Oklahoma City premiere of short film "Paper Flower" set for Saturday

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

Award-winning Oklahoma City-based Toy Gun Films has finished shooting its sophomore short film in Tokyo titled “Paper Flower.”

The Oklahoma City premiere of “Paper Flower” is set for 5 p.m. Saturday at Harkins Bricktown 16, 150 E Reno Ave. Doors will open at 4:15 p.m.

Brent Green and Jeff Goldberg co-founded Toy Gun Films in 2009. Six months later, they were on location in Colombia producing “En Tus Manos,” which has been screened by about 3 million young people throughout Latin America via the alternative distribution network of their partner organization, One Hope. “En Tus Manos” was named best short film at the Beverly Hills Film Festival and the Los Angeles International Film Festival.

“Paper Flower” explores the issues surrounding the phenomenon of “Enjo-kosai,” or “compensated dating,” in Japan. In compensated dating, men give money or gifts to teenage girls, often from upper-middle class families, in return for dates that often end with sex. The film is scheduled for release at the beginning of 2011. Green and Goldberg served as director and screenwriter, respectively, as well as producers.

“We were fascinated by the notion that young affluent girls in Tokyo would participate in ‘Enjo-kosai,’ and we wanted to develop a film that explored the relational pressures and societal values that seem to motivate this sort of behavior,” Green said. “Our hope is that this film will encourage its audience to take a step back and reevaluate the various forces in their lives that they may be allowing to determine their own self-worth.”

Shot entirely in Japanese and on location in Tokyo, “Paper Flower” tells the story of two childhood friends growing up in Tokyo, where compensated dating has become a disturbing trend. When they each experience heartbreaking losses, they are forced to decide how much of themselves they are willing to give in order to find true love.