Although it was titled the Youth Film Festival, the ones leading the ceremony were adults. Someone went up on the stage along with the host’s introduction. This man from the Ministry of Culture, who was in his fifties, cleared his throat before starting to speak. He glanced down at his speech notes from time to time and ended his words with ‘I hope you have a meaningful time’ before he ultimately went down the stairs. Maru mechanically applauded.

“Thank you for your good words. Next, we will watch one of the award-winning pieces, ‘The Reason the Boy went Home Early’.”

Maru turned his head to the left. Three students, who were sitting a little away from him, looked at the screen while exclaiming. It seemed that it was their piece that was being screened.

The lights dimmed and the screen became bright. Five minutes into the movie, people in the audience started laughing. They laughed when they saw a boy trying all sorts of methods to leave school early in order to meet the girl he liked. Comedy was something that was hard to try, so Maru gave his applause to the director, who managed to bring out comedic elements by giving a twist to what would otherwise be slightly boring, as well as the actors who acted oblivious to the whole plot. As the equipment was not up to par, the video and the sound didn’t...