How to Watch
2026 Reel Voices Film Fest
Step 1: Register to Watch
On January 26, we will e-mail everyone who registered an e-vite with the URL and password to use to watch and participate in the Reel Voices Film Festival.
Step 2: Watch Online: January 26 - 31, 2026
All the entries will be available to watch on-demand. Use the password on your e-vite to access the site.
Watch On-DemandStep 3: Join the Live Stream Events: January 26 - 31, 2026
Join the virtual events! There will be watch parties, talks with the judges, and don't miss the awards ceremony!
During the live events you can watch, can vote, ask questions, and chat live with other audience members!
It’s a great opportunity to interact, learn, and celebrate the art of filmmaking.
Event Registration Form
Fill out and submit this the form to register for the 2026 Reel Voice Film Festival.
Meet the 2026 Judges!
We are excited to introduce our panel of judges for the 2026 Reel Voices Film Festival Original Short Film category. They are professionals with diverse experiences in the film industry who actively support educational filmmaking activities. They are looking forward to watching and commenting on your films, and sharing their expertise and passion for film with you during the livestream events!
Etsuko GUTIERREZ is a writer affiliated with Office Blue LLC. She is contracted to the talent agency WANDER・WONDER・FILM while also serving as a member of the planning and development team at the production company United Production Co., Ltd. Not only do I write scripts and proposals for movies and dramas, but I've also recently started writing scripts and producing short dramas and short films.
Join Etsukoon Thursday, January 39, 2026 from 19:00-19:30 (JST) for her virtual live talk "Essential Requirements for Screenwriting" !! You can listen and interact with her live through the chat. Ask her questions and get some great advice one how to write stories and scripts for your next film!
Counting from the fateful day when a high-school librarian passed her a folder of clippings on youth culture in Tokyo, Susan Rogers Chikuba has been following Japan for four decades. As a Tokyo-based writer, translator, and editor since 1990, she writes about the country’s traditional and contemporary arts, design, and architecture as well as its literary and culinary scenes for domestic and international projects and publications. She is a proud alum of Dr. Eleanor Jorden’s intensive FALCON program for the study of Japanese language, and a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in Linguistics and East Asian Studies.
Nilesh Kumar is a Film Curator from England with over a decade of experience in the arts and has an MA in Korean Studies with a focus on Korean Cinema from Yonsei University. Nilesh’s career spans a blend of film production and curation. As a producer and art director, he has created fashion films, music videos, commercials, short films, and in 2025 he co- produced two films for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.
In the realm of film curation, Nilesh ran an underground cinema and gallery in Seoul. His curatorial work includes an exhibition celebrating the centenary of Korean cinema, an exhibition on Oldboy (2003, Park Chan-wook), and in 2025, a showcase of films by Kim-Jho Gwangsoo in England.
Join Nilesh on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 from 18:00-18:30 (JST) at his virtual live talk "Storytelling, from Macro to Micro" ! He will share his wisdom about how to express your story's vision! You can listen and interact with him through the chat. Ask him questions and get his perspective on your film!
Matthew Allen is an award-winning Australian screenwriter who’s written and rewritten scripts for, and optioned scripts to, the producers of such films as TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (Arnold Schwarzenegger), THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME DOWN A MOUNTAIN (Hugh Grant), THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (Willem Dafoe), RABBIT-PROOF FENCE (Kenneth Branagh), THE BUCKET LIST (Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman), GRUDGE MATCH (Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro), THE EQUALIZER (Denzel Washington), and TURBO KID (Michael Ironside). His produced work includes a theatrically released feature he was a script doctor on and an NBCUniversal TV movie. Allen lives in Japan, but has been hired to write on film projects in the US, UK, Indonesia, and Turkey.
Join Matthew on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 18:00-18:30 (JST) for his virtual live talk "Screenwriting Q&A"! You can listen and interact with him live through the chat. Ask him questions about his experience as a screenwriter and get some great advice for your next film!