In "The Mystery of Chinese Character Tests", a group of high school students are puzzled by the ambiguity of criteria used in marking students' renditions of the Chinese characters for the words "tome", "hane" and "harai" and the fact that marks achieved in tests vary considerably. They try to get to the bottom of the matter by interviewing elementary, junior high and senior high school teachers, education committee members and Ministry of Education, Sports, Science and Technology officials.

Isao Takahata, one of the judges hailed, “While the students inquire into the matter very intelligently, they somehow manage to relax and induce the interviewees to speak frankly and expose their contradictions. I was amazed by the skills of the students. The film also has a humorous touch. A wonderful work.”

Of the 3 entries awarded the Video Grand Prize, the judges spent longest discussing "Plays the air.", and were unanimous in awarding high marks. The work is a consummate portrayal of the wavering emotions of a young woman uncertain that she will be able to achieve her ideals after leaving school. The protagonist, the same age as the author, is without pretension in her depiction of everyday situations and the camera work is masterly.

Hailed by the judges: “The way the film is shot and edited effectively alternates between being subjective and objective. Everything unfolds in a natural way on a consistent theme rather than relying on theatrical techniques, which I think is pleasant. This kind of—as I would call—improvised melody is superb. From this work we can see the keen artistic sense of the filmmaker. This is the best work of the last few years.” (Makoto Shiina) “ ‘Plays the air.’ found its place with its new values, while being praised as a great achievement comparable to famous works of literature born out of a long tradition.” (Nobuhiko Obayashi)

"Fear no Evil" is a documentary about 3 young Arabs (living respectively in Iraq, Palestine and New York), examining their thoughts on US military policy and their hopes for the future.

Susumu Hani, one of the judges said, “The film pierces our hearts by clearly showing us—through the daily lives of boys and girls in a town where terrorists are fighting each other and causing destruction—that terrorism is affecting not only the handful of people concerned but also many boys and girls in general. It was amazing to see that a type of interview that could not be realized in TV mass media had been developed to this high level in the world of video.”

One feature of this year's contest was the large number of young people among the winners, including Seiko Uchida (age 23), author of the Video Grand Prize-winning entry "Plays the air." Some 43, or nearly half of the 89 authors of prize-winning entries (out of a total of 100, including authors of entries designated as "Selected Works") whose ages are known were in their 20s or younger (5 aged 10-19, 38 aged 20-29). Likewise, 12 of the 27 authors of entries that received "Excellence Awards" whose ages are known (out of a total of 31), were in their 20s or younger. This appears to be partly because young people in Japan have acquired great skill in handling video cameras, now a part of everyday life, and enjoy using them to create their own dramas, animated films, art, etc., with an increasing number aiming to create serious works, and partly because young people from Asian countries —China, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, etc. — aspiring to be film creators are entering the TVF contest.

Typical examples are "The Last Water" (Weike Jin, age 21, student, China/Excellence Award), a documentary about people fighting a drought in Chongqing; "Peeple" (Satsuki Watanabe, age 26, assistant director, Tokyo, Japan/Selected Work), a drama that questions the relationships of trust between people, based on illicit filming; "Somewhere" (Mak Shing Fuhng, age 22, student, Hong Kong/Excellence Award), an animated film in which the magical effect of the uniquely Chinese medium of ink painting-style animation is created using computer graphics techniques; and "The Special Family Movie" (Shin Seunghwan, age 24, student, Korea/Selected Work), a drama based on the theme of the weakening of family ties. As well, from theoneminutesJr. entries, "Baby Trees" (Dorin Babeu age 11, Rumania/Excellence Award) shows intense concern for the future of the world’s environment.

The most accessible subject for videos by individuals, and that in which authors showed the greatest interest, seems to have been "family". The prize-winners this year, too, included 10 works in which "family" was the main subject or theme. The viewpoints taken by authors varied, but it seems that, in an age where circumstances surrounding "family" seem to undergo considerable change, "family" still occupies a place in our hearts. The close interest in family ties revealed in these works has the power to attract and evoke sympathy in the viewer.

Examples include "In Order for Kujira to Smile" (Hiroki Iwasawa, age 26, Part-time worker, Hokkaido, Japan/Excellence Award) in which the protagonist takes a fresh look at himself through the medium of memories of his family moving house, and events involving the pet he kept; "Father — Three Years Since Mother Passed Away" (Tadashi Oi, age 59, self-employed, Saitama Prefecture, Japan/Excellence Award), a video letter intended to cheer up the author's widowed father; "From Father to Son — a Story of Fishermen in Koshigoe" (Eiji Imaizumi, age 32, company employee, Kanagawa Prefecture/Selected Work), which depicts the conflict of values between a father with 50 years' experience as a fisherman and the son he is training in the business; "Mirage" (Ryo Nakano, age 21, student, Shiga Prefecture, Japan/Selected Work), in which, following his parents' divorce, the author, spurred on by the sentiment that "family is a thing so close and yet so far", examines the evidence that his parents and he were once a family; "Nonna: Eine Frau ohne Gedächtnis [Nonna: A Woman without Memory]" (Susanne von Seefeld, age 54, sculptress Germany/Selected Work), a documentary about an aged mother and her daughter who plunges herself into the creation of sculptures and video recordings in an attempt to capture memories of her mother.

When a video camera is pointed at a human being, the images it captures strongly reflect the gaze of the person behind the camera. The prize-winning entries included a large number of videos depicting the way people live that could be termed "portrait" works. What all these works have in common is the seriousness and warmth of the way the creator looks at the subject.

