On July 8, Mei Fujimura, a third-year high school student in the IB course, won first prize in the Students category of the Good Natured Conservation Optimism Film Festival held at the Oxford Museum of Natural History in England for her short film "Message from Sika.” The film was selected as the best short film in the Students Division of Good Natured Conservation Optimism Film Festival. The film festival is organized by CONSERVATION OPTIMISM. This organization, in partnership with Oxford University and others, is a global community dedicated to empowering people everywhere to have a positive impact on nature and its creatures.

     This short film features Nara's "Sheeka," a small deer, as the main character, who explains the deer's ecology, how they coexist with the local environment, and how they are affected by changes in the environment to human beings.

     Ms. Fujimura has participated in volunteer activities of the Nara City "Deer Supporters Club" and has observed the deer environment while cleaning and patrolling Nara Park. On the basis of these activities, she made a film and participated in the film festival to introduce the ecology of deer in Nara Park and to let people around the world know that humans and deer coexist in the historical city of Nara. This was also introduced on the website of the Nara City Deer Supporters Club.

     Ms. Fujimura is fluent in English, having taken all of her IB courses at our school in English, but for this film she used Japanese dubbing and English subtitles. When asked by the British film festival why she did not use English audio, she said that she wanted the film to be used by local people in Japan to improve the environment where deer live.

     As a side prize for winning the award, Ms. Fujimura is looking forward to having individual sessions with the judges and learning various things from the ecologists who study the breeding of endangered species and other topics.

     The film is also available on YouTube. Please take a look.