Animated Short ‘Mimesis’ Wins Grand Prize At Japan’s Skip City
The festival's competition section was restructured this year to focus on Japanese filmmakers.
Mimesis, a 28-minute animated film co-directed by Takeru Mogi and Taichi Nagasawa, was awarded the Grand Prize at this year’s Skip City International D-Cinema Festival (July 18-26) in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
The film follows a manga artist, working in an age of rising sea levels, who becomes involved with a mission to destroy Shino, an AI creature widely accepted by society that strips people of their self-driven pursuits.
It was produced through a joint effort between the Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences at Musashino Art University and members of the Composition Course at Toho Gakuen School of Music. The award came with a cash prize of $3,400 (JPY500,00).
The Skip City Award went to Long Night, directed by Yui Kusakari, about the girlfriend and best friend of a young man who has disappeared in the ocean attempting to come to terms with their loss. The film is the first feature from Kusakari who is studying at the Department of Cinema at Nihon University College of Art.
The festival’s Audience Award went to How To Build A Secret Base, directed by Tomoya Itabashi, about a group of middle-aged men reuniting over their childhood dream of building a secret summer hideout. Itabashi previously directed award-winning short film That Mother.
A special mention was presented to Chuckle Chuckle, directed by Yuka Nishida, about a struggling comedian who stumbles across an ideal version of himself, an ultra-famous comic, who starts to meddle with his life. Also a debut feature, the film was made by Nishida as a graduation project to conclude her studies at Kyoto University of the Arts’ Department of Film Production.
Skip City was restructured this year to focus on Japanese filmmakers in the competition section, dropping the international competition, although a curated section of international films were also screened. The festival also presented a selection of AI-driven works, along with special effects films, regional productions, animation and experimental projects.
The festival jury was headed by Kei Ishikawa, whose most recent film A Pale View Of Hills premiered at Cannes this year, along with Japanese producer Eiko Mizuno-Gray (Renoir) and Koen de Rooij, a programmer for the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Ishikawa said: “This year’s competition featured a diverse and high-calibre selection of films. Each work had its own unique worldview and theme, and all had significant merits. The judging process was challenging, but what moved us most was the strong will behind each film—the unwavering determination to make these movies.
He also commented on the documentary Record Of A Summer Holiday, directed by Jun Kawada: “Although it did not receive an award, the warm atmosphere of the official screening, with children attending, was one of the highlights of this festival.”