Examples of works in which outstanding observation of people arouse the sympathy of the viewer include "Hirotan and the Piano" (Hirotan and the Piano Production Committee, Tokyo, Japan/Excellence Award), a documentary following the story a young boy with speech impairment who is helped to grow and develop by learning to play the piano; the very body temperature of the music teacher who supports Hirotan and the person shooting the video seem to come across in this video; "Meixiang" (Qinglin Shen, self-employed, China/Excellence Award), documentary portraying a 21-year old woman teacher teaching 2 young children in a remote mountain community; "When Life Shines — A Japanese Doctor Living in History—" (Yuki Eguchi, age 21, student, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan/Excellence Award), a documentary portraying the way of life of Japanese doctors doing voluntary work in Myanmar; "Passing on Traditional Performances" (Yoshio Fujii, age 68, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan/Selected Work), a documentary following a young deaf girl who is fascinated by the traditional Edo art of "kakunori", as she practices; "Boxing Style" (Yoshiki Matsuda, age 20, student, Shiga Prefecture, Japan/Selected Work), a documentary following a professional boxer as he makes his comeback after a period of failure following a traffic accident, up to the moment of his victory; "Yabohai's Son" (Shuhe Yang, age 40, China/Selected Work), a documentary portraying a young man who exhorts the people of his home village to start up a joint business enterprise, and pursues his dream with passion.

This year, works classified as "dramas" made up approximately one quarter of the prize-winning entries. All had their own, unique flavor. From serious works conveying a powerful message and imbued with their own "creative spirit", lacking in TV dramas, to comedies the authors had clearly had great fun in creating with their friends, the range of high-quality works was remarkable.

The large number of excellent entries included "Eine neue Theorie [A New Theory]" (Eckhard Kruse, age 37, IT research group leader, Germany/Excellence Award), a comedy that proposes links between natural science and everyday life, using its own unique brand of "logic"; "Passenger" (Green Zeng, age 34, film maker, Singapore/Excellence Award), a film in which an old woman who has lived many years in Singapore and is going home to China looks out of the window of the taxi that is taking her to the airport at the familiar streets and recalls pleasant memories of her life in the city; "Three Novice" (Preecha Sakorn; age 30; educator, Thailand/Excellence Award), a short comedy about the training of 3 mischievous young novices who want to join the priesthood; "White Shadow" (GemStone, age 23, student, Tokyo, Japan/Selected Work), a work that communicates the precious nature of life through a thrilling story on the theme of suicide; "Ninja Battle — Super-Gorgeous Special Enhanced Version" (Kyoto Municipal Shimogamo Junior High School PC Club/Selected Work), an entertainment-type drama about a battle between ninjas, created by a group of junior high school friends; "Challenge of a Children's Newspaper Company" (Honmachi 1-chome Shopping District Promotion Association, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan/Selected Work), in which the members of a children's newspaper company investigate a local legend regarding "kappa" water sprites; "Full Moon in my Heart" (Chan Siu Chung, age 39, student, Hong Kong/Selected Work), a drama portraying the day-to-day life in Hong Kong of two students from Shanghai, encouraging each other; "The Teacher" (Worrawut Lakchai, age 27, teacher, Thailand/Selected Work), about a teacher who resigns after being forced to administer corporal punishment to some students but reconsiders his decision after experiencing the purity of the children's' hearts.

The power of video recordings, which allow the reproduction of fresh, on-the-spot, moving images in front of large numbers of people, has led to the emergence of a new genre of "video journals" created by individuals and groups. These range far and wide, including, for example, records of events in local society and the local scenery and nature throughout the seasons, as only local inhabitants are capable of recording them, and works by video journalists who visit battlefields where major TV station cameras do not go, and report on the situation at the front line, while bullets fly overhead.

"Fear no Evil", one of this year's Video Grand Prize winners, which questions the rationality of war through interviews conducted in 3 locations around the world, is a representative example of the genre. "Baghdad ER", a report on a field hospital in the Iraq war, jointly created by the famous American video journalist Jon Alpert, a past winner of the TVF Video Grand Prize, and a young member of his staff, won a Selected Work award.

Typical examples of issue-raising works that question society include "Return to the Mother Country" (Hidetoshi Yanagihara, age 33, company employee, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan/Excellence Award), which depicts the return home and sad situation of Liberian refugees who fled to neighboring countries during the civil war; "The Coin" (Chin Tangsakulsathaporn, age 26, freelance film creator, Thailand/Selected Work), a work portraying one aspect of the underworld society that is eating into the daily lives of the citizens of Bangkok; "The Road to the Market" (Lee Chungkeun, age 28, Korea/Selected Work), which tells how a traditional market in the city of Seoul was abandoned following the opening of a large supermarket.

There were also a number of "watcher" reports, whose author had used their favorite video camera to film a subject in which they had a personal interest over a period of time, recording the workings of nature and changing natural scenery and making full use of the recording properties of video.

"Rats" (Tatsuya Matsushita, age 24, part-time worker, Tokyo, Japan/Excellence Award), which records the habitat and surprising lives of rats that make their homes in holes they dig in the levees of a river; "Kunenoki Elegy" (Takuya Okuno, age 62, Mie Prefecture, Japan/Excellence Award), which tells how more and more of the "kunenoki" trees planted on the banks between rice fields are being lost over the years, and the rural landscape is under threat; and "Grebes" (Toru Kurokawa, age 68, Ehime Prefecture, Japan/Excellence Award), a record of the author's loving observation of the trials and tribulations of grebes trying to raise their young. All are painstaking works that teach us how precious the natural environment is.