Hello everyone, we are happy to announce the date for this year’s Kotatsu Japanese animation festival!
The festival will be held on Saturday 1st December at Chapter Arts Centre. We are hoping to repeat the success of previous year’s festival with a selection of films such as studio Ghibli film.
This year we have more spaces available in the market place. Any shops or artists involved with a Japanese/Anime theme, please contact the festival for details.
Thank you very much for all the people who came to the 2nd Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival; again it was another successful year for us.
Short Film Screenings at The Atrium
Day 1 of the festival opened at the University of Glamorgan, Atrium in Cardiff with the Japanese Short Animation Film Screenings which sported a packed cinema. The audience enjoyed several short films from up and coming, as well as established, Japanese animators followed by some animations from courses taught at the Atrium itself.
Down in the foyer were a selection of local specialist retailers such as Otakuzoku, who sell retro video games, manga, comic books, and toys, anlongside the comic specialist The Comic Man who both laid out their stands for the whole afternoon prior to the short film screenings..
Chapter Arts Centre
Day 2 was held at the Chapter Arts Centre with the feature film screenings including:
In keeping with last year’s tradition of showcasing a premiere film, Redline had its Welsh premiere in front of a packed cinema.
The Japanese Marketplace
Held in the foyer area again this year, the marketplace really adds to the atmosphere of the entire weekend. Food, snacks, sweets, toys, videogames, anime and manga were available to buy, and the stalls which included Otakuzoku, Yakiniku, and The Comic Man helped create an event fit for celebrating Japanese animation.
The Haiku Animation Workshop
This was a great success with lots of children taking part. Gerald Conn, the director of an award winning animation company Gritty Realism Productions, hosted the workshop which taught children how to animate with sand and cutout card on a lightbox. Each frame was captured using a stills camera mounted on an overhead rostrum.
Initially tasked with creating a Haiku poem, they then set about animating a short piece with their poems being read out as a soundtrack.
The result of their efforts is presented here (see video below), and we think you’ll agree they did a wonderful job considering they had no animation experience at all.
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The Calligraphy Workshop
Ever wanted to try your hand at writing Japanese? We invited Yukiko Ayres, a London-based professional Calligrapher, whose workshops allow everyone to try their hand at writing in Japanese using a traditional brush and ink.
Whether it was your own name, or the name of a loved one, Yukiko would show you how to do it, and then supervise while you tried to copy the intricate brush strokes.
Japanese calligraphy obeys strict rules when it comes to the number and order of the brush strokes, even down to the posture held whilst writing.
Raffle Prize Draw
This year’s raffle draw took place in the foyer near the cinema entrance with an excited crowd waiting to hear their numbers called. Bet Davis who is Head of Corporate Affairs, Wales Millennium Centre and also a member of Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival Committee hosted the raffle prizes.
There were some great prizes, such as a StopMate Motion Animation Armature by Japanese armature maker Tetsu, animation software Stop Motion Pro HD, anime DVDs, a beautiful kimono, books, dolls, badges, gift vouchers, bento boxes and lots more. It was also nice to see the armature being won by an animation student from the Atrium, a somewhat fitting end to a great weekend.
Plans are under way for this year’s festival, and will be published here as soon as they are finalized. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to this year’s festival, we really hope you enjoyed yourselves. Please spread the word to all your friends and family and we hope to see you all again next year for the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2012.
The UK’s biggest J- Culture event Hyper Japan is being held at Earl’s Court in London. This event features Animation screenings, Cosplay, Japanese Street Fashion Show and much more.
Professional Calligrapher and Kendo master Yukiko Ayres will be giving demonstrations of Joudo, Kendo, and Calligraphy. Joudo is a type of martial arts which uses a wooden stick called Jo or wooden sword.
Yukiko will be attending Hyper Japan on the following dates.
