Short and condensed by definition, the short film format encourages artists to outsmart the limits of time by approaching creativity in a different way. More than a constraint, this formal framework becomes the fertile soil where creativity blossoms for short-film directors, opening the way to new forms of expression.
During this screening of the most ambitious, experimental, and innovative short animated Japanese films, we encourage you to explore the limits of this truly singular format. Enjoy a wide range of unique techniques and narrative frameworks used in the films made by promising award-winning directors from the Japan Media Arts Festival.
"If I had to name one country with a true culture of animation, it would definitely be Japan." A seemingly obvious declaration made by French director Georges Lacroix in 1999, the year when the Annecy Festival celebrated Japanese animation for the very first time. Twenty years later the Festival pays homage to this truly singular cinematographic style through both a retrospective and a look to the future to reveal several hidden gems still relatively unknown in the West.