The International Animation Festival Hiroshima, founded as International Animation Festival for the World Peace in 1985, was a biennial film festival for animated films held in Hiroshima, Japan. Its last edition was held in 2020.
History The festival was founded in 1985 by the Association International du Film d'Animation (ASIFA) as the International Animation Festival for the World Peace. The city of Hiroshima was one of the sites of nuclear bombings in 1945 at the end of World War II, and it was chosen to inspire thoughts of unity through the arts. The festival was considered one of the most respected animated film festival, along with Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, and Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films.Hiroshima Int’l Animation Festival Closes After 35 Years, To Be Replaced By General Arts Event|Cartoon Brew The founding of the festival is largely credited to Sayoko Kinoshita and her late husband Renzo Kinoshita. The married couple were renowned figures in the independent animation world and also founders of ASIFA's Japan chapter.
The first two festivals were held in odd years: 1985 and 1987. Since 1990, the festival has been held biennially in even years. In 2008, the 12th Festival took place for five days (August 7–11).
In the festival's first year in 1985, the Grand Prize was awarded to Broken Down Film by Osamu Tezuka.Broken Down Film: ANIMATION/Film: TezukaOsamu.net(EN) Tezuka became one of the members of the jury for the following festival. This cycle has often repeated and many of the grand prize winners have become judges for the following festival.
In 2010, the Festival had nearly 1,937 entries from 58 countries and regions, and had more than 34,516 participants.
In November 2020, the city of Hiroshima announced ending its partnership with ASIFA, and plans to replace the festival.
The city subsequently launched a successor event, Hiroshima Animation Season (HAS), positioned as the animation component of the newly established Hiroshima Festival and accredited as an Oscar-qualifying festival for the Animated Short Film category. The first edition, Hiroshima Animation Season 2022, was held from 17 to 21 August 2022, received 2,149 entries from 86 countries and regions, and awarded its Grand Prize to Darwin's Notebook by Georges Schwizgebel. The second edition, Hiroshima Animation Season 2024, was held from 14 to 18 August 2024, received 2,634 entries from 97 countries and regions, and awarded its Grand Prize to Beautiful Men by Nicolas Keppens; Kōji Yamamura served as the festival's Artistic Director, with the selection committee also including Co-producer Shizuka Miyazaki and animation artist Honami Yano. A third edition is scheduled for August 2026.
Description
The city of Hiroshima co-hosts the festival, which takes place in JMS Aster Plaza near the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park at the center of Hiroshima city.
Sayoko Kinoshita has been the festival director since the first festival and is now also the president of ASIFA.
Grand Prize winners YearEnglish titleDirector(s)Country1985 Broken Down FilmBroken Down Film (S) (1985)-FilmAffinity Osamu Tezuka 1987 The Man Who Planted Trees Frédéric Back 1990The Cow Aleksandr Petrov 1992The Sandman Paul Berry 1994The Mighty River Frédéric Back 1996Repete Michaela Pavlátová 1998The Old Lady and the Pigeons Sylvain Chomet 2000When the Day Breaks Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis 2002Father and Daughter Michaël Dudok de Wit 2004Mt. Head Kōji Yamamura 2006Milch Igor Kovalyov 2008A Country Doctor Kōji Yamamura 2010Angry Man Anita Killi 2012I Saw Mice Burying a Cat Dmitry Geller 2014The Bigger Picture Daisy Jacobs 2016The Empty Jeong Dahee 2018The Blissful Accidental Death Sergiu Negulici 2020DaughterDaria Kashcheeva
Notable Hiroshima Prize winners 1985 - The Big Snit - Richard Condie (Canada) 1987 - The Dreamless Sleep - David Anderson (U.K.) 1990 - The Hill Farm - Mark Baker (U.K.) 1992 - Cat and Company - Alexander Guryev (Russia) 1994 - The Village - Mark Baker (U.K.) 1996 - The Monk and the Fish - Michael Dudok de Wit (France) 1998 - The Mermaid - Alexander Petrov (Russia) 2000 - One Day a Man Bought a House - Pjotr Sapegin (Norway) 2002 - Dog - Suzie Templeton (U.K.) 2004 - Louise - Anita Lebeau (Canada) 2006 - Wolf Daddy - Chang Hyung yun (Republic of Korea) 2008 - La Maison en Petits Cubes - Kunio Kato (Japan) 2010 - Divers In The Rain - Priit Parn, Olga Parn (Estonia) 2012 - Kali the Little Vampire - Regina Pessoa (Portugal/France/Canada/Switzerland) 2014 - Symphony No.42 - Réka Bucsi (Hungary) 2016 - Among the black waves - Anna Budanova (Russia) 2018 - Bond - Judit Wunder (Hungary) 2020 - Am I a Wolf? - Amir Houshang Moein (Iran)
Best of the World (Honorable Mention) 2020 - Ah - Ying-Fang Shen (Taiwan) 2020 - CASTLE - Ryotaro Miyajima (Japan) 2020 - Falafel Cart - Abdullah Al-Wazzan (Kuwait) 2020 - don’t know what - Thomas Renoldner (Austria) 2020 - After the eclipse - Bea R Blankenhorst (Argentina)
See also List of international animation festivals Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
References
External links
Hiroshima International Animation Festival at the Internet Movie Database