The Films For Hope Festival has concluded and I could not have hoped for a better turnout out. Thanks to all that came out and showed their support. Here are some great photos from the event taken by Joel Neville Anderson.
Our next goal is to bring Films for Hope to Japan. Stay tuned..
Odd creatures transmit inexplicable messages.
Born in 1977 and graduated from Tama Art University in 2001, Takashi Kurihara is known also for his work as a manga artist and illustrator.
Director: Takashi Kurihara
Country: Japan
Year: 2011
© Takashi Kurihara
Sector Animauteurs
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 4 PM — 5:15 PM
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Once Upon A Dream: Kid’s Block
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 1 PM — 2 PM
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A huge pig is lying down in front of a house. A large family with a grandfather, parents and six children lives there. Everyone knows about the huge pig, and the pig notices the family. But none of them know what to do about it…
Atsushi Wada was born in 1980 and graduated from Osaka Kyoiku University, Image Forum Institute of Moving Image and Tokyo University of the Arts. In a Pig’s Eye (2010) won the Best Film at Fantoche International Animation Film Festival, and Silver Jabberwocky at Etiuda and Anima. Wada’s The Mechanism of Spring (2010) premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
Production: Tokyo University of the Arts
Director: Atsushi Wada
Country: Japan
Year: 2010
© 2010 Atsushi Wada/Tokyo University of the Arts
Sector Animauteurs
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 4 PM — 5:15 PM
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An old man is forced to continuously build on new levels to his home as the water rises in his town. When he drops his favorite pipe overboard, he is forced to dive to retrieve it from the depths. As he visits the submerged levels of his home, he begins to relive scenes from days gone by.
“La Maison en Petits Cubes (The House of Small Cubes)” an animation film created and directed by Kunio Kato and produced by ROBOT (Head office: Shibuya Ward, Tokyo; President: Takaaki Kabuto).
This creation won Kato The Best Animated Short Film at the 81 st Academy Awards®.
Kato follows in the footsteps of the Anime master Hayao Miyazaki as only the second Japanese director in history to ever to win an Oscar®. Hayao Miyazaki won the Best Animated Feature Film Award in 2003 for his “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away).
Besides the Oscar, “La Maison en Petits Cubes” has garnered acclaim at film festivals worldwide. At the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2008, it won the Annecy Cristal––the top prize––as well as the Junior Jury Award. Elsewhere, the film was awarded the Audience Prize at the 12th International Animation Festival in Hiroshima in 2008, and the Animation Division Grand Prize at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival sponsored by Japan’s Agency of Cultural Affairs. To date, this masterpiece has won a total of 20 awards at 12 film festivals around the globe.
Kunio Kato, was born in 1977 and is currently working for Animation Studio “Cage” of ROBOT’s Communication Planning Division. Kato directed the work to a screenplay created by Kenya Hirata, a playwright also serving ROBOT.
Production: ROBOT Communications Inc.
Director: Kunio Kato
Country: Japan
Year: 2008
© 2008 Robot Communications, Inc.
Sector Animauteurs
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 4 PM — 5:15 PM
Buy tickets
Caffeine represents a visual metaphor for Brandt Brauer Frick’s music. As acoustic sounds are put together electronically, hand-drawn images are animated by traditional and computer media.
Danae Diaz and Patricia Luna met at the University of Fine Arts in Barcelona 10 years ago. Although, they had always worked independently, they found a common interest in illustration, animation and drawing, and similar approaches to themes and techniques. Caffeine is their first collaboration.
Director: Danae Diaz and Patricia Luna
Country: Spain
Year: 2011
© 2010–2011 Danae Diaz & Patricia Luna, !K7 Records, Brandt Brauer Frick.
Sector Animauteurs
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 4 PM — 5:15 PM
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One sunny day, Koma the kitten decides to make a stop motion film. She begins to write the storyboards, make the stuffed toys and draw the background art. Before long, Koma starts making her film, but her shooting is interrupted by an obnoxious fly.
Tsuneo Goda began his directing career with TV commercials. Developing “Domo,” a character for NHK, led Goda into the field of animation and he established dwarf inc. in 2003. Goda’s artistic philosophy is to visualize what he feels and experiences in daily life, in which even the unrealistic is possible.
