Aug 23rd (Sun) 14:00～ @JMS ASTER PLAZA Grand Hall
Prior to HAS2026, the festival conducted a survey titled 120 Years of Short Animation (1906–2026), inviting animation filmmakers and professionals working across the Pan-Pacific and Asia to select their twelve favorite short animated films from the history of animation. This program presents a selection of Japanese works that emerged from those responses as particularly influential on today's short animation creators. Through these films, audiences can trace some of the artistic roots and inspirations that continue to shape contemporary animation practice.(Curator: Nobuaki Doi)
After a stingy man eats some cherry seeds, a cherry tree grows on his head and he gets into a lot of trouble. This animated film is a modern interpretation of the traditional Japanese Rakugo story "Atama-yama" set in contemporary Tokyo.
Born in 1964, Koji Yamamura began his career in the 1990s creating animation works for children, including Paksi. His short film Mt. Head (Atama-yama, 2002) was nominated for the 75th Academy Awards, won six Grand Prix awards including those at the Annecy, Zagreb, and Hiroshima international animation festivals, and was selected as one of the “100 Greatest Animated Shorts of the Century.”
His Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor (2007) received seven Grand Prix awards, including those at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and Hiroshima International Animation Festival. With Dozens of Norths (2021), Yamamura achieved the rare distinction of winning both short and feature film Grand Prix awards at two major international animation festivals, Annecy and Ottawa. His animation works have received more than 155 awards worldwide. His latest short film, Very Short (2024), was selected for the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2017, he wrote the lyrics for “Beruganaru,” a song featured in NHK’s children's television program Okaasan to Issho. He is also active as a picture-book author, publishing works such as Oh My, Vegetables! (Oyayo, Oyasai) and Parade.
Yamamura has received numerous honors, including the Kawakita Award, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize, the Medal with Purple Ribbon, the Klingsor Prize, the Golden Dinosaur Special Award, and a total of ten lifetime achievement and distinguished contribution awards. He is Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (USA), and Vice President of the Japan Animation Association.
The house is almost like "blocks". A grandpa who lived in the house has been constantly building houses on top, as the water level rises. This is the story about his memory with his family.
Born in Kagoshima, Japan, in 1977, Kunio Kato creates animated films and picture books.
His major animation works include A Traveler’s Diary, La Maison en Petits Cubes, and Jokei.
His publications include the picture book La Maison en Petits Cubes and the short story collection Afterword.
A film that boldly explores the mechanism behind the restless, itchy feeling of spring that is said to come over everyone once a year.
Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1980, he studied filmmaking at Osaka Kyoiku University, the Image Forum Institute of the Moving Image, and the Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts. He began making animation around 2002 and has continued to create works centered on the themes of “timing” and “pleasant movement.”
His short films include In a Pig’s Eye (2010), The Mechanism of Spring (2010), The Great Rabbit (2012), and Birds on the Peninsula (2022). His works have received numerous awards in Japan and internationally, including the Silver Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, and the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival.
In addition to filmmaking, he released the video game My Exercise (2020), presented the video installation My Marsh (2017) at institutions such as the Yokohama Museum of Art and the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, and served as director of the TV animation series Ikimono-san (2023), expanding his activities beyond film.
A story in which the visions and memories of a certain woman drift through a man’s mind on an afternoon that seems on the verge of rain.
Born in Tokyo in 1984.
He began making animation in a closet space at home, and has since developed cutout-based animations that transcend time and space, ranging from folktales to the cosmos.
His music videos Seisyun Ojiisan and PRIME received the Best Music Video Award at Anifilm. His Pocari Sweat web movie The Scuffing Song won numerous advertising awards.
He works across a wide range of formats, including short animations, music videos, web movies, and animation for children’s television programs.
Summer vacation. A woman, a man, and a newt meet. Moisture and the vibrations of music circulate, gradually connecting them together.
Animator and manga artist.
Based in Fujimi Town, Nagano, they create works centered on the theme of the space between humans and non-humans, incorporating elements of genre cinema such as science fiction, horror, and fantasy to produce pieces that are pop, deep, and bizarre.
Their full-color comic FANTASTIC WORLD Vol. 1 & 2 is published by Leed Publishing. As an animation filmmaker, they have participated in numerous international and domestic film festivals with original short films such as Paradise (2014) and KRASUE (2022). They have also created animation for the “Mojamoja” segment of NHK’s Miitsuketa! and for Nyanko no Tetsugaku (sung by Kuroneko Alliance) on NHK’s Minna no Uta.
Recently, they have also been creating knitted works.
Entering the futon. Memories drift into the mind, imagined futures, lingering sensations, desires etched into the body — everything slowly melts together in comfort and pleasure. Within the futon, the body wanders in search of sensation.
An animation filmmaker who sensorially explores the body and everyday motifs through her work. Alongside creating independent short films, she has also worked on commissioned videos and installation pieces. Her previous short films include Anxious Body, which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival, and Ordinary Life, which won the Silver Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Ichiro and Futako discover a gigantic coin worth an unimaginable 10 billion yen. Overjoyed by their unexpected fortune, they soon realize that there is nowhere on the vast desert continent where they live that can actually accept such an enormous coin.
Then, they remember the existence of “New Tokyo,” the great metropolis shimmering beyond the sea on the horizon. As they gaze into its dazzling nightscape, they catch sight of idealized versions of themselves happily enjoying life in “New Tokyo,” beckoning them closer.
