PROGRAM

Competition

Feature Competition : Memory Hotel

SCHEDULE

Aug 21st (Fri) 19:15～ @JMS ASTER PLAZA Grand Hall

Program Overview

The Feature Competition is a competition section for animated films with a running time of over 30 minutes. The Grand Prix will be determined by audience vote. For HAS 2026, five films have been selected for the competition, and all five will have their Japanese premiere at the festival. This program presents Memory Hotel.

Note:Due to the director's health condition, their visit to Japan and scheduled appearance at the festival have been cancelled. We kindly ask for your understanding. A video message from the director will be screened before the film. (Updated August 10)

SCREENING

©️Heinrich Sabl

Guest

MC: Yuki Arai

Memory Hotel

Heinrich Sabl

Germany, France

2025

100:50

Germany, 1945: the little Sophie and her parents are fleeing from the Red Army. They have tickets for a ship to America. During a break at a hotel, the family gets into a conflict with the Nazi Scharf and his Hitler-Youth-Boy Beckmann. Sophie loses her parents and her memories. The hotel is in Soviet hands and she has been promoted to the cook. Sophie grows into a woman. She has no idea that the truth about her past will pave the way for her future – and that the first clue has been waiting for her to discover in the hotel's air-raid shelter for many years.

Heinrich Sabl

Heinrich Sabl, born in 1961, grew up in an industrial settlement., He studied puppetry and worked as a puppeteer. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he began working on animated short films and at the same time began studying on animation under Prof. Paul Driessen. In 1995, he writing the screenplay and financing the animated feature film MEMORY HOTEL. Active work on the production of the film lasted from 1999 to 2024. Sabl was a teacher at various film and theatre academies.