If you are in Japan and looking to discover more about the world of Korean animation, look no further than the Korea Independent Animation Festival.
After going online for 2022, this year’s edition is taking place at three different physical locations.
Tokyo – April 22nd – 23rd at the Akiba theatre in Akihabara,
Osaka – May 13th – 14th at the Planet +1 cinema, which is located in the bohemian neighbourhood of Nakazakicho near Umeda,
Nagoya – May 20th – 21st at the Cinema-skhole, near Nagoya station.
The festival will screen 21 films and there will be talk sessions at various venues.
The programme consists of two threads dedicated to Korean animated shorts, shorts from creators based in Asia, and feature films. These works are mainly award-winning films from the “Indie-AniFest2022”, which took place in Seoul.
As per usual, audiences can expect to see works done in a wide variety of techniques, from stop-motion to 2D and drawing in various artistic styles, clay, puppet, and cut-out stop-motion, and even rotoscoping. Some of these films have featured at other festivals like Sundance and the Seoul Independent Film Festival so that’s another seal of quality.
Here are the details of the programmes and talks with random links to trailers and introductions:
Korean Short Programme 1 (5 films/74mins):
Cookie Coffee Dosirak – Dir: Kang Min-ji, Kim Hye-mi, Lee Kyung-hwa, Han Byeong-a
The Ark in the Desert – Dir: Kim Are-um
Things that Disappear – Dir: Kim Chang-soo
Puppet Story – Dir: Park Se-hong
The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns – Dir: Han Ji-won
Korean Short Programme 2 (6 films/74mins):
Persona – Dir: Moon Su-jin
AMEN A MAN – Dir: Kim Kyeong-bae
The Cave – Dir: Kim Jin-man, Chon Ji-young
The House of Loss – Dir: Jeon Jin-kyu
OUR 2 – Dir: Song Yung-sung
Architect A – Lee Jong-hoon
Asia Shorts Programme (8 films/74 mins approx.):
In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-Weeny Pocket – Dir: Yoko Yuki
Mother – Dir: Subarna D
Preserved Vegetables – Dir: Wu Wen-rui, Chuang Ho
A Forest Fire – Dir: Izumi Ogawa
Oh So Convenient – Dir: Red Hung
Bi The Way – Dir: Amir Ovadia Steklov
A Dog Under Bridge – Dir: Rehoo Tang
Holy Holocaust – Dir: Osi Wald, Noa Beram-Herzberg
Longer Korean Films (2 Films, 67 mins. approx.)
If You Come Close to Me – Dir: Jang Hyeong-yun
Introducing Our New Business Partner, Michael – Dir: Lee Yong-seuk
Talk Sessions by Venue
Tokyo
Director’s talk 01,
April 22nd (Sat) 14:35
Han Ji-won will be on hand to introduce her work The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns which played at the Sundance Film Festival. Her 2010 work Kopi Luwak is a stunner.
Director’s talk 02,
April 3rd (Sun) 14:35
Yoko Yuki will talk about her film In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-Weeny Pocket, another Sundance entry. Here she is introducing it:
Osaka
Director’s talk 01,
May 13th (Sat), 14:35
Jeon Jin-kyu will talk about his film The House of Loss
Director’s talk 02,
May 14th (Sun), 14:30
Izumi Ogawa will talk about her short, A Forest Fire
Nagoya
Director’s talk 01 & 2
May 20th 13:55 & May 21st (Sat) 12:30
Midoriko Hayashi, an illustrator and organiser who runs the venue Theater Café, will interview Lee Yong-seuk about his work, the comic thriller Introducing Our New Business Partner, Michael, which will be screened at the venue.
There’s also a networking session available. Check the site for details.
The Hanakori Korean Animation screenings have been taking place since 2008 and are usually held at venues in Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoya.
To find out more about this year’s festival, please head to the following links.
Main Website: https://anikr.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/koreanimation/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanakoriJP