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JAM Thailand Screens A Silent Voice, Tamako Love Story as Fundraisers for Kyoto Animation Fire Victims
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Thai film distributor Japan Anime Movie (JAM) Thailand announced on Saturday and Tuesday that it will screen Kyoto Animation and Naoko Yamada's A Silent Voice and Tamako Love Story films on August 17 and 18, respectively. The proceeds of the screenings will all be donated to Kyoto Animation to support the victims of the fire at Kyoto Animation's 1st studio building on July 18. JAM Thailand stated it will earn nothing from the screenings.
A Silent Voice, based on Yoshitoki Ōima's manga of the same name, opened in Japan in June 2016, and earned 2.3 billion yen in Japan. The film was the 19th highest-grossing film released in Japan in 2016.
Tamako Love Story is a sequel to Yamada's earlier Tamako Market series. The film opened in Japan in April 2014.
Reiko Yoshida is the scriptwriter for both films, and she collaborated with Yamada on her K-ON! series, Tamako Market, and her later film Liz and the Blue Bird. K-ON! character designer Yukiko Horiguchi designed the characters for Tamako Market and Tamako Love Story. Futoshi Nishiya, who perished in the Kyoto Animation 1st Studio fire, was the character designer for A Silent Voice and Yamada's later film Liz and the Blue Bird.
The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that donations to Kyoto Animation have exceeded 1.2 billion yen (about US$11.4 million) as of 3:00 p.m. JST on July 29. The studio's bank account for donations after the deadly fire has received a total of 965.63 million yen (about US$8.87 million) from 47,991 donations as of that time.
The studio's bank account, which opened on July 24, raised 274 million yen (about US$2.53 million) from 14,000 sources in its first day. The account then raised 620 million yen (about US$5.7 million) by July 26. Kyoto Animation will give the funds to families of the deceased and injured victims of the fire, as well as use them for rebuilding.
