to brightly illuminate our minds. I
believe we selected works that may encourage the afflicted world, including myself.