Hiroyasu Ishida’s animated adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi’s best-selling coming-of-age novel and manga being distributed in U.S. and Canada by ELEVEN ARTS.
Los Angeles-based ELEVEN ARTS Anime Studio has set April 12 as the theatrical release date for the sci-fi coming-of-age animated feature, Penguin Highway, which it will be distributing in the U.S. and Canada. Directed by Hiroyasu Ishida, the film won the Axis: The Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation award at the Fantasia International Film Festival for best animated feature and has also been nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. The film will screen with the original Japanese dialogue with subtitles as well as the English dub.
In the film, budding genius Aoyama is only in the 4th grade, but already lives his life like a scientist. When penguins start appearing in his sleepy suburb hundreds of miles from the sea, Aoyama vows to solve the mystery. When he finds the source of the penguins is a woman from his dentist’s office, they team up for an unforgettable summer adventure!
Ishida rose to prominence in 2009 with his award winning self-produced short Fumiko no kokuhaku which led him to direct many more critically acclaimed shorts, wildly popular anime ad campaigns, and now finally his first feature film.
Penguin Highway is an adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi’s best-selling novel and manga by the same name. Morimi is also the author of The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, which also had an anime film adaptation made and released in the U.S. in 2018.
Source: ELEVEN ARTS Anime Studio
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
