By Ibarra C. Mateo
Japanese anime film “Okko’s Inn” Director Kitaro Kosaka is in Manila to talk about his film to be screened on Nov. 8, 2019 at the 13th Animahenasyon: The Philippine Animation Festival, the Japan Foundation, Manila has announced.
Kosaka, the key animator of Studio Ghibli and MadHouse Productions, is scheduled to discuss his film at the Samsung Hall, SM Aura, BGC, Taguig City. Film screening is at 3:30 pm while the director’s talk is 5:00 pm.
The Japan Foundation, Manila partners with the Animahenasyon PH for the event, which is open to the public for free.
A second screening of Okko’s Inn will be held on Nov. 11, 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. Her grandmother runs a hot-spring ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn).
In the ryokan, the young girl sees apparitions of friendly ghosts who help her get used to the countryside life. Eventually, she becomes the Asami, or the apprentice in preparation for her future role as a proprietress.
For Studio Ghibli, Kosaka had worked on titles such as Spirited Away, Grave of the Fireflies, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
For Madhouse, he worked on Yawara! and Master Keaton, to name a few.
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.
Okko’s Inn (2018 | 94 min | Drama, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Children / Family, Animation | Color)
Images courtesy of The Japan Foundation, Manila
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