The 9th edition of the "1 Minute Projection Mapping Competition," which was held in Tokyo for the first time after a one-year postponement due to the new Corona, attracted a great deal of attention.

This tournament, which started with 5 countries, has now grown to receive 246 entries from 54 countries and regions. I am very happy that the participants are highly motivated to participate, and at the same time, I feel a great sense of responsibility. This competition is a place for creators to output their own expressions, and I was reminded of the importance of creating such a place. Creators' perspectives, ideas, and what they want to express essentially represent what people want to say and the times they live in, and through these opportunities, their ideas are directly conveyed to people and evoke emotion. The value of the time spent experiencing these creators and the expression they bring to the table is increasing and becoming more and more indispensable.

The world is currently divided by the spread of the coronavirus. This competition should have been held in the same place where the international judges and finalists would have gathered to share the same time together. However, this time, we were able to hold the competition while connecting online, and on the other hand, we were able to feel the passion and temperature of the competition, which was as great as the distance between the world and the creators, making it a very valuable opportunity for us. Through the "1 Minute Projection Mapping Competition" and "TOKYO LIGHTS," we would like to continue to provide opportunities for such connections in the future.

Now, the festival was held on a large scale in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, in conjunction with the Festival of Light, and attracted a record number of entries and a very high quality group of works. Both as a competition and as a projection mapping show, it was more substantial than ever before. The theme of the competition was "HOPE," and this year's competition provided an opportunity for creators from all over the world to think about, express, and communicate the word "hope," and I felt that each work carried more of the creator's "personality" and "feelings" than in previous years. Even at the stage of the selection process to choose the finalists, it was a very difficult task to have to narrow down the field. We would have screened more films if we could have, but I believe that the jury selected the films that gave us a stronger sense of this feeling of "hope" and energy.

The Seitoku Memorial Picture Gallery, which was used as a screen, is a beautiful building with a long history and is also a valuable Japanese cultural asset. To make the most of this architecture and space is a task that requires a great deal of experience and imagination. However, this experience can sometimes be a barrier to imagination. In this competition, experienced creators are required to break out of their shells, and young creators are challenged to come up with bold ideas that do not rely on experience. Creators are encouraged to go beyond the barriers of "what it should be like," and the works that struck a chord with the judges were awarded the Grand Prix and other prizes.

Grand Prix and Audience Award: "THROUGH THE NIGHT" THE FOX, THE FOLKS (Indonesia)
This year's Grand Prix and Audience Award winner, "THE FOX, THE FOLKSThe works in the "3DCG" exhibition evoked a sense of creativity and freshness. The scene where the sun rises brightly like the rising sun after the dark night expressed in monotone illustrations brought warmth to many people's hearts. The layout, cut and split, transitions, and other elements that make the most of the architectural shapes are also very cleverly done, and each scene is an intricate piece of work that can be seen as a single picture.
VIDEO:https://youtu.be/fe_VTGNhbS8

Second PrizeAlegria" Romera Diseño e infografia SL (Los Romeras) (Spain)
The runner-up, "Los RomerasThe work in "The Last of Us" was a simple and powerful piece with Spanish folk music as its main focus. While focusing on the colors of red and white, all scenes were carefully crafted to the rhythm and intonation of the music, and were very pleasant and exhilarating as if running through to the finale. The work also conveyed the passion that "hope is the energy of people's joy and enjoyment," and attracted many people at the venue.
VIDEO:https://youtu.be/Bs7fLAtrDnQ

Jury PrizeArco Iris" by Felix Frank (Germany)

The Jury Prize winner, Germany's "Felix FrankThe work of "The Piano" slowly constructed a simple and beautiful world, which quietly and greatly moved the audience. After a simple introduction starting with a piano melody, the spatiality of the stringed instruments gradually expanded into a swelling sound that entered the viewer's mind. It was a strange and beautiful work that brought about an experience as if one were to melt into the starry sky one looked up at and assimilate oneself into the universe, and as the minute dots of light shining in the dark moved, one felt the delicate yet cosmic scale of the work.
VIDEO:https://youtu.be/1NU5PF276Ug

Tokyo Tokyo Prize: "Jidainote Hands of New Age" 01iMAGE / Noguchi Kazunobu (Japan)

Tokyo Tokyo Award winner "Tokyo Tokyo01iMAGE/Noguchi KazunobuThe "Motion Graphic Design" piece was fun and calculated, with a nice rhythm and changes along with the music. Although the projection mapping was a bit lacking, the motion graphic design, pleasant movement, vivid colors, and straightforward presentation made up for it, attracting the audience and gaining popularity.
VIDEO:https://youtu.be/5O7RWy-2GMY

The non-winning entries were also truly outstanding, and the judges wanted to pick more, which was very distressing in itself to have to narrow it down to only five awards, and a credit to the finalists for being recognized as great works in their own right. In the end, it was the creators' willingness to take on challenges, more than the technical aspects, that resulted in the adoption of the awards, and I believe that this will be a guiding principle for future competitions as well, and will be the key to the direction most sought after by creators in these competitions.

In conclusion, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to the many people involved in organizing this event, to all those who attended the event, to the local community, and most of all to the creators who participated in the event.

1minute Projection Mapping Competition
General Producer Michiyuki Ishida