News
Mirai Mizue's Crowdfunded 'Wonder' Short to Compete at Annecy
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
France's Annecy, the world's largest animation festival, will screen three anime shorts as contenders for the best short film award, including award-winning abstract animation director Mirai Mizue's (Toru Matsumoto: AND AND., Modern No. 2) "Wonder" short. Atsushi Wada's "Anomalies," Sumito Sakakibara's "E in Motion No. 2," and Mirai Mizue's "Wonder" will compete among 55 short films for the prize.
Mizue successfully funded "Wonder" through Kickstarter last year. Mizue created the short over the course of 365 days by animating one second, or 24 frames of abstract art, each day. Mizue created a total of 8,760 drawings with the help of 160 painters. Mizue began working on the film on April 1, 2012 and finished on March 31, but turned to Kickstarter to raise funds for a soundtrack, editing costs, and creating a 35mm print.
Wada's "Anomalies" is described as "We try to enrich ourselves through prayer, faith and devotion to someone or something else. Similarly, we believe in the existence of 'anomalies,' such as unknowable and uncontrollable monsters."
Sakakibara previously won the Grand Prize in the 2005 Animation Division at the Japan Media Arts Festival for his short film Flow. "E in Motion No. 2" is described as "through a series of images that are latent within the artist's memories and images that are drifting between words and silence, the work tries to portray and recollect emotions in a cyclical way."
The festival will also screen the France, Italy, and Japan produced 'Calimero "Go to the theater,"' 'Nepia "Tissue Animals,"' 'Sour "Life Is Music,"' the U.S. and Japan produced 'SUNTORY "Sound of the Woods,"' "00:08," "Cycloid," "Ishikiri," the Japan and Finland produced "Sukkavartaankatu 8," and "Waiter" in the TV films, commissioned films, and graduation projects categories. The shorts "Kamakura," "Land," and "Ryoushi to hijiri" will be shown outside of competition. The full-length feature film selection has not yet been announced.
Annecy will be held from June 9-14. No anime films took home prizes last year.
Source: The Asahi Shimbun