Production: TYO/dwarf·Komaneko Film Partners
Director: Tsuneo Goda
Country: Japan
Year: 2006
© 2006 TYO/dwarf·Komaneko Film Partners
Komaneko: The Curious Cat
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 2:30 PM
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A little girl is confronted by a thief and soon strays from the road she is familiar with. After passing a hedge, she enters an unknown world and a magical adventure unfolds.
Yu Ya-ting directed this film as part of a project by three students who graduated from the National Taiwan University of Arts.
Production: National Taiwan University of Arts
Director: Yu Ya-ting
Country: Taiwan
Year: 2010
© 2010 National Taiwan University of Arts
Once Upon A Dream: Kid’s Block
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 1 PM — 2 PM
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A short stop-motion animation that depicts a fisherman going about his daily catch. Gulp was shot frame-by-frame on location on a beach in South Wales, using the camera on a Nokia N8 smart phone.
Ed Patterson and Will Studd both finished animation and graphic design degrees in 2003 at University of the West of England, Bristol. They have been creating and developing ideas ever since specializing in different forms of animation to create a fresh mix of styles using elements of stop-motion to 2D. Gulp was awarded the Guinness World Record for the smallest stop-motion animation character in a film. It has become an instant hit online, clocking-up over 250,000 views in its first five days.
Production: Aardman Animation
Director: Sumo Science (Ed Patterson and Will Studd)
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2011
© 2011 Aardman Animation
Once Upon A Dream: Kid’s Block
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 1 PM — 2 PM
Buy tickets
In this town, since who knows when, the rain has never stopped. Residents have moved to the suburbs and other high ground areas and people’s memories are now deeply submerged. But sometimes someone wanders into this forgotten, rainy town.
Hiroyasu Ishida studies at Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Manga. He began to make animations during high school, and a short animated film made when he was a sophomore in college, Confession of Fumiko, received YouTube’s video award for animation in 2010.
Production: Kyoto Seika University
Director: Hiroyasu Ishida
Country: Japan
Year: 2011
© 2011 Ishidahiroyasu
Sector Animauteurs
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Sunday, September 11, 4 PM — 5:15 PM
Buy tickets
Story
In Five Numbers, four ex-convicts woke up in the ultimate prison. They do not know why they are there. The race to escape the prison ensues. The only person who seems to know the way out is the fifth prisoner, a mysterious old man with a black cat.
Hiroaki Ando has been involved in numerous projects in Japan such as Tekkon Kinkreet (Storyboarding,Technical Director), Steamboy (CGI Director), Princess Arete (CG), Metropolis (CGI Structure Design), and The Freedom Project: Episode 5 (Storyboarding/Director). Ando is a frequent collaborator of both Katsuhiro Otomo and one on Japan’s top animation studios, Studio 4°C.
Dai Sato, is an anime scriptwriter for Storyriders. Dai Sato started as a runner at several of Tokyo’s leading animation studios and TV stations before establishing a name for himself in TV. He has collaborated with some of Japan’s best-known anime writers, and used this experience in game development projects and interactive club events. He set up the Tokyo-based indie label Frogman Records in 1993, and in 1996 he created the Tokyo and London-based tech/anime/fashion/game consultancy group FROGNATION. In the summer of 2007, Dai left FROGNATION and started his own company, Storyriders. An experienced journalist, he has regular weekly and monthly columns in many of Tokyo’s leading game and culture magazines. Dai has been a writer for critically and popularly acclaimed television series and films such as Tekken: Blood Vengeance (2011), Halo Legends (2010), Eden of the East (2009), Samurai Champloo (2004), Casshern (2004),Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2004), and Cowboy Bebop (1998). Dai is a member of Japan Society’s U.S.-Japan Innovators Network.
Director: Hiroaki Ando
Writer: Dai Sato
Country: Japan
Year: 2011
Screenings followed by a conversation with Enrico Casarosa (Director / Head of Story, Pixar Animation Studios) on the making of La Luna and Dai Sato (Scriptwriter of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Tekken: Blood Vengeance) to discuss post-3/11 Japan and the anime community.
Followed by a reception.
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017-2399
Centerpiece Presentation
Sunday, September 11, 5:30 PM — 7 PM
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