Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s Look Again gained the grand prix on the third Niigata Worldwide Animation Movie Competition (NIAFF) on Thursday (March 20).
The award was introduced to the director on the ultimate night time of the pageant, which ran from March 15-20 in Niigata, a port metropolis two hours north of Tokyo.
Oshiyama, who was additionally honoured with the Koji Fukiya prize for his work as an animator, highlighted the significance of hand-made animation throughout his acceptance speech. “Whereas animating the movie, I saved listening to that AI would quickly be capable of create whole works of animation, which made me nervous,” he stated.
“We created Look Again by hand, however that’s one thing that’s going to turn out to be harder, so the movie is sort of a memento of our present occasions. On the identical time, the entire course of and historical past of anime with human palms will solely turn out to be extra useful any more, and that worth won’t ever be misplaced.”
Seville European Movie Competition director Manuel Cristobal, who served as president of the jury, described Look Again as “completely paced with superbly rendered characters.”
The movie just lately took residence the perfect animation prize on the Japan Academy Awards on March 14, and was Japan’s highest-grossing non-franchise anime movie of 2024.
Primarily based on a manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Man), the story follows two younger artists with very completely different personalities who crew as much as create successful manga till tragedy strikes. It marks the characteristic directorial debut of Oshiyama, who beforehand labored as an animator on Studio Ghibli options akin to The Boy And The Heron, and premiered at Annecy.
Regardless of an preliminary mid-sized launch in Japan final yr, it went on to rank among the many high 20 field workplace hits within the nation.
Additional awards
The winner of the pageant’s Kabuku award, given to a piece “that’s not constrained by standard values,” went to Memoir Of A Snail, by Australian director Adam Elliot. The movie beforehand gained finest movie at Annecy and was nominated for an Oscar. Elliot additionally touched on AI’s looming presence and stated: “I believe the perfect artwork will all the time be created by human beings.”
The pageant’s Evolve award went to Italy’s Balentes, directed by Giovanni Columbu, whereas the honourable point out award went to US director Eric Energy’s Papercuts: My Life As An Indie Animator. Energy is the pageant’s first repeat director, his When You Get To The Forest having performed on the inaugural NIAFF in 2023.
The competitors part featured 12 options from 10 nations chosen from a complete of 69 entries from 29 nations. Cristobal’s fellow jurors had been artist and educator Christine Panushka and Dwarf Studios producer Noriko Matsumoto.
The pageant’s Hiroshi Okawa and Koji Fukiya awards, named after pioneers of Japanese animation born in Niigata, had been introduced previous to the pageant and awarded March 20.
The Hiroshi Okada award went to Japanese studio Shin-Ei Animation, finest identified for its long-running Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan franchises. The Koji Fukiya prize was awarded to 4 people: director and animator Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Look Again), animator Toshiyuki Inoue (Tokyo Godfathers), audio director Eriko Kimura (The Colours Inside) and composer Yuki Hayashi (My Hero Academia).
In the course of the award ceremony, it was introduced NIAFF will shift a month earlier for its fourth version and can happen from February 20-26, 2026.
