The Global Universities Subtitling Project initiated by the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA) enables students to gain initial experience in film subtitling under professional guidance. Nippon Connection presents two short films of the PIA Film Festival, which were subtitled by students of the University of Ghent and the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf.

jvtacademy.com, pff.jp

Enough! Kanako wants to become a plant. Tired of interacting with humans, she spends her days silent and alone in the botanical gardens. One day, a melancholy young boy named Ko appears with his so-called “dog” – a potted plant on a leash! Kanako dreams with Ko about an imaginary new life after her transformation, and the two loners become friends – until Ko begins to grow roots of his own. THE WANDERING PLANTS celebrated its premiere in the competition of the 2019 PIA Film Festival.

After moving to a new town with his mother, soft-spoken Kota has problems fitting in with the other kids at his middle school. One afternoon, he has a fight with his mother and storms out of the house to sit at the river – where he meets Rikako, a bubbly, popular girl from his class. An unlikely friendship evolves. It turns out Rikako is holding on to secrets about her own troubled home life as well, so they have more in common than they realized. But the troubles that brought them together also threaten to drive them apart. The film won the Runner-up Award at the 2019 PIA Film Festival.