5th Animation Division Excellence Award
Nekojiru-So
Animated series or films released in home-video formats
SATO Tatsuo (Director) / Nekojiru (Original story) [Japan]
Reason for Award
“Nekojiru-So” appears to be a surreal, dreamlike story of two cute little kittens, but actually the story is fragmented. Concealed in its darkly hallucinatory images and startling scenes is a scathing satire on modern medicine, weather management, strange foods, global warming, and more. Scenes like the one in which ocean waves and whales dry up and harden are a means of artistic expression that is the unique property of animation. “Nekojiru-So” takes the viewer on a weird, mindbending voyage that is entirely new to animated films.