Mirai Mizue's critically acclaimed anime "Modern No. 2" is among nine Japanese animated shorts up for awards at the 2012 Ottawa International Animation Festival that will be held Sept. 19-23 in Ottawa, Canada.
"Modern No. 2" has already won a string of honors, including the Sacem Award for original music at this year's Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France
In addition to "Modern No. 2," "Dreams" by Keiichi Tanaami is in the running in the Independent Short Films Competition. "Dreams" was jointly produced with Nobuhiro Aihara, one of Japan's leading animation artists who died last year.
Ryo Okawara's "Kara no Tamago" (Wind Egg) and Yutaro Kubo's "Crazy For It" were included in the Student Animation Competition. "Blue Ice," which was co-produced by Takeshi Nagata and Kazue Monno from Tochika Factory and "World Wildlife Fund '100% Renewable Energy' " by Amica Kubo and Tori, were selected in the Commissioned Films Competition for promotional animation.
Yuichi Ito's "DoronCoron," an animated short series currently airing on the Television Kanagawa (TVK) Inc. network, is included in the competition for television animation for children.
"Geidai Animation Showreel," a compilation of animated shorts created by students from the Tokyo University of the Arts, including Okawara, Masanori Okamoto, Maho Yoshida, Eri Kawaguchi and Yuanyuan Hu, made its way into the School Competition.
Meanwhile, two works associated with Japan are up for an accolade in the Independent Short Film Competition.
"The People Who Never Stop" was directed by Florian Piento and co-produced by Japanese and French companies. The short has won the Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a first film at Annecy this year.
"The Great Rabbit," the winner of the Silver Bear award in the short film category at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival and other awards, is a French film directed by Japanese artist Atsushi Wada.
The Ottawa International Animation Festival ranks among the world's four top animation film festivals, together with the Annecy, the Animafest Zagreb in Croatia and the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. Winners will be announced on Sept. 23.
The Ottawa event also serves as a qualifying round for the U.S. Academy Awards, and the winner of the Best Independent Short Competition will receive an Oscar nod in the short film category.
This year, no Japanese animated features are up for awards at the Ottawa festival.
For more information, visit (http://animationfestival.ca/index.php).
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