Busan Adds Anime Spotlight Strand With Rintaro, Angel's Egg, Metropolis
Busan is giving Japanese animation a dedicated festival strand that spans the medium's history and its current festival-circuit titles, with Rintaro appearing in person.
Reporting from 1 source: Cartoon Brew.
The Busan International Film Festival has added a curated anime strand to its 31st edition. Titled Japanese Animation Special: Masterpieces of Madness, Exhilarating Prospects 12+1, the program pairs 12 anime films with one European classic, Paul Grimault's The King and the Mockingbird. The selection spans Taiji Yabushita's The White Snake Enchantress, Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix 2772, Mamoru Oshii's Angel's Egg, Rintaro's Metropolis, and new works from Shingo Natsume and Ryo Katanosaka. Rintaro, now working on a new Galaxy Express 999 feature, will appear at the festival.
The festival frames the strand as a survey of the medium's 100-year history, mixing works that defined key moments with new titles drawing attention on the festival circuit. The White Snake Enchantress is credited with inspiring Hayao Miyazaki, as is the section's sole European entry, Paul Grimault's The King and the Mockingbird. Several selections have found new life through repertory screenings in the U.K. and U.S., though the festival says many have rarely screened theatrically in Korea.
- The White Snake Enchantress (1958), Taiji Yabushita: credited with inspiring Hayao Miyazaki
- Belladonna of Sadness (1973), Eiichi Yamamoto
- Phoenix 2772 (Space Firebird) (1980), Osamu Tezuka
- Angel's Egg (1985), Mamoru Oshii: recently restored
- MEMORIES (1995), Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura: anthology film
- Metropolis (2001), Rintaro: adaptation of Tezuka's manga
- MIND GAME (2004), Masaaki Yuasa: avant-garde
- Kakurenbo (2004), Shuhei Morita
- ghost - end of night (2026), Shingo Natsume: from the One-Punch Man and Sonny Boy director
- Shiranui (2026), Ryo Katanosaka: short by a self-taught newcomer
- We Are Aliens (2026), Kohei Kadowaki: Annecy selection, rotoscoped coming-of-age story
- A New Dawn (2026), Yoshitoshi Shinomiya: Annecy selection, drama set in a fireworks factory
- The King and the Mockingbird (1952, 1980), Paul Grimault: sole European film, inspired leading Japanese animators
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.