Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman has scooped the grand prize at the inaugural edition of Niigata International Animation Film Festival (NIAFF), which ran in the Japanese port city of Niigata from March 17-23.
The animated feature is the directorial debut of US-born French composer Pierre Földes, who also wrote the screenplay and score, and is based on a collection of short stories by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. It follows the lives of multiple characters as they navigate existence after the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
Sold by The Match Factory, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman premiered at Annecy last June before going on to play at festivals including Toronto and Rotterdam. It will open around the world this year.
Further prizes were the Kabuku award, given to a title that is not constrained by conventional values, and was awarded to Algerian film Khamsa – The Well Of Oblivion, directed by Khaled Chiheb. The Evolve award, for a film that is not bound to production methods such as 2D, 3D or stop-motion, went to late Dutch artist and filmmaker Rosto’s Thee Wreckers Tetralogy. An honourable mention went to Japanese animation Vampire In The Garden: The Movie, from Ryotaro Makihara.
The festival was launched at Cannes last year, with Ghost In The Shell director Mamoru Oshii appointed as first jury president. It was headed up by Shinichiro Inoue as festival director and Tadashi Sudo as artistic director.
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