Josh Patrick Dawson from FINCH in Melbourne is one of the five emerging directors selected for AdFest’s Fabulous Five this year. The other four directors all come from Japan, a testament to the quality of its film production. Two are from AOI Pro in Tokyo. The three women and two men were chosen from 49 entries, representing 11 cities in Asia Pacific and Middle East.

The Fabulous Five are:

• Jo Motoyo, Director from Taiyo Kikaku Co. Tokyo
• Josh Patrick Dawson, Director at FINCH Melbourne
• Mai Murata, Assistant Director from Dentsu Creative X Inc. Tokyo
• Rin Soejima, Director from AOI Pro.Tokyo
• Tomu Yamaguchi, Director from AOI Pro. Tokyo

To qualify in the AdFest Fabulous Five emerging commercial directors are asked to write a short film. This year, directors had the task of writing a five-minute script inspired by the theme of AdFest 2019, TMRRW.TDAY. Their scripts were then judged by some of the world’s top production executives in AdFest’s 2019 Film Craft Lotus & New Director Lotus Jury.

“This is the first time that female directors have outnumbered male directors in AdFest’s short film competition,” noted Jimmy Lam, AdFest president.

“In an industry that has traditionally been dominated by male directors, it’s exciting to see young female directors making their mark in the industry and having their stories heard.”

Dawson, Murata, Soejima, Uzawa and Yamaguchi now have just weeks to cast, direct, shoot and edit their film scripts in time to premiere at AdFest 2019. The Fabulous Five 2019 film screening will take place during AdFest 2019 on Thursday March 21, 3:40pm – 5.25pm, in a session moderated by Ali Brown, partner and executive producer at Prettybird in Los Angeles.

“I loved reading this year’s Fabulous Five scripts,” commented Brown, jury president of Film Craft Lotus and New Director Lotus at AdFest 2019.

“It was fascinating to see the various interpretations of the theme, TMRRW.TDAY, and I saw such inventiveness in the screenwriting. We judged each script anonymously – while there were many scripts that were in serious contention, ultimately a select group of five rose to the top. I can’t wait to see how these scripts come to life between now and March.”

Many new and emerging directors who have screened their films at AdFest have gone on to achieve great things. As a result, AdFest has expanded the program from Fabulous Four to Fabulous Five for the first time this year, giving more directors the chance to make their first big break.

Last year, Huixin Law from Reservoir World Sdn Bhd in Kuala Lumpur won a Commendation for her Fabulous Four short film called, Bird on a Wire.

“AdFest 2018 provided me with the opportunity to showcase the passion that I have for filmmaking. It is truly an honour that my script was selected for the Fabulous Four program and to represent Malaysia. It was also very humbling to be recognised as the first Malaysian female to win the Fabulous Four Commendation because it reminded what can be achieved with hard work and perseverance.”

AdFest 2019 runs from March 20 to March 23 at the PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand. Tickets are available here.