The Hiroshima 2000 festival catalog cover.	The front entrance of Aster Plaza in Hiroshima, site of the 8th International Animation Festival.All images courtesy of the International Animation Festival, Hiroshima 2000.

Off the bat. Thanks to the Brazilians, I've never been to the Hiroshima Animation Festival. See back in '96 I decided to go at the last minute. My travel guru got me some bizarre connection through L.A. on a Brazilian airline...Vespa or something like that. Anyway, I get to L.A. and am told there is no room and there is no way in hell I'm getting on the flight. As I had some concerns about flying over the Pacific I took the free hotel and spent a day in L.A. So despite an honest attempt I've never been to Hiroshima. I just wanted to set the LP straight before proceeding.

I've heard many good things about the Hiroshima Animation Festival. It is of course, with Ottawa, Annecy and Zagreb, one of the elite animation festivals in the world thanks to its relationship with ASIFA. However, unlike Annecy or Ottawa, Hiroshima has truly remained a festival that lives by ASIFA's goal to "promote the art of animation." Thanks to strong state support and public participation, Hiroshima does not need the corporate support that Ottawa and Annecy rely on. With this comes the freedom to program more artistic‚ or independent orientated work. Sounds like paradise, doesn't it?

Opening ceremonies of the festival's Welcome Party.

Well, it's not all heavenly. A number of Japanese independent animators have quietly complained that Hiroshima devotes too much attention to Western animation from Europe, the U.S. and Canada. In particular the Japan Animation Association (JAA) is, according to one animator, at the end of its rope with Hiroshima. This organization of independent animation artists has complained about the lack of an independent Japanese presence and that no special programs have focussed on the JAA animators. According to some in attendance, the president of JAA, Kichachiro Kawamoto, who was also the vice-president of the Hiroshima Festival, was quite critical of the festival during the 2000 closing ceremonies. In fact, Kawamoto announced this year that he would no longer cooperate with the festival as of 2002.

On the other hand, Animation World has heard from several of the Western participants who have nothing but exceptionally glowing reviews of the event -- stating the film selection was excellent and the workshops vital. With all this in mind, I was asked to sit down with Sayoko and talk about the goals of the Hiroshima Festival and her reaction to some of these complaints.