5cm per Second Wins at Italy's Future Film Festival

Makoto Shinkai's 5 Centimeters Per Second anime film has won the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival, which was held in Balogna, Italy on January 15-20. The award honors the best movie in animation or with special effects. The festival said that Shinkai's romance film won "for the ability of combining poetry, art, and technical skills with animation and new technologies; a touching and deep-rooted story; and a model direction. Every element of the movie, from the screenplay to the editing, is realized with great professionalism and inspiration." Michael Arias earned a Special Mention award for his film adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto's Tekkonkinkreet manga "for the interesting and original graphics [and] an involving story with a non-rhetorical message." ADV Films will release 5 Centimeters Per Second on North American DVD on March 4, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Tekkonkinkreet on North American DVD last September.

The two films competed against eight other films, including Ryūta Tasaki's Gamera: Chiisaki yusha-tachi and Katsuhide Motoki's Gegege no Kitarō live-action films. Akio Nishizawa's Furusato JAPAN, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Masayuki Kojima's The Piano Forest, and Fumihiko Sori's Vexille also played in the festival's film program, but out of the competition. The anime studio Madhouse and director Toshio Hirata (Catnapped! The Movie) even created the opening title animation for the festival.

In addition, the festival held a "Tribute to Toei Animation" with screenings of Taiji Yabushita's Hakujaden (The White Snake Enchantress, the first full-length color animation film in Japan), Taiji Yabushita and Yūgo Serikawa's Anju to Zushiōmaru (The Orphan Brother), Isao Takahata's Taiyō no Ōji - Hols no Daibōken (The Little Norse Prince, the future Studio Ghibli co-founder's first directorial effort), and Taiji Yabushita's Hyokkori Hyōtan-jima (The Madcap Island). The festival's "Future of Toons in the East" program screened Romanov Higa's Catblue: Dynamite, Kengo Takeuchi's Yonna in the Solitary Fortress (Hanare Toride no Yonna), Toshikazu Matsubara and Akio Watanabe's Hoshizora Kiseki, Katsuhito Ishii's Hokuro Kyōdai Full Throttle!!!!, Shin Itagaki's Devil May Cry, Kitaro Kousaka's Nasu: A Migratory Bird with Suitcase (Nasu: Suitcase no Wataridori), Hiroshi Hamasaki's Shigurui, Seiji Mizushima's Oh! Edo Rocket, Mitsuo Iso's Dennō Coil, Shinji Takamatsu's School Rumble Second Term (School Rumble Nigakki), Tatsuo Satō's Tokyo Tribe 2, and other works.

Source: animeanime.jp

Image © Makoto Shinkai/CoMix Wave Films
© 2006 Taiyo Matsumoto/Shogakukan, Aniplex, ASMIK Ace, Beyond C., Dentsu, Tokyo MX. All Rights Reserved.

ERRATUM: Director Hamasaki's given name should be Hiroshi instead of Hirotsugu. Thanks, braves.