One of our official sponsors for last year’s festival was a local company from Chepstow in Monmouthshire called MVM Films. They very kindly donated a DVD of the first episode of Samurai Champloo which was shown at the festival, and also donated a bunch of first episodes of various other anime DVDs, which were given away as raffle prizes to some lucky winners. So if you are looking for any good anime DVDs be sure to check out their website MVM Entertainment, and their shop Anime-On-Line. They have recently started to expand into other genres too, including Asian Cinema and Horror.
Our Festival Steering Committee member Midori Matsui, MBE is organizing a charity concert in aid of The Japanese Saturday School, Whitchurch, Cardiff. The event will take place on Saturday 29th January 2011 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), Hiroko Sue (Koto) and bechgyn bro taf (Male Voice Choir).
Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions), with family tickets for 2 adults and 2 children also available at £26. 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, or from Bet Davies on 029 2084 4950 / 07900 842 371.
While not strictly related to Japanese animation, we thought we’d bring this to your attention anyway. The Cardiff International Comic Expo is to be held at the Mercure Holland House Hotel on Newport Road on the 26th February 2011. Tickets are selling fast, so if you are interested in attending please make sure to book your tickets in advance via their website at http://www.fantasyevents.org/cice/. From their website, it is obvious that there will definitely be lots to see, and for the more Japan related items be sure to check out the Manga Expo Spotlight hosted by our friends Otakuzoku, and Genki Gear who take the great style of Japanese culture, Anime, Sci-fi and gaming and mix it with their own unique “Genki” twist to produce great quality t-shirts.
After almost a year of hard work and planning, the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2010 launched on Friday 26th November, with a series of short animated films screened at the Atrium, part of the University of Glamorgan in Cardiff. Although the extreme weather conditions caused a greatly reduced turnout – even our own festival organiser was snow-bound 10 miles away – about 40 cold but dedicated people still managed to turn up to revel in the animated offerings of some of Japan’s finest up and coming artists.
Thankfully the weather eased off a little for Saturday, as more people turned out for the two screenings of Ponyo, which was also shown on Friday afternoon. An old story retold by none other than the master himself Hayao Miyazaki, co-head of Studio Ghibli, Ponyo follows the story of Sosuke, a 5yr old boy who lives with his mother by the sea, and his relationship with Ponyo, a goldfish princess who is desperate to become human, only to find out that to do so would jeopardise the delicate balance of all life on Earth. It is interesting, as an aside, to note that since the success of Studio Ghibli’s oscar-winning Spirited Away, Disney are taking a much larger interest in all things Ghibli, and Ponyo is no exception being distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.
Next up was the Masterclass with Barry Purves, an animator, director and writer held in high regard, with a long list of successful credits such as Mars Attacks!, Chortle and the Wheelies, Captain Kremmen, Dangermouse, King Kong and many others. Interviewed by Tim Allen, whose work includes Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Creature Comforts and Fantastic Mr Fox, Barry recounted stories and insights from his life in animation. Barry’s films have achieved more than sixty awards around the world, with his theatrical style and often controversial themes. Barry Purves’ website can be found at www.barrypurves.com.
One of the many highlights of the 2 hour masterclass, was a short film by talented French student Damien Ferrié entitled “Overtime”, which was produced as a tribute to the late, great Jim Henson. Animation was done completely in CGI, whilst faithfully and convincingly recreating all the subtleties and nuances of hand made puppets.
Sunday kicked off with a card making workshop, Japanese themed of course, under the expert guidance of Vanessa Feuillade from Inspired Bliss. The short film screenings that followed were each hand picked by the guest speakers Midoriko Hayashi and Tetsuji Kurashige and showing three distinct styles of animation; anime, hand-crafted and artistic. Midoriko Hayashi organises animation screenings in Japan, through her organisation Animation Tapes, while Tetsuji Kurashige is a lecturer in animation at Hokkaido University of Education.
So what was next, ah yes, the raffle. There were so many prizes this year that it took nearly an hour to call out all the names. Suffice to say that there were some really good prizes on offer, especially the Ghibli art book, and the top prize of a Wacom graphics tablet (you know who you are you lucky people).
Last, but certainly not least, was the Welsh premiere of Summer Wars, finishing off the festival in style. From Mamoru Hosoda, who previously directed the multi-award winning “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (時をかける少女, Toki o Kakeru Shoujo), comes this mixture of traditional Japanese animation with a thoroughly modern twist. The story surrounds Kenji Koiso, a high school student who, on request, pretends to be the boyfriend of class mate Natsuki Shinohara at her large family house for a summer holiday. Whilst there he receives, and solves, a mysterious mathematical puzzle sent to his mobile, resulting in his online account at OZ, the world-wide social and financial Second-LifeTM type network/virtual world, being hacked by The Love Machine, an artificial intelligence out to destroy the system. The film is a mixture of traditional anime style and CGI, with the CGI being used to portray the vast online virtual world of OZ, which looks like it could possibly be inspired by the artwork of Takashi Murakami.
Takumasa Ono Studio Stall
TK Trading Stall
The real atmosphere of the festival came from the events in the Chapter foyer, as it played host to guest stall holders selling a fantastic and wide ranging selection of Japanese art, books, food, snacks, drinks, merchandise and more.
Over the weekend, visitors were able to wander through the marketplace and savour the treats on offer from vendors such as London-based TK Trading, the UK’s No.1 importer of Japanese and Oriental Foods, the delightful sumi-e artwork from the studio of Takumasa Ono, the pop-culture merchandise from Cardiff-based Otakuzoku, and the delicious food from Yakiniku, a Japanese and Korean restaurant based in St Mellons.
Otakuzoku Stall
Trying out the flip books on show
Oh and not forgetting the various exhibits, such as the animated Flipbooks, there was even one drawn in 3d! with anaglyph red/cyan glasses, and the beautiful stop motion animation puppets on display. There was so much to see, and it was nice to have the Chapter buzzing with excitement; surely a fun filled and interesting day out for all ages.
So, it’s all over for this year. We’ll be posting blogs throughout the year to keep up to date with developments in Japanese animation, and maybe a bit of pop culture too. Stay tuned for news of next year’s festival due to be announced early next year. We’ve already been offered a rough date, and hopefully we’ll avoid any snow! So all that remains is to thank everyone who came along to any of the events, and especially the event organisers and guest speakers, we couldn’t have done it without you.
If you have any questions or requests for this or next year’s festival, be sure to leave a comment below.
Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to the festival – despite the very, very unfortunate weather. Sadly a lot of people couldn’t make it… Please come to the next one!
Also thank you very much for all the funding organizations such as The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Japan Foundation, The Japan Society, and Atrium (which sponsored Barry Purves’ Masterclass), lots of companies and artists who kindly donated money and prizes for our festival raffle, and last but not least Chapter Arts Center, who were also very supportive. We couldn’t have done our first festival without their help. (Please help us again!) People who couldn’t come to the festival this time, please don’t worry – Broadstroke Productions documented all the events on video, and these clips will go on to our website soon.
Festival Director Eiko Meredith is so happy, our Japanese culture is accepted by the nice people in Cardiff. Thank you!
According to reports from Hollywood blog ‘The Wrap’, Summer Wars has been submitted for consideration as an Oscar nominee in next year’s Academy Awards. So far, Summer Wars is the only Japanese submission in the category of Best Animated Feature. Other films that have been submitted are:
Below are some of the prizes on offer as part of our 2010 raffle. To be in with a chance of winning, be sure to buy your raffle tickets when they become available nearer the festival date.
The Bamboo Fun combines multi-touch functionality and pen tablet technology in a single device! A simple tap of the finger will select an icon or open a menu and with two fingers you can easily zoom and rotate photos or scroll down. Styled in silver, Bamboo Fun allows you to create natural-looking paintings or drawings. You can retouch your photos with the pen – or personalise your documents using handwritten notes, sketches or doodles. That’s not all! A variety of useful Bamboo Mini software applications inside Bamboo Dock are kept ready for download – for example Animator: A handy tool for sketching animations. Draw sheet by sheet with your Bamboo Fun and then bring your drawings to life. You can even export your image series to use them in any other application.
