Busan Film Festival to Showcase Japanese Animation Classics and New Works

Busan Film Festival to Showcase Japanese Animation Classics and New Works

The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has unveiled a 13-film Japanese Animation Special program, spotlighting a century of Japanese animation history. The lineup, billed as a Special Program in Focus, mixes formative classics with recent releases and one European work that influenced generations of Japanese animators. Most titles have rarely screened in Korean theaters, with several set for Korean premieres.

Veteran director Rintaro will attend the festival, marking his first visit to Korea in 17 years. He will be joined by four next-generation directors: Kadowaki Kohei, Katanosaka Ryo, Natsume Shingo, and Shinomiya Yoshitoshi.

The classics section opens with Yabushita Taiji's "The White Snake Enchantress" (1958), the first Japanese animated feature made in full color. The film, based on a Chinese folk tale, deeply affected a teenage Miyazaki Hayao, who wrote in "Starting Point 1979-1996" that watching it left him in tears until dawn.

Other classics include Yamamoto Eiichi's "Belladonna of Sadness" (1973), an experimental adult-oriented work produced by Mushi Production. Adapted from Jules Michelet's "La Sorcière," it tells of Jeanne, a woman who bargains with the Devil and becomes a witch. The film, which screened at the 1973 Berlin Film Festival, features actor Nakadai Tatsuya as the Devil's voice.

Tezuka Osamu's "Phoenix 2772 (Space Firebird)" (1980) draws on his "Phoenix" manga saga, with Tezuka serving as writer and director. Oshii Mamoru's "Angel's Egg" (1985) was made with illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.

Otomo Katsuhiro's "Memories" (1995), which screened at BIFF's first edition three decades ago, returns with a 2025 remaster marking its 30th anniversary. Rintaro's "Metropolis" (2001), based on a 1949 manga by Tezuka with a screenplay by Otomo, took five years to produce with one of the largest budgets in Japanese animation history at the time.

Yuasa Masaaki's "Mind Game" (2004) marked his feature directorial debut and won the Animation Division's Grand Prize at the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival. Morita Shuhei's "Kakurenbo" (2004) was his directorial debut; he later received an Academy Award nomination for "Possessions" (2013).

The program also includes four new titles, with all four directors attending BIFF. Natsume Shingo's "Ghost – End of Night," produced by Madhouse , heads to Busan ahead of a planned 2027 theatrical release in Japan. Katanosaka Ryo's "Shiranui," a 36-minute short produced by CoMix Wave Films, features hand-drawn animation covering nearly two-thirds of its 325 rough cuts. Kadowaki Kohei's "We Are Aliens," a rotoscoped feature, played in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and competed at Annecy. Shinomiya Yoshitoshi's "A New Dawn" became the first Japanese animated feature directed by a first-time feature filmmaker to compete at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Jury Award in Annecy's Contrechamp section.

The program closes with Paul Grimault's "The King and the Mockingbird" (1952, 1980), a European work that inspired Miyazaki Hayao, who paid tribute to it in his directorial debut, "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro" (1979).

Selection Philosophy

BIFF festival director Jung Hanseok explained the program's rationale. "Animation has recently become one of the most dynamic forms in global cinema, bridging East and West," he said. Organizers set criteria including original works made for theatrical release, representing bold precedents or forward-looking vision, with preference for titles seldom played in Korean cinemas.

Jung noted the program deliberately excluded Miyazaki Hayao and Takahata Isao, choosing instead works that had shaped both directors' own filmmaking. "Some films can only be fully experienced in a theater. I hope audiences in Busan will not miss this rare opportunity to experience these works on the big screen," he added.

The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs Oct. 6-15, with venues centered on the Busan Cinema Center. The 21st Asian Contents & Film Market takes place alongside it, from Oct. 10-13.