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Katsushiro Otomo, the Japanese animation director most well known for his seminal film Akira, has a brand-new animated film about to his U.S. shores! Well, sort of. Short Peace is actually a collection of four short films presented together as an anthology of Japanese animated cinema as it stands and functions today, and the shorts are all directed by different Japanese animation directors. One of the shorts is Possessions, a short by Shuhei Morita which was nominated for an Oscar in this year’s shorts category, which I was able to preview here.
As I mentioned when I wrote about Possessions, the short, while very entertaining and visually succulent, felt kinda like a one-off. It felt misplaced among it’s Oscar nominated brethren and I would very much like to re-watch the short surrounded by the other pieces it’s meant to be with. More information about each short can be found below (because it’s a bit spoilery) as well as a poster for Short Peace, and you can check out the film’s American distributor, Eleven Arts’ website for screening information and dates.
[via Eleven Arts]Short Peace is a collection of:
Possessions – directed by Shuhei Morita; A tinkerer wanders into an abandoned shrine and is confronted by a rag-tag group of unhappy spirits.
Gambo – directed by Hiroaki Ando; A great white bear tries to protect a royal Japanese family from an evil red demon. (Including character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto from Neon Genesis Evangelion!)
A Farewell To Arms – designed by Hajime Katoki; Men battle colossal tank-like weapons in a devastated, post-apocalypse Tokyo.
Combustible – directed by Katsushiro Otomo; A tale of love and firefighting in ancient Japan.