Unable to resist, the two reach out toward the glowing city lights…
Animator and illustrator. Known for a pop and colorful visual style, nuQ creates animated works centered around the lively characters “Ichiro” and “Futako.” In addition to animation, nuQ works across a wide range of fields including commercials, music videos, character design, and book illustrations.
Major works include New Tokyo Ondo (animation), Educational Sticker Puzzle (picture book), and mural projects for Naha Airport and Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
In a hospital ward where mysterious biological experiments are conducted, test subjects receive daily medication from nurses. One day, when a nurse presses a switch on one of the subjects, the body transforms into a chimera…
What kind of vision emerges when a being, no longer human in form, continues to hold an intense longing and desire? And whose world is it that we are witnessing?
Inspired by the song of the same title by the artist Cuushe, this hand-drawn animation is portrayed through constantly shifting and trembling camerawork.
Yoko Kuno first gained international recognition with her student short film Airy Me, which received the New Face Award in the Animation Division at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival and was screened at numerous international film festivals. At the age of 23, she was appointed rotoscope director for Shunji Iwai's The Case of Hana & Alice.
While continuing her career as an animation filmmaker through works such as the opening animation for NHK E-Tele's puppet series Guruguru Garapiko, she has also been active in commercial animation.
Her manga collection Amaki Yuiko's Horns and Love received the New Face Award in the Manga Division at the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival. In addition to animation, she is also active as an illustrator and manga artist.
She made her feature directorial debut with the Japan–France co-production Ghost Cat Anzu (co-directed with Nobuhiro Yamashita), which was officially selected for the Directors' Fortnight at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
How to spend a ten-minute break during volleyball club practice.
In that brief moment of rest, we became nothing more than lumps of flesh, simply breathing. Taking off our shoes and socks, we surrendered ourselves to the small but refreshing pleasure of relief and release.
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1989. Graduated in 2013 from the Department of Animation at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts.
Valuing the tangible textures and atmospheres that truly exist in the world, she has frequently had the opportunity to work on illustrations and animation related to war, disaster, philosophy, and history—continuing to learn through each project and encounter.
A day begins, and a day comes to an end. Life is born, and eventually dies. Everything has a beginning, and all things equally meet their end. The endless cycle of life and death among tiny beings becomes the very breathing of this world. Life is mysterious, miraculous, astonishing — and to live is to be filled with wonder. Created through 8,760 hand-drawn animation drawings, this film expresses happiness to its fullest extent.
Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1981. An animation filmmaker who creates non-narrative works inspired by motifs such as “cells” and “geometric forms.” Known for his striking and distinctive abstract animations, he works across a wide range of formats including independent animation and music videos.
His works have been nominated at all four major international animation festivals — Annecy, Ottawa, Hiroshima, and Zagreb. His representative work MODERN No.2 had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and won the Music Prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. WONDER premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and received the CANAL+ Creative Aid Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
He is currently preparing his first feature-length animated film, tentatively titled Mirai Mizue's Journey to the West.
Mr. Banno, the teacher of the class next door, is a very frightening teacher feared by all the students.
One day, a yellow balloon arrives at the school…
What happened after that, no one knows.
Born in Aichi Prefecture and currently based in Tokyo, she is an animation filmmaker. Having loved drawing and playing with video cameras since childhood, she discovered the joy of animation early on and has continued creating works using a wide variety of materials and techniques inspired by her everyday observations and experiences.
Her major works include The Yellow Balloon and Banno Sensei, Zdravstvuyte!, and A Story of Snow at Night. Her short animated film In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-Weeny Pocket, inspired by her illustrated diaries, premiered at the 75th Locarno Film Festival and was later selected for the 40th Sundance Film Festival, in addition to receiving the Grand Prix at the Tokyo TDC Awards 2023.
Her latest work, Mwah to My New House!, is scheduled for completion in autumn 2025. She is also currently responsible for the manga and illustrations for the serialized project Hello Witches!! – With the Witches of the 21st Century on the Kasama Shoin note platform.
Yoshiro Ishihara (1915–1977), who burst upon the scene of Japanese modern poetry in the mid-1950s, is now remembered as a “poet of silence.”
He said “A poem is an impulse to resist writing.” This is an attempt to seek out the landscape from his poem.
Born in Ibaraki, Japan, 1986. Graduated from Ibaraki University, College of Education, 2009. Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate school of Film and New Media, Department of Animation, 2011. Awarded the Fellowship of Overseas Study Programme for Upcoming Artists (La Cinémathèque québécoise, Montreal, Canada) by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese Government, 2015-2016. "Datum Point" (2015) based on a poem by Japanese poet Yoshiro Ishihara, received several awards include the Ōfuji Noburō Award, The Mainichi Film Awards 2015, the Golden Zagreb Award, Animafest Zagreb 2016, the Best Experimental or Abstract Animation Award, Ottawa International Animation Festival 2016. "Miserable Miracle" (2023) inspired by Henri Michaux's book of poetry and drawings of the same name, was co-produced by Miyu Productions (France), the National Film Board of Canada (Canada) and NEW DEER (Japan), winning the Grand Prize for Short Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival 2023. In 2025, as the second installment of the Yanai Initiative's "Bungaku Bideo" project, the film "The Graffiti" (2025), based on the poem of Makoto Takayanagi, was completed and won the Off-Limits award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2025, the Best Narrative Short Award, Ottawa International Animation Festival 2025.