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Her Blue Sky, Human Lost, Ride Your Wave, Wonderland Anime Compete at Sitges Film Fest
posted on by Alex Mateo
The 52nd annual Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain revealed that Her Blue Sky (Sora no Aosa o Shiru Hito yo), the original anime film by the Super Peace Busters creative team, is nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film and Official Fantastic Competition awards this year.
In addition, the festival will screen the Human Lost, Ride Your Wave, and The Wonderland anime films in the Anima't category, and it will also screen Weathering With You and One Piece Stampede in the Anima't - Special Sessions category. The "Shishigari" short will screen in the Anima't Shorts section.
The official website of the film festival has English-subtitled trailers for Her Blue Sky and "Shishigari."
The festival will take place from October 3 to 13. It is one of the "three great fantastic film festivals of the world" that specialize in genre films such as science fiction, fantasy, and horror, along with Fantasporto in Porto, Portugal and the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.
Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai film won the festival's Best Animated Feature Film award last year. Other previous films that have won the same award at Sitges include Makoto Shinkai's your name. film in 2016, Miss Hokusai in 2015, and Tatsumi in 2011. The live-action film of Kengo Hanazawa's best-selling zombie manga I am a Hero also won the Grand Audience Award and Award for Best Special Effects at the festival in 2016.
Her Blue Sky will screen during the festival on October 9 and 10. The film will then open in Japan on October 11. Director Tatsuyuki Nagai, writer and director Mari Okada, and artist Masayoshi Tanaka — the members of Super Peace Busters — are handling the film. Nagai is directing, Okada is penning the script, and Tanaka is drawing the original character designs and serving as chief animation director. CloverWorks is in charge of animation production.
Human Lost will screen during the festival on October 9 and 10. The film will open in the U.S. before it opens in Japan. Funimation will screen the film in theaters in the United States on October 22 and 23. Screenings on October 22 will have English subtitles, and screenings on October 23 will have an English dub. The anime is slated for global release in October and November. Anime Expo screened the North American English-subtitled premiere for the film in July.
The anime won the the "Axis: The Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation" award as a Special Mention at Montreal's Fantasia International Film Festival on July 25. The film also screened out of competition at this year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 14.
The "new sci-fi, cyberpunk film project" is an adaptation of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human novel.
Katsuyuki Motohiro (FLCL Alternative, Psycho-Pass) served as executive director. Fuminori Kizaki (Afro Samurai) directed the film at Polygon Pictures. Tow Ubukata (Fafner, Psycho-Pass 2) wrote the scripts. Yūsuke Kozaki (BBK/BRNK, Intrigue in the Bakumatsu - Irohanihoheto) designed the characters
Ride Your Wave will screen during the festival on October 10 and 11. The film opened in Japan on June 21 and ranked at #9 in its opening weekend. The film won the Best Animation Film award at the Shanghai International Film Festival's Golden Goblet Awards on June 23, and it also won the "Axis: The Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation" award for Best Animated Feature in Montreal's Fantasia International Film Festival on July 25. GKIDS will screen the film in theaters.
Masaaki Yuasa directed the film at his Science SARU studio. Reiko Yoshida (Lu over the wall, A Silent Voice, Liz and the Blue Bird) wrote the film's script, and Michiru Oshima (Patema Inverted, The Night is Short Walk On, Girl) composed the music.
The Wonderland will screen during the festival on October 6 and 7. The film opened in Japan on April 26 and screened in competition at this year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June. Fantasia Festival in Montreal, Canada also screened the film in July. Crunchyroll Expo screened the film on August 30.
Keiichi Hara directed the film. Russian artist Ilya Kuvshinov designed the characters and visuals, and Miho Maruo wrote the script. The film is an adaptation of Sachiko Kashiwaba's 1981 children's book Chikashitru Kara no Fushigi na Tabi (Strange Journey From The Basement).
Weathering With You will screen during the festival two times on October 12.
Makoto Shinkai's film opened in 359 theaters and 448 screens in Japan on July 19. The film sold 1,159,020 tickets for 1,643,809,400 yen (about US$15.22 million) in its first three days in 358 theaters. The film ranked #1 in its opening weekend. The film has so far sold 9.55 million tickets for 12,595,071,800 yen (about US$116 million) since opening. The film is now the #7 highest-earning domestic film of all time in Japan and the highest-grossing film in Japan this year.
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) hosted the North American premiere of Weathering With You as part of its Special Presentations category, with screenings on September 8, 10, and 14. The film was eligible to win the Audience Award. Japan submitted the film for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards.
GKIDS has licensed the film for North America, and will give the film an "awards qualifying" theatrical run this year before a wider screening with subtitles and an English dub in early 2020.
One Piece Stampede will screen during the festival on October 5. The film opened in Japan on August 9. The new One Piece film sold 1,254,372 tickets for 1,646,321,500 yen (about US$15.64 million) in its first four days in Japan. The film has so far sold 3.97 million tickets and earned a cumulative total of 5,231,502,300 yen (about US$48.36 million).
One Piece Stampede is the fastest Toei-distributed film to reach the three-billion-yen milestone since 2000. The film marks the anime's 20th anniversary.
Funimation will screen the film in theaters in the United States and Canada this fall.
The "Shishigari" (Lion Hunter") short will screen during the festival on October 6. The Fantasia Festival in Montreal, Canada hosted a screening of the short's world premiere on July 21.
Kiyotaka Oshiyama directed the film at his Studio Durian animation studio. Other staff members include background artist Kevin Aymeric (Ping Pong), compositor and editor Yoichi Senzui (The Wind Rises, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya), composer Kenji Kawai (Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, Gundam 00), sound director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi (Princess Mononoke, Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade), and Kaori Yamada (Mitsuboshi Colors, Hanebad!) for sound effects.
Sources: Animate Times, Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival's website