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. Stop Motion Pro requires a video camera, webcam or digital stills camera and is compatible with Win XP, Vista and Windows 7. It can also be used on Apple Macs using either Boot Camp or Parallels.
You are able to hook the yarn easily with smooth head and soft cushion grip. The ergonomically shaped grip developed independently by Tulip is very comfortable to hold and tireless. This soft cushion grip uses elastomer and its texture is very soft. ETIMO gives you smooth knitting and fits comfortably in your hand.
Smooth hook tip
The finely polished hook tip provides a smooth feel to crocheting without catching on the threads.
Cushion grip
A special rubber material is used which fits gently into the fingers, greatly reducing the load which the fingers bear.
Easy-to-grip shape
The shape of this hook was developed independently by Tulip, and is easy to hold, easy to turn, and does not slip.
Contains 35 designs with comprehensive step-by-step instructions, including a pack of 60 pieces of origami paper to help you make every project in the book. Origami for Children is the perfect introduction to origami, the fun Japanese papercraft for parents and children of all ages.
The Simple Art of Sumi-E: Mastering Japanese Ink Painting
All the techniques to create works of outstanding beauty are here, presented by Takumasa Ono, a master and teacher of many years’ experience. He begins by looking at the “Four Treasures” of Sumi-E (paper, brushes, ink, and stone), and demonstrates simple brushstrokes and traditional ways of composing the picture. Fifteen easy, yet lovely projects range from greeting cards to wall paintings, from decorated fabrics to tiles. A special feature is an “Inspirations” chapter with 100 common Western first names done in calligraphy, as well as haikus and Zen proverbs to enhance the projects.
The Art of Japanese Papercrafts reveals traditions of old-style beauty, charm, and delicacy that are the basis of the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. Mari Ono presents top Japanese paper folding techniques, including origami and embellishments, in more than 30 easy-to-understand projects. Blending centuries of tradition with modern techniques, this delightful text gives readers the skills they need to create lastingly beautiful gifts and home accessories.
The vouchers are valid until 31st May 2011, and only for use at TK Trading’s online shop. Please enter voucher details (number and amount) into the space provided when checking out.
Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival is happy to present a special Japanese themed teddy bear called, rather affectionately, ‘Akiko’. Aki in Japanese means “Autumn”, and female given names often end in the syllable -ko, written with the kanji meaning “child” (子). So this teddy is a girl of Autumn, or “Autumn Girl”. Akiko is a limited edition Teddy, handmade by Jules Bears and Crafts in Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales, GB. She is made out of 100% mohair, with glass eyes, hardboard cotter pin, and polyester filling. She is one of a limited edition of 25. Akiko is only being made especially for the Festival, and she will be on display at Chapter during the festival weekend. She can be purchased through Isabella’s, at the bargain price of £80. Please feel free to say hello to her when you come to the festival.
I visited Cardiff in 1992, when I co-operated to curate special programs of Japanese animation for an international animation festival held in Cardiff at that time. I remember that I felt very relaxed during my stay, where I enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere of this historical city, and also, by many people I met at the shopping centre who were so kind and warm. I even thought of living in a city like Cardiff! Perhaps, the Welsh language might have given me a warm impression too.
Then, in HIROSHIMA ’98, I was very pleased to show a very strong special program of Welsh Animation, having originality and individuality in variety, and I also showed the program in Okinawa after our festival. At that time, I was delighted to learn the unique history and climate of Wales, reflected in the films. As such, I truly hope the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2010 will provide a good opportunity for Japanese animation film-makers to spread their animation culture in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, as well as to study the very high-quality British animation art too.
I also hope that the Festival will serve as a good site for friendship and exchange, just like a family gathering at Kotatsu, supporting many Japanese animation film-makers to become very successful internationally.
Sayoko Kinoshita Festival Director International Animation Festival in Japan – HIROSHIMA
