Also: Yuki Kubo’s “BABY FORCE,’ Shunsaku Hayashi’s “Our Pain,” Yuan Xu‘s “Sewing Love” screen
© Jun Wada, New Dire / Toei Animation
The Ottawa International Film Festival (OIAF) announced on Wednesday that it will screen the “Turtle” short from Atsushi Wada‘s Ikimono-san series of anime shorts in the Narrative category at this year’s event. It will also screen Yuki Kubo’s “BABY FORCE” and Shunsaku Hayashi’s “Our Pain” animated shorts in the Non-Narrative category, as well as director/writer Yuan Xu and producer Tatsutoshi Nomura‘s “Sewing Love” in the Student Shorts category.
The Ikimono-san series of shorts is based on Wada’s My Exercise game about a curious boy who exercises with a dog. The boy encounters various creatures and tries to emulate them, with the valiant help of his dog. The anime premiered on the MBS and TBS channels and their affiliates on the “Super Animeism” programming block on July 7. The series will have 52 90-second episodes. The anime’s “Turtle” short competed in the Grand Competition – Short Film category at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2023 event in Croatia from June 5-10.
The OIAF will screen Miho Kidoguchi’s “Hottest Tokyo” and Kagami Honoka’s “Taiyo ga Mizu wo Kundeiru” (Glow in the Water) anime in the new Teen Audiences 13+ category.
Ballmastrz: Rubicon, an animated special for the Ballmastrz: 9009 series with animation director Takashi Nakamura (Akira animation director and character designer, Fantastic Children, Robot Carnival, Yatterman) and Studio 4°C (Detroit Metal City, Mind Game, Tekkon Kinkreet), is screening in the Animated Series category. The special, a sequel of the series’ second season, premiered on Adult Swim on February 20. It streamed on HBO Max and digital retailers on February 21. PFFR produced the special.
The event will also have a tribute to anime director Masaaki Yuasa (INU-OH, Ride Your Wave, Mind Game, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, DEVILMAN crybaby). Yuasa will be in attendance.
This year’s event will take place from September 20-24 in Ottawa. The new Teen Audiences 13+ category is replacing the Preschool Audiences category. Teenagers in attendance at the festival will judge the works on Teens @ OIAF day, which takes place on September 22.
OIAF 2022 took place last September at multiple venues in Ottawa.
Source: Press release
