The 11th Okinawa International Movie Festival is committed to championing both the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at saving the planet, and also the host prefecture of Okinawa. The fun, interactive event “41Fes” managed to do both of those things, while giving people an exciting and entertaining evening. The event in the evening of April 19 was free to the public, and the 1,000-seat Ginowan Community Hall was completely filled with people eager to see their favorite entertainers and music acts, as well as the commercials, or CM in Japanese, about Okinawa. In years past this ongoing competition was called “Jimot CM Republic.”

MCs Takashi Fujii and Nao Asahi explained that people from Okinawa’s 41 cities, towns and villages were invited to submit 30-second commercials promoting their hometowns. The best entries from each region were chosen for the event. The MCs introduced the jury, which included the celebrated actress YOU and the Yoshimoto comedy duo Garage Sale. The 41 video clips were presented in four separate groups, with Yoshimoto comedians such as Yuriyan Retriever and Chocolate Planet assigned to support each group and introduced the clips with hilarious comments.

Each of the 41 commercials took a very different approach to promoting its region, such as showcasing local communities, agricultural products or nature. Some of the clips drew big laughs from the crowd, including the commercial for Naha city, which was a parody of an iconic scene in the film “Rocky,” but featuring a boxer going up the escalator, rather than the stairs, in the city’s main shopping market.

The members of the jury commented on the clips that stood out for them, and the audience could vote on their favorites. While the ballots were being counted, the audience was treated to energetic performances by Okinawan musical acts Kazufumi Miyazawa and Kiiyama Shouten.

The climax of the evening came with the announcement of the winners. Third place went to the commercial promoting the town of Chatan, which features a group of young dancers that has performed at the Okinawan International Film Festival in the past. Second place went to the town of Yonabaru for a video about how the community comes together to make a massive hemp rope used in a local festival.

Actress YOU announced that the top honor, which included a prize of 500,000 yen, went to the city of Uruma for a video introducing a local leader who dresses as the character “Yonaemon” to teach children about the value of all life. A fitting end for an event that brought together people from all over Okinawa and connected the film festival with the local community.

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