‘Spirited Away’ for film festival

Oscar award-winning Japanese animation, ‘Spirited Away,’ will be showing at the second edition of the Animated Film Festival organised by the Embassy of Japan in Nigeria and the Institut Français du Nigeria. The two-day event according to the First Secretary of the Japanese mission, Hideki Sakamoto, the will also feature three other movies and a […]

Oscar award-winning Japanese animation, ‘Spirited Away,’ will be showing at the second edition of the Animated Film Festival organised by the Embassy of Japan in Nigeria and the Institut Français du Nigeria.

The two-day event according to the First Secretary of the Japanese mission, Hideki Sakamoto, the will also feature three other movies and a Nigerian evening. 

He told Weekend Magazine that: “We have carefully chosen movies that will be appealing to all ages of people not just children. The Japanese animations are productions which have been well-received in Japan and all over the world. 

“‘Spirited Away’ won the Oscars in 2002 for Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.”

Other movies are ‘Phantom Boy,’ (French) ‘Approved for adoption,’ (French) and ‘Wolf Children’ (Japanese).

Unlike last year when the festival first took place and was on for two weeks, Sakamoto said based on feedback, “we decided to keep it short and tight this time around so that we can have the maximum audience participation.”

A major part of the fiesta is the Nigerian Evening which will showcase animated films made in Nigeria. This will be followed by a discussion on the situation of animation in the country with experts and filmmakers from Nigerian studios, as well as young Nigerian animators sharing their views and knowledge with the audience. 

‘Wolf Children,’ won an Audience Award at the 2013 New York International Children’s Film Festival, the Animation of the year award at the Tokyo Anime Awards, the Animation category in the 26th Annual Japan Academy Prizes. It also won two awards at the Oslo Films from the South Festival in Norway.