12th
Award-winning WorksAnimation Division
Grand Prize
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The House of Small Cubes
Animated short film
KATO Kunio [Japan]
An old man lives in a room that resembles a pile of stacked up wooden blocks surrounded by water. He drops his pipe in the submerged lower floor. When he dives to pick it up, he encounters memories of his family carved in each room. The precious memories of the people he used to know, including his absent wife and daughter, are depicted with a gentle touch, making this a fine and moving piece of work. The theme of global warming is also hidden just below the surface.
-
The House of Small Cubes
Animated short film
KATO Kunio [Japan]
An old man lives in a room that resembles a pile of stacked up wooden blocks surrounded by water. He drops his pipe in the submerged lower floor. When he dives to pick it up, he encounters memories of his family carved in each room. The precious memories of the people he used to know, including his absent wife and daughter, are depicted with a gentle touch, making this a fine and moving piece of work. The theme of global warming is also hidden just below the surface.
Excellence Award
Encouragement Prize
Jury Selections
the Garden of sinners :Thanatos.
Animated feature film [Japan]
AOKI Ei
CODE GEASS Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
TANIGUCHI Goro
The Sky Crawlers
Animated feature film [Japan]
OSHII Mamoru
SAYONARA ZETSUBOU SENSEI
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
SHINBOU Akiyuki
STRIKE WITCHES
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
TAKAMURA Kazuhiro
Sutefan no ongaeshi
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
NAITO Maro/SUZUKI Yukihiro/AOKI Jun/EDO Atushi
TETSUWAN BIRDY DECODE
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
AKANE Kazuki
SOULEATER
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
IGARASHI Takuya
Tokyo Marble Chocolate
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
SHIOTANI Naoyoshi
HAKABA KITARO
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
CHIOKA Masatoshi
NORAMIMI
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
KOYAMA Yoshitaka
HELLS ANGELS
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
YAMAKAWA Yoshinobu
Minamike
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
OOTA Masahiko
BUILDINGS
Animated short film [Japan]
JOKO Tomoyoshi
Vegetable Fairies Episode 5 The Lost Piano
Animated series or films released in home-video formats [Japan]
AMANO Yoshitaka
DEVOUR DINNER
Animated short film [Japan]
MIZUE Mirai
CHRISTIAN BAUER-Tree of Life
Animated short film [Japan]
HASHIMOTO Daisuke
Omstart
Animated short film [Japan]
CORNELIUS / TSUJIKAWA Koichiro
shift
Animated short film [Japan]
YAGI Tomoko
Syscapes # Interlude
Animated short film [Luxembourg]
Eric SCHOCKMEL
A Tale of Carefree King 3
Animated short film [Japan]
MISUMI Yoshiko
swimming
Animated short film [Japan]
HIRAYAMA Shiho
Orchestra
Animated short film [Japan]
OKUDA Masaki / OGAWA Yutaro / OKAWARA Ryo
Man and Whale
Animated short film [Japan]
YAMAMURA Koji
LITTLE BIRD IN GINGHAM
Animated short film [Japan]
NAGAI Katsumi
Cornelis
Animated short film [Japan]
NAKATA Ayaka
Sketchbook hanayayahei story
Animated short film [Japan]
TAKEUCHI Ryohei
advices
Animated short film [Japan]
LI Jie
mending a puncture
Animated short film [Japan]
OKAMOTO Masanori
Knyacki! Heaven and Hell
Animated short film [Japan]
ITO Yuichi
Man in the tunnel-alley
Animated short film [Japan]
IWAISAWA Kenji
審査講評
- KIFUNE SonokoAnimation Artist[Critique by work category] Short AnimationThe maturation of digital technology has enabled both professionals and amateurs to meet on the same ground, and animation has become rich and varied. Few of the 223 short animation made a strong or conspicuous impact, but it was easy to select 22 fine works. However, it was surprising that the Grand Prize, three Excellence Prizes, and the Encouragement Prize went to short animations. The House of Small Cubes, which was unanimously selected for the Grand Prize by the jury, is a work in which artistic aspects and a moving theme are perfectly fused, and it is clear that the artist put his heart and soul into the work. In KUDAN, the artist has constructed an inventive world with his excellent use of CG technology. DREAMS gives the audience feeling of a hand-embroidered work. We also encountered many notable young talents. A Child's Metaphysics attempted to visualize philosophy, while knyacki! Heaven and Hell and Little BIRD IN GINGHAM present a tender world with high technical capabilities. I would like to give my warmest congratulations to those professional creators who continue to have love, tenacity and a spirit of challenge for animation.
- IKUHARA KunihikoAnimation Director[Critique by work category] Long Animation (Movie, TV, Original Video Animation)In the final screening process, a rather harsh view emerged that no piece of work from this genre was worthy of a prize, but after the audition, I paused and realized something. KAIBA, The Sky Crawlers, HELLS ANGELS, SOULEATER, the Garden of sinners, and HAKABA KITARO. Believe it or not, these works are all set in "higan" (the other shore, where the dead live). The river that divides the dead and the living seems to be a keyword in 2008. The suggestion may be that "higan" is the world where we live now or that we do not know whether we are living or dead. Someone once said, "To be conscious of death is to feel truly alive." Now, does animation stick with that point? The jury members were divided over whether we should give an award to the Garden of sinners, and whether we should consider it as a new work or as merely a citation of a previous work. Debate raged over the issue but we eventually decided that we should wait and see next piece of work, and decided not to award a prize. The auditions for those "higan" works seemed to be taking us jury members to the other shore but left us with the feeling that we were stuck halfway.
- SUZUKI ShinichiAnimation DirectorSUZUKI ShinichiThere was a total of 346 entries to this division this year. We had many fine works in the Short Animation Genre this year whereas there was no outstanding piece of work in long animations. As a result, a short animation, The House of Small Cubes, was selected as the Grand Prize winner with no objections. A man lives in a house amid an eerie silence that skillfully suggests global warming: this is a fine work and an impressive portrayal in which he quietly recounts memories of his family who left the house. The Excellence Prizes and the Encouragement Prize were decided after thorough discussion, and short animations commanded a majority again. KAIBA, which was selected from among the long animations, is a work by OVA with a surrealistic content and a fresh picture plane that feels to me to be close to a short animation. In the short animations, there were many fine works even among those that did not get a place. I hear that it is not easy for young Japanese people to stay in the field of Japanese TV animation industry because of financial considerations. However, the entries this year made me realize that there is undoubtedly a growing number of young artists in the independent short animation field.