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Masaaki Yuasa's Inu-Oh Anime Film Screens at Angoulême Festival

The staff of the 49th Angoulême Festival announced on Wednesday that Masaaki Yuasa's INU-OH, the musical anime feature film of Hideo Furukawa's Heike Monogatari: INU-OH no Maki (Tales of the Heike: Inu-Oh) novel, will screen at the event on March 18 with a Q&A with Yuasa. The event will also host a "L'Art de INU-OH" exhibition featuring artwork from Taiyo Matsumoto, and Yuasa will also host a lecture at the event on March 19 on the theme of "bringing manga to life."

The film made its world premiere in the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 10, and it was the first 2D Japanese film to compete in the Venice International Film Festival's Horizons category. The film screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), which was held from October 30 through November 8. The film won the Special Distinction Prize in the International Competition - Feature Film category award at the 23rd Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF).

The film will open in Japan in early summer 2022. GKIDS has licensed the film, and it describes the film's story:

Inu-Oh is born with unique physical characteristics, and the horrified adults cover every inch of his body with garments, including a mask on his face. One day, he meets a boy named Tomona, a blind biwa player, and as Tomona plays a delicate song of tangled fate, Inu-Oh discovers an incredible ability to dance.

Inu-Oh and Tomona become business partners and inseparable friends, using their creative gifts to survive on the margins of society, as song after song gain them notoriety and propel them to stardom. Through the songs, Inu-Oh mesmerizes his audiences on stage, and gradually begins to transform into someone of unequaled beauty. But why is Tomona blind? Why was Inu-Oh born with unique characteristics? It is a story about the friendship of Inu-Oh and Tomona, who dance and sing to get to the truth and break each other's curse.

Yuasa (DEVILMAN crybaby, Ride Your Wave, Japan Sinks: 2020) directed the film. Manga creator Taiyo Matsumoto drafted the original character designs for INU-OH in his second collaboration with Yuasa, who directed the anime of Matsumoto's Ping Pong manga. Akiko Nogi wrote her first anime film after scripting such live-action works as I am a Hero, We Married as a Job!, and Unnatural.

The 49th Angoulême Festival will run from March 17-20 in the Angoulême area of France after a delay from January 27-30 due to COVID-19. Six manga are nominated for Best Comic at this year's awards, and several manga are also nominated in other categories. The festival will also host an exhibition for the work of Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto.

The festival launched in 1974 as an event celebrating comics from countries throughout the world.

Thanks to Nicholas R. Zabaly for the news tip.

Image ©2021 “INU-OH” Film Partners

Source: Angoulême Festival's website and Twitter account (link 2)