News
Maboroshi Film Wins Award at 2nd Niigata Int'l Animation Film Festival
posted on by Anita Tai
The Niigata International Animation Film Festival honored Mari Okada and MAPPA's original anime film Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Kōjō (maboroshi) with the Kabuku Award during the awards ceremony on Wednesday.
The Kabuku award is given to works that challenge convention to create something original and innovative.
The film was awarded the Animation Film Award at the Mainichi Film Awards in January.
Netflix began streaming the anime under the title maboroshi on January 15. The film premiered in Japan on September 15.
The second Niigata International Film Festival ran from March 15-20.
The first Niigata International Animation Film Festival was held in March 2023, and featured Mamoru Oshii as the judging committee chairman. The festival screened the unrealized live-action film adaptation of Katsuhiro Ōtomo's Domu manga along with a retrospective section on Ōtomo. The festival also screened Shinichiro Watanabe's (Cowboy Bebop) "A Girl Meets a Boy and a Robot," and Shuhei Morita's (Freedom, Tokyo Ghoul) "Roots" (Tsuru no Mai) animated short films.
The festival is planned to run every year, and it aims to be the largest festival of feature-length anime in Asia.
Niigata has hosted the Niigata Anime and Manga Festival and Niigata Manga Awards. The city is also home to some anime studios.
Sources: Niigata Animation FIlm Festival Twitter's account, Comic Natalie
