Since 1992, Keiko Araki has been the director of Pia Film Festival, the longest-running (since 1977) film festival in Japan, and a festival devoted to discovering and nurturing of new film talents and to creating a new environment for cinema. The festival has grown in leaps and bounds since her appointment as Director, expanding to a six-city touring festival kicked off with the Tokyo festival in the summer, providing constant support for the production and distribution of films by emerging filmmakers, launching a PFF THEATER event in Tokyo six times a year to increase the film-going audience, and introducing Japanese independent films to the international scene. While the festival has expanded into new areas, however, Araki is also pained by cinema's 'independence/isolation' in the contemporary age. She is also active in introducing Asian films in Japan, work evidenced by the PFF 2000's program of independent films from Chinese-language regions- a first for Japan.
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