Kohei Kadowaki's debut feature We Are Aliens won the Anima't Award for best feature-length film at the 59th Sitges Film Festival, after taking Ottawa's Grand Prize the previous month. The film opened in Japan on September 25.
Kohei Kadowaki wrote and directed We Are Aliens, his debut feature, which follows Tsubasa, a shy boy, and Akitaro, a class idol, across a long friendship in a rural Heisei-era town. The film premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and screened at Annecy before its September 25 opening in Japan. Kadowaki, born in 1996, says roughly 20 to 30 percent of its episodes come from his own experience, including a first-love episode.
The method behind the film is hybrid rotoscoping, developed over five years with a mostly inexperienced animation team to capture natural movement and childlike gestures. Kadowaki describes the story as assembled backward from one mid-film turn, with emotion paced like a roller coaster.
Festival results followed the release. We Are Aliens won the Anima't Award for best feature-length film at the 59th Sitges Film Festival in Catalonia, after Ottawa's Grand Prize the previous month. It is the first Japanese film to take the Sitges award since Yuta Murano's Seven Days War six years ago; Makoto Shinkai's your name. won in 2016 and Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai in 2018. Kadowaki, who turned 30 on October 14, is the youngest Japanese director to win it.
A separate June item lists a Kohei Kadokawa as an animation artist judging the final round of the OPALIS project's second-phase nationwide audition, alongside film director Rikiya Imaizumi. The name differs from the director's by one character, and the stories do not connect the two.
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Oct 27
We Are Aliens, Kohei Kadowaki's anime feature for NOTHING NEW, received Special Mentions in the Alice nelle città section at the 21st Rome Film Festival on Sunday and an Honorable Mention at the 35th Philadelphia Film Festival the same day. The film's official website posted a clip of footage on Monday. We Are Aliens opened in Japan on September 15 and has screened at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight, Annecy, Melbourne, New Zealand and Busan, and took the Ottawa Grand Prize for Animated Feature.
Oct 17
Kohei Kadowaki and NOTHING NEW's We Are Aliens won the Anima't Award for best feature-length film at the 59th Sitges Film Festival in Catalonia. It is the first Japanese film to take the award since Yuta Murano's Seven Days War six years ago; Makoto Shinkai's your name. won in 2016 and Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai in 2018. Kadowaki, who turned 30 on October 14, is the youngest Japanese director to win it.
Sep 15
Director Kohei Kadowaki's feature "We Are Aliens" opens September 25, following Tsubasa, a shy boy, and Akitaro, a class idol, across a 30-year friendship in a rural Heisei-era town. Kadowaki, born in 1996, wrote and directed the film. He says roughly 20 to 30 percent of its episodes come from his own experience, including a first-love episode.
Aug 28
NOTHING NEW began streaming a trailer on Thursday for the We Are Aliens anime film. The trailer highlights the Heisei era, the time period when the main characters meet. The film, directed by Kōhei Kadowaki, stars Ryōta Bandō as Tsubasa and Amane Okayama as Gyōtarō as young adults. It opens in Japan on September 25.
Jun 27
Director Kohei Kadowaki discusses his debut feature 'We Are Aliens,' which premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and screens at Annecy. The film follows two boys over 20 years and uses a hybrid rotoscoping approach to capture natural movement, developed over five years with a mostly inexperienced animation team.
Jun 27
TOHO NEXT and NOTHING NEW announced that Kōhei Kadowaki's anime film We Are Aliens will open in Japan on September 25. The film, which follows two estranged childhood friends, stars Ryōta Bandō and Amane Okayama as the adult leads. It previously screened at Cannes and Annecy.
Jun 24
The OPALIS talent discovery project, a collaboration between Ten Carat and Music Ray'n, has launched its second-phase nationwide audition. Film director Rikiya Imaizumi and animation artist Kohei Kadokawa will judge the final round. Successful candidates receive free training in acting, voice, dance, and more, plus observation opportunities at productions involving the agencies' talents.