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Ghost Cat Anzu, Mononoke Films Win at Fantasia Int'l Film Festival
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The Ghost Cat Anzu film opened in Japan on July 19.
The film stars:
- Mirai Moriyama as titular Anzu
- Noa Gotō voices Karin
- Munetaka Aoki as Tetsuya, Karin's father
- Miwako Ichikawa as Yuzuki, Karin's mother
- Moonriders' member Keiichi Suzuki as Oshō, Anzu's foster parent
- Shingo Mizusawa as the god of poverty
- Skirt (Sawabe Wataru) as Tanuki, another supernatural creature
- Ikue Ōtani as Pi-Pi-chan, the forest fairies
Shōhei Uno also contribute voices.
Cast also acted as the characters in footage that served as a reference for animating the characters, with their spoken lines during the filming of their movements also being used in the film.
Yukie Nakauchi are the animation directors, and Keiichi Suzuki is composing the music.
A.S.A.B) performs the theme song "Matatabi."
The film screened as a work-in-progress at the Annecy Animation Festival in June 2023. The Paris-based acquired the North American rights to the film.
Miyu Productions describes the film's story:
Karin, 11 years old, is abandoned by her father at her grandfather's house, the monk of a small town in the Japanese countryside. Her grandfather asks Anzu, his jovial and helpful although rather capricious ghost cat, to look after her. The meeting of their strong characters causes sparks, at least at the beginning…manga in 2007.
The Gekijōban Mononoke: Karakasa film earlier Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation for best animated feature film, also at this year's Fantasia International Film Festival.
The film premiered in Japan on July 26, and Hiroshi Kamiya instead voices the protagonist the Medicine Seller in the film.
EOTA animated the film.
Singer Aina The End performs the theme song "Love Sick."
The Mononoke film project will have Gekijōban Mononoke Second Chapter: Hinezumi (also could be romanized as "Kaso," meaning "fire rat"), will premiere in Japan on March 14, 2025.
The Fantasia International Film Festival's Audience Awards is determined by popular vote from those who attended the film festival. film won bronze in last year's Best Animated Feature category.
The 28th Fantasia International Film Festival was held from July 18 to August 4 in Montreal.
Sources: Press release, Fantasia International Film Festival's website
