March 10-Wonder: Recent Independent Animation from Japan

Thursday, March 10 | This week Japanese animation scholar and curator Nobuaki Doi joins us for a screening and discussion!

Atsushi Wada, still from In A Pig’s Eye, 2010. Image courtesy of the artist

Over the last decade and a half, a generation of independent animators have redefined “Japanese animation.” Organized by the animation scholar and curator Nobuaki Doi, this program showcases the landscape of independent Japanese animation, including Mirai Mizue’s stunning, hand-drawn cellular phantasmagoria,Wonder (2014), Atsushi Wada’s stylized and surreal look at everyday life, A Pig’s Eye (2010), Kei Oyama’s unsettling photo-collage of adolescent angst, Handsoap(2008), and Yoko Kuno’s ethereal and elegiac Airy Me (2012), originally released on dream pop singer Cuushe’s debut album Red Rocket Telepathy. Also on the program are Yoriko Mizushiri’s Futon (2011), Ryo Hirano’s Holiday (2011), Masanobu Hiraoka’s Land (2013), ShiShi Yamazaki’s Moonlit Night & Opal (2015), and Yoko Yuki’s Zdravstvuite! (2015).

2008–15, multiple directors, Japan, multiple formats, 75 min + discussion

Nobuaki Doi (Tokyo, Japan) is the festival director of New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival, the world’s first film festival in an airport. He is also the President/CEO of New Deer, Inc, a distribution company specializing in independent animation. He was one of the co-founders of CALF, a trailblazing distribution collective for independent animation, and editor of the Japanese e-zine Animations Creators and Critics. His articles and reviews can be found in the publications of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA).

Nobuaki Doi Program Notes