Sebastien Laudenbach’s ‘The Girl Without Hands,’ animated TV series ‘Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan,’ and anime features ‘Penguin Highway’ and ‘Okko’s Inn’ receive Excellence Awards.
Boris Labbé’s ‘La Chute.’
Awards for the 22nd edition of the Japan Media Arts Festival have been announced, with Boris Labbé’s experimental animated short La Chute taking home the grand prize in animation.
The Japan Media Arts Festival is a comprehensive festival of media arts that honors outstanding works in four categories: Art, Entertainment, Animation and Manga, as well as providing a platform for appreciation of the award-winning works.
The 22nd edition of the event received a 4,384 submissions from a record 102 countries and regions, including 57 animated features and series and 401 short films. An exhibition of the awarded projects will be held June 1-16 at the Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo’s Odaiba district in addition to other locations throughout Japan.
Four projects received an Excellence Award in the animation category, including French director Sebastien Laudenbach’s animated feature The Girl Without Hands; animated TV series Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan, directed by Higuchi Shinji; and anime features Penguin Highway, directed by Ishida Hiroyasu, and Okko’s Inn, directed by Kosaka Kitaro.
Three short film projects received a New Face Award, including Studio Ponoc’s Invisible, directed by Yamashita Akihiko; Iran’s Am I a Wolf?, directed by Amir Houshang Moein; and Russia’s The Little Ship, directed by Anastasia Makhlina.
An additional 30 short film, television and digital streaming projects were designated as official jury selections:
A Place Further than the Universe
Animated TV series
Ishizuka Atsuko (Japan)
The Spirits of Cairn
Animated short film
Soejima Shinobu (Japan)
I want to eat your pancreas
Animated feature film
USHIJIMA Shinichiro, Representative, I want to eat your pancreas Production Team) (Japan)
Life Ain’t Gonna Lose
Animated short film
Momose Yoshiyuki (Japan)
My Little Goat
Animated short film
MISATO Tomoki (Japan)
MIRAI
Animated feature film
Hosoda Mamoru (Japan)
FLUFFICTION
Animated short film
IMAZU Yoshiki (Japan)
Liz and the Blue Bird
Animated feature film
Yamada Naoko (Japan)
Mogu and Perol
Animated short film
Goda Tsuneo (Japan)
Blue Flight
Animated short film
Yirui Tian (China)
A Fly in the Restaurant
Animated short film
Xi Chen (China)
B: The Beginning
Streaming video
Nakazawa Kazuto (Japan)
Carlotta’s Face
Animated short film
Frédéric Schuld / Valentin Riedl (Germany)
Circuit
Animated short film
Delia Hess (Switzerland)
Conception: Catie + Jen
Animated short film
Moth Studio (United Kingdom)
DEVILMAN crybaby
Streaming video
Yuasa Masaaki (Japan)
Five minutes to sea
Animated short film
Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia)
Honour
Animated short film
Frederic Siegel (Switzerland)
Love Me, Fear Me
Animated short film
Veronica Solomon (Romania)
Le Mot
Animated short film
Baek Miyoung (South Korea)
MIMI
Animated short film
Fukaya Lisa (Japan)
Mom’s Clothes
Animated short film
Jordan Wong (United States)
NEKO NO HI – CAT DAYS
Animated short film
Jon Frickey (United States)
Neuralism
Animated short film
Glenn Marshall (United Kingdom)
Not Today
Animated short film
Marine Jacob (Belgium)
Somewhere Soft
Animated short film
Yoshinari Satoe (Japan)
Space Between Stars
Animated short film
Samuel W. Bradley (Canada)
THE LOST GARDEN
Animated short film
Natalia Chernysheva (Russia)
WATER IN THE CUP
Animated short film
Kato Ikuo (Japan)
32-Rbit
Animated short film
Victor Orozco Ramirez (Mexico)
Jury members for this year’s animation division included Kifune Tokumitsu, Animation Artist and Representative, IKIF+ and Professor, Tokyo Zokei University; Morino Kazuma, Director and CG Artist; director Nishikubo Mizuho; animation director Uda Konosuke; and Yokota Masao, MD and Ph.D., Professor, Nihon University.
Source: Japan Media Arts Festival
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
