The Japan Foundation, Manila is partnering with Animahenasyon 13: The Philippine Animation Festival again this year with a film screening of Director Kitaro Kosaka’s Okko’s Inn (Nov 8, Friday, 3:30 pm) and Director’s talk (Nov 8, Friday, 5:00 pm) at Samsung Hall, SM Aura, BGC, Taguig City. The talk and screening are open to the public / admission is free. A second screening of Okko’s Inn will be held on November 11, Monday, 6:50 pm at SM Megamall.
Based on the best-selling Japanese novel Wakaokami wa Shogakusei! by Hiroko Reijo, Okko’s Inn tells the story of a young girl named Okko who starts living with her grandmother in the countryside who runs a hot- spring ryokan – a traditional Japanese inn. There, the young girl can somehow see friendly ghosts who help her get used to the ryokan life, and she becomes the apprentice as its future proprietress.
Director Kitaro Kosaka has worked on many titles as the animation director and key animator for Studio Ghibli, such as Spirited Away, Grave of the Fireflies and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, to name a few. He has also worked on many MADHOUSE productions, such as Yawara! and Master Keaton, among others.
Director Kosaka made his directorial debut with Nasu: Summer in Andalusia which premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2003. In 2014, Kosaka was awarded as Best Animator for Director Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises at Tokyo Anime Award Festival.
Okko’s Inn has also been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 2019 Oscars / Academy Awards, was in the Feature Film Competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and won the Special Distinction Prize and Audiences Prize at the Bucheon International Animation Festival.
OKKO’S INN (若おかみは小学生!)
[ 2018 | 94 min | Drama, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Children/Family, Animation | Color ]
[ Film Festivals, Awards ] 2018 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Feature Film Competition 2018 Camera Japan Festival 2018 Bucheon International Animation Festival, Feature Film Competition, Special Distinction Prize, Audiences Prize 2018 Animation Is Film Festival 2019 Göteborg Film Festival
