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Japan to host biggest anime film festival

Asia's biggest anime film festival will make its debut in Niigata.

Japan will launch the Niigata Animation Film Festival (NIAFF) this March with 35 films from Japan and abroad to be screened. The Niigata Animation Film Festival (NIAFF), set to be the largest animation film festival in Asia, transmitting animation culture from Niigata to the world.

The Niigata Animation Film Festival will be an annual event focusing on full-length animated commercial films from Japan and across the world. It is the first festival to feature famous full-length animated works like those by Studios Ghibli.

The director of Ghost in The Shell, Mamoru Oshii, will be the jury president; journalist Tadashi Sudo as artistic director; KADOKAWA's senior advisor Shinichiro Inoue as festival director.

Planning and production is by the head of EUROSPACE Kenzo Horikoshi, and head of the production company GENCO Taro Maki, which has worked on films such as 'In a Corner of the World' and 'Mobile Police PatLABOR'.

NIAFF aims to be a place where cultural values can be shared, works can be appreciated and human resources and studios can be sustained. According to Director Inoue, there are high hopes on the festival to help break through the various divisions- 'commercial' and 'artistic', 'domestic' and 'international', 'specialist' and 'public' - in the anime culture.

Elsewhere in Japan, the Tokyo Anime Awards Festival 2023 will also kick off in March, while AnimeJapan should also be held in Tokyo later in March as in previous years. With Japan gradually reopening its borders for international tourists, March this year is definitely going to be an exciting time for many anime fans out there.

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