December 13, 2013

Masaaki Yuasa short film, Kick-Heart was nominated Jury Recommended Work in the Animation Division of the 17th annual Japan Media Arts Festival (2013).

Fourteen Production I.G works received recognitions in the past editions. In 2000, Blood: The Last Vampire (director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo) was awarded with the Animation Division Grand Prize, and in 2002, Episode 2 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (director: Kenji Kamiyama) received the Excellence Prize in the same category. In 2004, both Innocence (director: Mamoru Oshii) and Otogi Zoshi (director: Mizuho Nishikubo) were nominated Jury Recommended Works, and so were Junichi Fujisaku's TV series Blood+ and Kenji Kamiyama's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man in 2005. In the 10th edition, I.G was double awarded with Solid State Society (Jury Recommended Work, Animation Division) and the bisque doll reproducing D'Eon de Beaumont (from Kazuhiro Furuhashi's TV series Le Chevalier D'Eon), appointed Jury Recommended Work in the Entertainment Division. In the 11th edition, Kenji Kamiyama was greeted with two Jury Recommended Work recognitions for Solid State Society (for the second consecutive year) and Guardian of the Spirit. In 2008, Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers was nominated Jury Recommended Work along with Naoyoshi Shiotani's Tokyo Marble Chocolate. In 2009, Shinsuke Sato's feature film Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror and Kenji Kamiyama's Eden of the East were nominated Jury Recommended Works. In 2011, Hiroyuki Okiura's A Letter to Momo received the Excellence Prize in Animation. This year, Kazuchika Kise's Ghost in the Shell Arise border:1 Ghost Pain was recognized Jury Recommended Work, too.

Sponsored by Japan's Agency of Cultural Affairs, the Japan Media Arts Festival is a comprehensive festival of Media Arts that honors outstanding works from a diverse range of media- from animation and comics to media art and games. The festival gives awards in each of its four divisions: Art, Entertainment, Animation, and Manga. Since its inception in 1997, the festival has recognized significant works of high artistry and creativity. This year the 17th Festival received a record 4,347 entries from 84 countries and regions around the world.

Japan Media Arts Festival official website (English available):
hthttp://j-mediaarts.jp/

© 2012 Masaaki Yuasa, Production I.G