Animation Division

Award

Grand Prize

Children of the Sea

WATANABE Ayumu

Animated feature film [Japan]

Jury Selections

Jury Critiques

WADA Atsushi

Animation Artist

Reaffirming the Power of Animation

It appears that 2019 was a bumper year for featurelength animation films. As a first-time jury member I did not know what the situation was in an average year, and so I should not say with certainty that it was truly a bumper year. There definitely were, however, numerous memorable works worthy of viewing. In addition to the high quality of animation technique, the depiction of rain, snow, fire, …

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YOKOSUKA Reiko

Animation Artist

The Appeal of Diversity in Animation Expression

This was my first participation as a jury member and for a period of four months, I watched, one by one, animation films submitted from all over the world. Through this experience I reaffirmed my awareness of the diverse nature and limitless scope of animation expression. I encountered a broad range of expression in a variety of genres--drama, comedy, documentary, experimental, abstract--as well …

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SUGAWA Akiko

Professor, Institute of Urban Innovation Yokohama National University

From Exclusion to Inclusion, and to the Power to Live

Each work was dazzling in its own way, and so having to make choices was an extremely tough task for me. I would therefore like to review here my choices from the perspective of media and themes. In order for a work to be eligible to compete in the Animation Division, it must be either a film intended for release in theatres or on TV, or else a work broadcast via the Internet. Creators employ …

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SATO Tatsuo

Animation Director and Scriptwriter

The Spirit of Confrontation

This was my first experience as a jury member, and I'd first like to share my impressions from reviewing the body of submitted works. What stood out was the large number of full-length films. In 2019, posters for various films, from blockbusters for nationwide release to films screened at independent art-houses, certainly incited a great deal of excitement in movie theatres. These works were …

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UDA Kounosuke

Animation Director

Making Bold Advances into an Uncertain World Ahead

Despite the overall decline in the number of works submitted to the Japan Media Arts Festival this year, the Animation Division alone saw an increase in submissions, many of them truly outstanding films. Even among the works that were not selected for the Grand Prize and the Excellence Awards, there were films that would likely have won an award if submitted in a different year. They placed a …

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Award

Children of the Sea

WATANABE Ayumu

A Japanese Boy Who Draws

KAWAJIRI Masanao

GON, THE LITTLE FOX

YASHIRO Takeshi

LONG WAY NORTH

Remi CHAYE

Nettle Head

Paul E. CABON

Wandering mouse

TSUKIJI Nohara

Elephant in the bath house

CHENG Jialin

Daughter

Daria KASHCHEEVA

Weathering With You

SHINKAI Makoto

Jury Selections

Kitsune-Kansekai

Heihachi

Ride Your Wave

YUASA Masaaki

KABANERI OF THE IRON FORTRESS: THE BATTLE OF UNATO

ARAKI Tetsuro

The Last Episode

nuQ

Shala Bon Bon

YUKI Yoko

DEEP SEA’S RAINBOW

SUKIKARA Makiko / MATSUMURA Kohei

DESPAIR OF THE MONSTER

KOTANI Junya

Her Blue Sky

NAGAI Tatsuyuki / OKADA Mari / TANAKA Masayoshi

DORORO

FURUHASHI Kazuhiro

WHITE SNAKE

WONG Kahong / ZHAO Ji

PROMARE

IMAISHI Hiroyuki

My Luxury Night

MIZUSHIRI Yoriko

Mutafukaz

NISHIMI Shojiro / Guillaume “Run” RENARD

Dreams Into Drawing

YAMAMURA Koji

The Legend of Hei

MTJJ Mutou / GU Jie

ANGEL’S TRUMPET

Martinus KLEMET

Bear With Me

Daphna AWADISH

BEASTARS

MATSUMI Shinichi / KATO Michiya

CASTLE

MIYAJIMA Ryotaro

Hello, my dears

Alexander VASILIEV

IHR

Amélie COCHET / Louis MÖHRLE

Listen Papa!

Tatiana POLIEKTOVA / Olga POLIEKTOVA

LOCOMOTOR

KANEKO Isaku

Lola the living potato

Leonid SHMELKOV

Mascot

KIM Leeha

Movements

JEONG Dahee

Now 2

Kevin ESKEW

Orbit

Tess MARTIN

Purpleboy

Alexandre SIQUEIRA

Silny niezalezny kosmos

Damian KRAKOWIAK