JAPAN MEDIA ARTS
FESTIVAL                                                                                       

Grand PRIZE
HIBI NO NEIRO [Tone of everyday]
Nakamura Magico / Nakamura Masayoshi / Kawamura Masashi / Hai Kirkland

“What are the really important things for us in this world that is flooded with various senses of value?” The answer to this song-like question should be the same no matter how much our civilization has evolved. This music video was done by editing video materials shot with webcams by cooperating fans, and conveys to us the feeling of connecting with people.
Japan / Australia © 2009 ZealotCo.,ltd / NeutralNine Records/SOUR 0:03:51

Jury Recommended Work
OGRE YOU ASSHOLE

Monno Kazue /Nagata Takeshi [Tochka]

This music video portrays the members of OGRE YOU ASSHOLE having a picnic on a small planet. At the end of the day, they sing all night long and play instruments made of linear lights.
Japan 2009 © VAP 0:03:46

Jury Recommended Work
TOWA TEI
Mind Wall feat. Miho Hatori

Nakamura Takeshi

Let's get rid of barriers in our mind and set ourselves free; let's stop thinking; let's surrender ourselves to the natural flow of life, like being in a child's dream.
Japan 2009 © Voltage UnlimitedInc. 0:04:00

Jury Recommended Work
TOMICA HERO
RESCUE FIRE

Iwamoto Akira

This drama project aims to create a new hero for children who are the bearers of the future. The mission of the heroes is not to fight with their enemies, but to rescue people from disasters. The creators have established a work schedule that allows them to produce a weekly TV program with real VFX at motion movie level, thoroughly pursuing quality to release the program's content internationally.
2009 © THRF2 Committee 0:06:08

Jury Recommended Work
THE LAST PIECE
Chapter of Kyosuke Kijima

Mizuno Takanobu

People in modern society have different problems of their own. The Last Piece depicts mysterious incidents that occur to people through a series of music videos. In the first episode, a NEET young man named KIJIMA Kyosuke encounters an alien creature that suddenly appears in front of him. The drawing is dynamically animated, yet the pictures exhibit a simple and warm sensation.
2009 © kamikazedouga/words & music byMAH, Produced bySiM 0:02:35

Jury Recommended Work
GRAINED TIME

Goshima Kazuhiro

This work seeks to portray each still picture as an individual photon reaching the retina, and to express the grains of sensation accumulated as "recognition". It consists of two stages, one being an uncertain camera, which accumulates still pictures from different perspectives, while the other, factor light, gathers the shadows cast by light from a single source to draw the space.
© 2009 KazuhiroGOSHIMA 0:13:00

Jury Recommended Work
PARALLEL

Owen Eric Wood

The search for meaning in the act of creation begins at the crossroads of art and philosophy. Photography, drawing and video merge to tell the story of an artist who seeks purpose in the act of creation. Through his struggle to reconstruct his own identity, he finds himself caught in a cycle of self-perpetuating artistic expression, where the line between reality and perception is not clearly defined.
Canada 2009 © Owen Eric Wood 0:07:27

Jury Recommended Work
ALONE

Gerard Freixes Ribera

In mainstream fiction, the heroic characters have always shown individualistic attitudes. In this work, this individualism is taken to its extreme level, allowing the main hero from an old western movie to act completely alone.
Spain 2008 © Gerard FREIXESRIBERA 0:03:06

Jury Recommended Work
REALM 1 Part 1

Thomas Mohr

What does our [sub]consciousness do with the incoming visual impulses that we remember? In the long-term project “Conditions of Existence” Thomas MOHR has built a model for visualizing the processing of incoming images: storing, naming, ordering, structuring, experiencing, sedimentation and erosion. It is a reconstruction of memory built from 266,144 photographs, taken over a period of four years and handled on different levels. Realm 1 is the product of the first phase in this research.
Netherland 2008 © Thomas Mohr 0:08:54

Excellence PRIZE
THE CABLE CAR

Claudius Gentinetta / Frank Braun

While travelling by cable car to a place somewhere in the mountains, an old man treats himself to some snuff. Et voilà! With every sneeze the cable car cabin falls apart more and more. The man, however, is far from accepting his fate, just like that.
Switzerland 2008 © ClaudiusGentinetta

Encouragement PRIZE
ANIMAL DANCE

Okawara Ryo

This hand-drawn animation depicts the dynamism of life. All the motions and actions of living are treated as dancing, and synchronized with music. The work makes full use of the characteristics of flat animation such as visualization and linkage of images, and metamorphosis of form.
Japan 2009 © Ryo Okawara 0:05:00

Jury Recommended Work
METROPOLIS

Mizue Mirai

This film was created as the opening film of SICAF2009. The growth and decline of a changing city are portrayed using a technique that employs graph paper, which basically restricts movements in all directions. One aim of this work is to emphasize the characteristics of hand-animation through analogue rendering of a material suitable for CG.
Japan 2009 © MIRAI MIZUE 0:04:45

Jury Recommended Work
CHISATO STARED

Uekusa Wataru

In this work, a line is used to reflect emotion, and the theme is the sublimation of a complex and continuous moment, like following one phrase of a song.
Japan 2009 © Wataru Uekusa 0:05:21

Jury Recommended Work
ORGANIC

Kozutsumi Po

This work was created with elements such as images of primary things, primordial things, reincarnation, and the food chain. It consists of minimal lines and colors, and eliminates unnecessary additions so that it becomes simple and attractive. The animation created with only pen and paper could itself be part of an organic world. The last scene leaves a lingering resonance that will make it possible for each viewer to receive a different impression.
Japan 2009 © Pon Kozutsumi 0:04:00