24th February Jyodo 17:00 ~ 17:30
25th February Kendo 12:00 ~ 12:30
25th February Kendo 17:00 ~ 17:30
25th February Jodo 15:00 ~ 15:30
26th February Jodo 15:00 ~ 15:30
On Sunday 26th Yukiko will be supporting the Calligraphy Workshop which is organized by the Japan Society.
Please come along and enjoy a sense of Japan.
Our Festival Steering Committee member Midori Matsui, MBE is organizing a charity concert to celebrate 30th anniversary of The Japanese Saturday School, Whitchurch, Cardiff.
The event will take place on Saturday 18th February 2012 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm), at the Canton Uniting Church, Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff, CF5 1LQ.
On the bill are Saya Okada (Piano), Yuta Tsubone (Clarinet) and Robert & David Childs with the Cory Brass Ensemble.
Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions), children under 14 can get tickets for just £5.
Tickets are available from:
Midori Matsui 029 2069 1803 / 07791 805 710 or gwyrdd@ma.kew.net.
Our Kotatsu Festival has been mentioned in this month’s NEO, the UK magazine that focuses on East Asian entertainment, with articles on Japanese anime and manga; Hong Kong, Korean and Japanese films; and Japanese pop, rock and visual-kei music and games.
The November issue also has a fantastic article about the film Redline, which is coincidentally enjoying its Welsh premiere at this year’s festival.
Check out the NEO magazine for lots of great articles on Japanese animation and film.
We are happy to announce two fantastic workshops at this year’s festival.
Calligraphy Workshop (12pm ~15pm)
You can learn to write in Japanese at our exciting Calligraphy Workshop. We extended the time 12:00 to 15:00 so more people can experience the beauty of Japanese traditional writings.
This event, suitable for children and adults and it will cost just £5 per person. The teacher is Yukiko Ayres, a London-based highly respected professional Calligrapher, whose workshops and demonstrations are sought after at famous events such as Hyper Japan, the UK’s biggest J-culture event.
A calligraphy workshop is very rare in Wales, and as this is also Yukiko Ayres‘ first workshop in Wales, let’s make sure to give her a very warm Kotatsu welcome.
Haiku Animation Workshop (11am~16pm)
Join animation and education specialists Gritty Realism for this practical introduction to the basic of stop motion animation. The workshop is suitable for 8-14 years olds and is £10 per person. There are limited spaces so please book early by contacting matt.beere@chapter.org.
Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival is in partnership with Chapter’s Young Person’s Film Academy.
Win your lovely prizes at the festival when you buy your tickets and donate to future Kotatsu events for just 50p per ticket.
Courtesy of Tetsu’s Armature
The StopMate SM-005 is ball & socket armature kit which can be assembled to create the internal skeleton for your humanoid puppets. Designed by Tetsu, a skilled Japanese machinist, they are also the main stop motion armatures used in Tokyos University of the Arts animation program. The armature moves really smoothly and is very strong, making it ideal for professional animation projects. Sold worldwide by Stop Motion Store.
Courtesy of Stopmotion Pro
Stop Motion Pro V7 has been developed in consultation with Aardman Animations (the makers of Wallace and Gromit). The software offers students, animators and animation producers the most comprehensive and easy to use toolset yet.
Courtesy of Barry Purves
Signed copy of the book by renowned animator Barry Purves.
The book is packed with tips and suggestions to help you get the most out of your own stopmotion films, accompanied by full-colour illustrations and case studies demonstrating how film-making masters through the years have used it in feature films,short films and TV series. Basics Animation: Stop-motion also examines the evolution of stopmotion, from its almost accidental beginnings to a much-loved form of storytelling in its own right one that continues to push boundaries after 110 years.
Courtesy of The Japanese Shop
This Black Polyester Cherry Blossom Kimono is made from lovely soft printed polyester, which feels very ‘silk-like’ and comes with a matching 4cm wide belt which can be loosely tied off at the waist.
