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Yasuhiro Aoki, Studio 4°C's ChaO Anime Wins Annecy Film Festival's Jury Prize
posted on by Egan Loo
GKIDS licensed ChaO, and it describes the story:
From acclaimed Japanese animation production house Studio 4°C comes a wild romantic comedy and true “fish out of water” story. In a futuristic world where humans and mermaids coexist, ChaO follows Stephan, a mild-mannered office worker at a shipbuilding company, whose life is upended when he is suddenly proposed to by Chao — a princess from the mermaid kingdom. With no time to make sense of what's happening, Stephan soon finds himself living with the unpredictable, wholehearted Chao. As her sincere love begins to break down his emotional barriers, an unexpected and touching romance begins to unfold.
Ōji Suzuka (Kimi ni Todoke, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes) plays Stefan, a salaryman at a ship-making company. Anna Yamada (live-action Golden Kamuy, Saki) plays ChaO, the pure princess of the mermaid kingdom.
The film also stars:
- Yūichirō Umehara as Roberta
- Nankai Candies comedy duo member Ryōta Yamasato as President Shi
- Kavka Shishido as Maibei
- Yasei Bakudan comedy duo member Cookie! as Ambassador Omede
- Kenta Miyake as the King Neptunus
- Octpath idol group member Shunsei Ōta as Juno
- Anna Tsuchiya as Editor-in-Chief
Aoki (Kimagure Robot, Tweeny Witches) directed the film at Studio 4°C, and Hirokazu Kojima (Deadman Wonderland, Coyote Ragtime Show) is the character designer and chief animation director. Hiroshi Takiguchi (Ajin, The Case of Hana & Alice, The Garden of Words) is the art director. Takatsugu Muramatsu (Mary and The Witch's Flower, Phoenix: Eden17) composed the soundtrack. Toei is distributing the film.
Kumi Kōda performs the opening theme song "ChaO!," written specifically for the film.
The film premiered at the festival, which ran in France from June 8 to June 14. The JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film will screen the film on its opening night at New York on July 10. The film will then screen at the 29th annual Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs from July 16 through August 3 in Montreal.
The film will open in Japanese theaters on August 15.
Dandelion's Odyssey is the feature film directorial debut for Seto. (Its French title is Planètes, but is unrelated to the manga and anime of the same name.) Annecy describes the 75-minute film with no dialogue:
Dendelion, Baraban, Léonto and Taraxa, four dandelion achenes rescued from a succession of nuclear explosions destroying the Earth, find themselves hurled into the cosmos, stranded on an unknown planet, in search of a soil suitable for the survival of their species. But the elements, fauna, flora and climate are just some of the obstacles they must overcome.
The film previously won the International Federation of Film Critics' award at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in May.
Annecy describes "The Graffiti" ("Rakugaki"), a 13-minute black-and-white short:
The moment the first gleam of sunlight trickled in gently stirring the folds of a shallow sleep… that was when the graffiti appeared. The film brings a prose poem by Makoto Takayanagi to life, read here by the poet himself.
Sources: Annecy International Animation Film Festival (link 2), Deadline (Melanie Goodfellow)
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