Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2015 Competition Winners
/Ｐｒｅｓｓ Ｒｅｌｅａｓｅ
The award ceremony for the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2015 was held on March 22nd at TOHO CINEMAS Nihonbashi and the Grand Prizes for the Competition were announced.
The Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2015 (TAAF2015) is an international animation film festival that aims to promote animation and was held at TOHO CINEMAS Nihonbashi from March 19th to March 23rd. In addition to the judging in this competition, the announcement of the “Anime of the Year”, the mention of the “Achievement Award”, as well as the “Anime d'Or”, the festival was also screened many other animation films that were invited and hosted other special events. Almost all of the screenings, which includes the judging in the competition, were available for anyone to attend.
The Competition is open to animation films completed after January 1st, 2013 that have not yet been released to the box office regardless of whether they are professional or amateur films. Films over 60 minutes long participate in the Feature Film and films under 30 minutes participate in the Short Film.
This year, there were 21 Feature Film submissions and 1206 Short Film submissions from more than 60 regions and countries around the world.
And the judges have chosen the following films:
<Feature Film >
Grand Prize
Song of the Sea(Original Title) Director: Tomm Moore
Best Film Award
MUNE (Original Title) Directors: Alexandre Heboyan, Benoit Philippon
* The Grand Prize winner, Song of the Sea (original title), also was awarded the Tokyo Metropolitan Governor Priz
<Short Film>
Grand Prize
Mi ne mozem zhit bez kosmosa (Original Title)
English Title: We can’t live without cosmos.
Director: Konstantin Bronzit
Best Film Award
Bang bang!(Original Title) Director: Julien Bisar
Beach Flags (Original Title) Director: Sarah Saidan
Special Jury Prize
My Stuffed Granny (Original Title) Director: Effie Pappa
* The Grand Prize winner, Mi ne mozem zhit bez kosmosa (original title), also was awarded the Tokyo Metropolitan Governor Prize. *The Audience Choice Award chosen by the audience and appreciated by the jury was a film by Japanese director that was produced with the Ainu people.
Sicigorousawa un Cironnop Directed by Sugihara Tune
(Screening time 13 min. 45 sec.)
At the award ceremony, Hiromi Seki, Planning and Development Supervisor, Toei Animation Planning and Sales Department who was a member of the jury, commented on the jury's decision to award the Grand Prize in the Feature Film to “Song of the Sea”(Original Title).
"While embodying a mythological Irish (Celtic) motif, the story incorporates a strong theme about rebuilding/restructuring families that connects widely with this modern generation. The entire jury also felt the art direction and music was successful in providing an absolutely “extraordinary” balance in the film. The jury had two strong points of view toward the change in tempo from the first half to the second half of the story in the film. Some expressed 'the way the delicate love of brothers and human relationships were written was amazing' while others stated that 'the climactic action sequence in the last half was phenomenal'. Finding out which part of this film enchants the audiences is an extremely great aspect of the film. It may have just been me, but this is the first time in a long time a film has truly made me cry."
Taku Furukawa, an animator and head of The Association of Japanese Animations who was also a member of the jury, commented on the Grand Prize in the Short Film for We can’t live without cosmos (English title).
"This film which is infused with stylish images and an adult sense of humor strongly demonstrated a uniqueness in film production. No matter what single cut you take, they are amazing. Each and every one of the characters are filled with their own unique personality through simple expressions. I laughed or was on the edge of my seat and before I knew it the film I was enjoying was over. This animation left me with a warm feeling when it ended."
