The Japan Media Arts Festival has been held annually in Tokyo since 1997. Sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the festival aims to promote the development of innovative media arts. They accept entries from all over the world and award prizes in four creative divisions: Art, Animation, Entertainment, and Manga. Last year they had a total of 2,645 works entered into the competition including 694 from overseas. Check out their website for their current call for entries.
Dortmund U is hosting a selection of the best of the Japan Media Arts Festival this fall from September 9th until October 2nd, 2011. The event has been curated by Stefan Riekeles (Les Jardins des Pilotes, Berlin). The Exhibition itself will be open daily except for Mondays:
Tuesday - Wednesday 10:00 -18:00
Thursday - Friday 10:00 - 20:00
Saturday - Sunday 11:00-18:00
Featured Artists will include:
Art
HIRAKAWA Norimichi / QUE Houxo, KUROKAWA Ryoichi, KUWAKUBO Ryota, MIYAMOTO Naotaka, ONISHI Yasuaki, SHINTSUBO Kenshu, SHINTSUBO Kenshu / IKEGAMI Takashi, UKAWA Naohiro
Entertainment
FUJIKI Jun / SUZUTA Ken / SUZUKI Tatsuya, HAYASHI Tomohiko / SENBO Kensuke / KOYAMA Tomohiko, MASE Jitsuro / NAGAE Tom, MIYAWAKI Osamu, MIZUGUCHI Tetsuya, NAKAMURA Haruki, UCHIDA Shinya
Manga
AZUMA Kiyohiko, INOUE Takehiko, IWAAKI Hitoshi, YAMADA Yoshihiro, YAMAMOTO Naoki, YOSHINAGA Fumi, Nichimandoku
Animation
ANNO Hideaki, HARA Keiichi, HOSODA Mamoru, ISO Mitsuo, KOIKE Takeshi, MIYAZAKI Hayao, OSHII Mamoru, SHINKAI Makoto, TANIGAWA Nagaru / ISHIHARA Tatsuya, YUASA Masaaki
Concert
sasakure.UK feat. Hatsune Miku, Momoiro Clover Z
For me, the highlight is of course the animation on offer. I am planning on going up to Dortmund on the first Sunday of the event to see the Film Talk with Masaaki Yuasa. He won the Grand Prize in 2010 for The Tatami Galaxy. He also won the Grand Prize in 2004 for Mind Game and an Excellence Prize in 2008 for Kaiba. All of these films/TV series will be screening at the Dortmund U event. I also highly recommend the selection of short films on offer:
JMAF Short Film Special
Sept. 9 (at the opening event), 24 and Oct. 2nd
ISHIDA Hiroyasu: Fumiko's Confession
ITO Naoki / Frank HAHN: Nike Music Shoe
MASHIMA Riichiro: Ski Jumping Pairs
MIZUGUCHI Tetsuya / TAMAI Kenji: make.believe / Genki Rockets
NAKAMURA Magico u.a.: Hibi No Neiro (Tone of everyday)
OKAMOTO Noriaki: Algol
OKAWARA Ryo: Animal Dance
SAKAMOTO Yusuke: the river
SEKI Kazuaki: arukuaround / sakanaction
TAKAHASHI Nobuo: Musashino Plateau
TAKEUCHI Taijin: a song like a fish
YAMAMURA Koji: A Child's Metaphysics
YKBX: natsu wo matteimashita / amazarashi
Here is the Full Film Program:
Saturday, September 10th
20:00 Redline (Takeshi Koike, 2009)
Sunday, September 11th
18:00 Film talk with special guest: Masaaki Yuasa
20:00 Mind Game (Masaaki Yuasa, 2004)
Thursday, September 15th
20:00 Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (Hideaki Anno/Masayuki/Kazuya Tsurumaki, 2007)
Friday, September 16th
20:00 Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (Hideaki Anno/Masayuki/Kazuya Tsurumaki, 2009)
Saturday, September 17th
16:00 Summer Wars (Mamoru Hosoda, 2009)
18:00 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Mamoru Hosoda, 2006)
20:00 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (Tatsuya Ishihara/Yasuhiro Takemoto, 2010)
Sunday, September 18th
16:00 Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008)
18:00-23:00 The Tatami Galaxy (Masaaki Yuasa, 2010, TV series)
Thursday, September 22nd
20:00 Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995)
Saturday, September 24th
16:00 JMAF Short Film Special | 13 Films, 60 min.total
17:00 Den-noh Coil / CyberCoil (aka Dennō Koiru, Mitsuo Iso, 2007, TV series)
18:00 Summer Wars (Mamoru Hosoda, 2009)
20:00 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Mamoru Hosoda, 2006)
Sunday, September 25h
16:00 Crayon Shinchan: The Storm Called: The Battle of the Warring States (Keiichi Hara, 2002)
18:00 Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (Hideaki Anno/Masayuki/Kazuya Tsurumaki, 2007)
20:00 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Mamoru Oshii, 2004)
Thursday, September 29th
20:00 Buttgereit's Monster Film Selection (TBA)
Friday, September 30th
19:00 Talk with Director Jörg Buttgereit
20:00 Buttgereit's Monster Film Selection (TBA)
Sunday, October 10th
.
16:00 Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008)
18:00 JMAF Short Film Special | 13 Films, 60 min.total
20:00 Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (Hideaki Anno, 2009)
This blog post is part the Japan in Germany series.