AYA / IT Business Manager
As I grew into an adult, the things that resonated with me when watching movies with sexual minorities as the theme also changed. When I watch the same movies over and over again, my feelings react in places they wouldn’t have when I was younger, I’ll remember someone and things that are on my mind or that I’m interested in are now reflected on the screen. I feel like the movies are developing with me, that I’m overcoming something. LGBT people also feel different before and after they come out, no matter if they are living together with someone or alone the feeling changes each time. It’s interesting because there are so many discoveries to make. Sexuality and gender too, there’s no end to what can be learned when you watch a movie and talk about it with someone who has led a completely different life to you, even if it is just one movie. I look forward to seeing who’s available for me to invite to this event this year.

Yu Ishizuka / Model
I watched a lot of movies on my own when I was young and worrying about who I was and if it was really OK to be who I am. I can’t say that they were perfect, but I was greatly encouraged by the characters saying “It’s ok, it’s ok!” in a lively way and since then movies became an integral part of my life.
No matter how you are rejected by people, even if you don’t have any confidence, just living is a beautiful thing. Even now, I’m alive with the hope that movies that make me believe this will still be produced even as they are being updated.

Audrey Tang / Digital Minister, Taiwan
Biology should not determine one’s destiny. I take pride in #Taiwan being the first in Asia to legalize marriage equality, embracing #diversity and #inclusion in the process. Around the world, every step toward this direction deserves to be celebrated. The art of filmmaking allows our imagination to transcend spacetime boundaries, to enable us to take all sides, and guide us toward this shared path — somewhere over the #Rainbow, where skies are blue and dreams do come true.

Yutaka Kubo / Film Scholar
Inside/Out: LGBTQ+ Representation in Film and Television at Waseda University’s Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum was colored by voices from the visitors. Those voices showed the nostalgic yearning for the works they watched in youth, taught us where to look for the works undiscovered, and expressed the relief of being alive. I hope that our future will be filled with more films with love and humor that enrich our lives and make us live to see another day. I wish Rainbow Reel Tokyo continues to offer a platform and a community where people can run into such films.

Shonen Aya / Essayist
In this absurd world where things constantly change every day, my story, our story, is treated as meaningless or otherwise as though it doesn’t exist. However, is that really so? If that’s not the case then I want to believe that as one of the minorities that society is made of, I hope that this event will strengthen that conviction.
Even if your story isn’t here I pray that, whatever your story is, this festival becomes the catalyst for you to share your story.

Fuyuhiko Takata / Artist
When I was aspiring to become an artist in my teens, I watched a lot of films about the experiences of the gay filmmakers Kenneth Anger and Derek Jarman. They were curiously eccentric, and in a poetic sense they saved me. Then, while doing a small scale individual production, I learned that there is as strength to that and I gained courage through this.
There are various backgrounds to the films being screened at this festival, which is important, and I pray that the people who need to see them do see them, which is something I’m cheering for.

Takeuchi Sachiko / Manga Artist
For me, movies that deal with LGBTQ people exist to show the troubles and loneliness of people “seen as foreign by society” in a kind, enjoyable and interesting way. This film festival is an irreplaceable venue to heal and help my heart, and share a harsh reality with everyone, so one day this word ‘LGBTQ’ can become a word that isn’t special or really anything at all and then society will become a place that is easy for everyone to live in – not just LGBTQ people. Congratulations for your event.

NANANO Wabisen / Manga Artist
I first began worrying about my gender when I was a small child and it wasn’t until I turned 30 that I began living my life as myself. The time that passed while I worried was meaningful, but I do hope that everyone can live without suffering.
When it comes to things created by people, you convey all kinds of hopes and dreams with a sense of kindness that reaches the depths of people’s hearts and minds.
With this festival’s movies as a start, I’ll be delighted when our hopes and dreams and those of many other people become connected. I’m looking forward to Rainbow Reel Tokyo!

Mo Tzu-yi / Actor
It is such an honor that “Dear Tenant”, in which I play the lead, will be screened at the Rainbow Reel Tokyo -Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival-.
I hope that you will like the film.
I believe that love is love regardless of gender.
My hope is that one day the world will be a place where all people can love and be loved equally.
I wholeheartedly support all sexual minorities.
My heart is with you all.