Anime DVD sets
Courtesy of MVM Entertainment
Courtesy of Calon TV
Have fun watching 8 full Episodes of the fun loving cave girl Igam Ogam!
Courtesy of Calon TV
A pretty Sali Mali doll, the famous character from the Welsh TV series.
Courtesy of Greenpixey
This turquoise dragon is approx 8in,” (21cm) tall and 10″ (26cm) long. He is made from chunky acrylic yarn and stuffed with polyfibre filling.
Courtesy of Calon TV
From the famous Children’s TV series Igam Ogam.
Courtesy of Calon TV
From their famous Children’s TV series Igam Ogam.
Courtesy of Seoul House Restaurant.
Treat yourself to some excellent cuisine at the renowned Japanese and Korean restaurant on the east side of Cardiff. We have five gift vouchers to give away, each worth £10!
Image licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 2.0 Generic license
Courtesy of Super Tomato
A Bento Box is used for serving food, with individual compartments for keeping food separated whilst being carried.
Courtesy of Toyo.
Great fun to be had building your very own origami creations, with full instructions on each and every fold required to make some truly amazing designs out of plain paper. These sets feature sweets such as birthday cake, boats and cars, and Rilakkuma bento box.
Courtesy of: Major Brushes
This painting set comes complete with paints, brushes and canvas.
Courtesy of Euro Japan Trading Co
Beautifully hand knitted and perfect for keeping your hands warm this winter.
Courtesy of Saemi Takahashi
Beautifully handmade, these badges are adorned with a cute Japanese girl’s face.
Courtesy of Saemi Takahashi
Courtesy of Chie Arai, Japanese animator
Courtesy of Re-ment
Fri 25th Nov
18:00 Short Films Screening (Atrium)
20:00 Opening Party – Gwdihw
Sat 26th Nov
11:00 All day Japanese Marketplace
11:00 Arrietty – Cinema 1
11:00 Haiku Animation Workshop
12:00 Calligraphy Workshop
13:00 Paprika – Cinema 2
15:00 Tales from Earthsea – Cinema 1
17:00 Raffle Prize Draw
18:00 Redline – Cinema 2
At this year’s London International Animation Festival 2011, a Japanese short animated film called ‘In A Pig’s Eye‘ by Atsushi Wada has been given the prestigious award for Best of the Festival.
At last year’s Kotatsu Festival 2010, we showed one of his earlier animations entitled ‘The Mechanism of Spring‘ as part of our short film screenings. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Atsushi Wada on yet another award (the film has won others) and look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.
We are showing more great shorts at this year’s festival (at the Atrium) so be sure to check out the programme page where we’ll announce the films we’ll be showing very soon.
At last, we have a confirmed date for this year’s Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival. We are happy to announce that the festival will take place on Friday and Saturday, the 25th and 26th of November 2011.
As last year, we are having Japanese short film screenings at the Atrium on the evening of the 25th. Last year’s screenings showcased some great short animations from up and coming artists across Japan, and this year we hope it will be bigger and better. Also showing will be some of the students’ work from the University of Glamorgan animation course. Afterwards will be drinks in Gwdihw for those wishing to carry on.
Then on the Saturday 26th, we will have the usual Japanese Marketplace throughout the day at Chapter Arts Centre, with lots of Japanese themed merchandise on sale. Local entrepreneurs Otakuzoku will be there again, bringing their retro video-games, manga, comic-books, and toys – both from the UK and imported directly from Japan. Yakiniku, a local Korean/Japanese restaurant will be providing food and snacks for all tastes. More retailers to be confirmed.
We are still in negotiations to secure the main feature film for the weekend, but rest assured we are trying our best to bring you another blockbuster Welsh premiere. More details to be announced as soon as we have confirmation.
And of course, don’t forget the raffle! Make sure you get your tickets to be in with a chance of winning some great prizes. Check out the Raffle page for the current list of prizes. We have lots more prizes still to come, so keep checking back.