The Annecy International Film Festival is one of the biggest animated film festival in the world and anime have taken top awards in this year’s edition. The “Cristal for a Feature Film” award went to Masaaki (Mind Game, Tatami Galaxi, Ping Pong the Animation) Yuasa’s Lu Over the Wall.
Meanwhile, Sunao (Mai Mai Miracle) Katabuchi’s In This Corner of the World won a Jury Award in the Feature Film category.
Also announced was the win for Sawako Kabuki’s Summer Puke is Winter’s Delight short film which won the Jury Award in the Graduation Films category.
This short will next be seen at Japan Cuts in New York.
According to Anime News Network (who are reporting about an article Eiga.com), the last time a Japanese film won the Cristal award “was 22 years ago, when Isao Takahata’s Pom Poko film won the award in 1995.”
That’s mind-boggling to me but I am biased since I have grown up on anime and work for an anime film festival, haha.
I want to say congratulations to the recipients of various awards. Having seen the above films and other anime from these directors, I can say that they are all worth watching and I am excited at the prospect that these will be seen in UK cinemas later this year. Perhaps they will be programmed at the festival I work for. I’m super-pleased for Sawako Kabuki since I have watched her develop over the years and it’s great that her perseverance and skill is getting rewarded.
Anyway, the anime festival I work for is later in the year. Right now, I have lots of live-action films to watch and review (I need to review so many films!!!).
You can read my preview for the Annecy International Film Festival here.
