THE JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL IS ACOMPREHENSIVE FESTIVAL OF MEDIAARTS ( = MEDIA GEIJUTSU ) THAT HONORSOUTSTANDING WORKS IN THE FOURDIVISIONS OF ART, ENTERTAINMENT,ANIMATION, AND MANGA, AS WELL AS
PROVIDING A PLATFORM FOR APPRECIATION
OF THE WORKS THAT HAVE WON AWARDS.

THE JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL AT HYPER JAPAN 2013
Friday 26 – Sunday 28 July 2013 Earls Court ll, Earls Court Admission: General Entry Ticket©Suidobashi Heavy Industry

Suidobashi Heavy Industry "KURATAS" [Japan]Robot
Size: 500 cm L x 300 cm W x 400 cm H
Weight: 4 t
Materials: Iron etc.
System Software: V-Sido(humanoid robot real-time control software)

TALKSPEAKERS

JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL PRESENTS:

A TALK WITH THE CREATORS OF KURATAS GIANT ROBOTS

interpretation available(consecutive)

Saturday 27 July 1:00 –1:45 p.m. Main Stage, Earls Court ll

SUGASAWA Taiji
PRODUCER AT SUIDOBASHI HEAVY INDUSTRY
STAGE PRODUCTIONSCREENINGThe KURATAS project was born in June 2010 from a simple desire on
the part of artist KURATA Kogoro: “I want to ride on a giant robot, but
it seems no one has made one for that purpose. I may as well build
it myself.” Robot control engineer YOSHIZAKI Wataru subsequently
joined the project, and after about two years in production, KURATAS
was unveiled on July 29, 2012 before an audience of thousands
attending Wonder Festival 2012 Summer at Makuhari Messe. 4m.
tall and weighing 4t., KURATAS is truly a giant robot. The user sits in acockpit and operates controls that move its 4 limbs and torso — andyes, it can walk. Its creators are currently improving KURATAS with theaim of mass-producing it.
Not only the scale of the robot astonishes, but the beauty of thedetails, particularly when viewed from the rear. Add to this the use ofV-Sido control software, which permits full-body maneuvering via CG
manipulation; an ultra-futuristic cockpit interface design; and overall,a marvelously executed blend of technologies and aesthetics.

Producer at Suidobashi Heavy Industry;
involved in project from its inception. Key
figure in public relations and advancing theproject. Involved in collaboration projectwith other businesses and organizations.

KURATA Kogoro

YOSHIZAKI Wataru

CONTEMPORARY ARTIST / CREATOR OF KURATASLIVE FROM JAPANENGINEER IN ROBOTICS / OPERATOR OF KURATASLIVE FROM JAPANJAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL ANIMATED SHORTS 2013

Friday 26 July 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Main Stage, Earls Court ll

SCREENING WORKS

JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL ANIMATED SHORTS 2013
The program contents are Award-winning Works from the Japan Media Arts Festival 2013 Animation Division, Animated Short Category.

Yonalure: Moment to Moment |NAKATA Ayaka, SAKITANI YukiJapan

Jury Selection 7 min. 53 sec.

©2011 Ayaka Nakata / Yuki SakitaniThis animated work is a poem about the night. The ticking of a clock reverberates through the town. And just when it
seems as if there is no moon rising tonight, a large, white globe appears. Looking behind you, you see it has round ears
and a pointy nose. Then, all at once, the houses of the town begin to move. At this midnight moment, the moon in the sky
is linked with the moon in your memory.

Futon | MIZUSHIRI Yoriko

JapanNew Face Award 6 min. 02 sec.
You crawl inside your futon and everything — from the memories in your mind to thoughts of the future, recalled sensations, sexuality — all melt together into a single pleasant feeling. In the futon, your body wanders around in search ofsensation. The soft texture of this animated work was achieved by drawing images on paper and then incorporating theminto the picture frame via tracing paper. Futon deals with the relationship between movement and the senses.
©MIZUSHIRI Yoriko

Recruit Rhapsody | YOSHIDA Maho

Japan

Jury Selection 7 min. 27 sec.
This short animation is about post-university job hunting. A very ordinary college student finds that her friends haverecently begun to behave strangely; it turns out they are in the throes of “job-hunt fever.” Without ever figuring out what
it is really all about, the protagonist finds herself, too, sucked into the vortex of job recruitment Japanesestyle.

©Maho Yoshida / Tokyo University of the Arts

The Great Rabbit | WADA Atsushi

Japan

Excellence Award 7 min. 12 sec.

©Sacrebleu Productions - CaRTe bLaNChe - Atsushi Wada – 2012

This animated work, co-produced by the French companies Sacrebleu Productions and CaRTe bLaNChe, deals with thetheme of disobedience. Among the characters are a group of children who stand in line clutching a large ball, a rabbit-likehumanoid creature who helps with the ball, a small child with glasses who looks on, a marten-like animal who is out to
get the ball, a bird who snatches away children’s clothes, and a rabbit, enshrined in a household altar, who is constantly
chewing on something. Depicting these figures and backgrounds with thin, 0.3-millimeter lines and faint, subdued colors, the work explores the nature of disobedience.

Oh Willy… | Emma de SWAEF, Marc James ROELS

Belgium

New Face Award 16 min. 35 sec.

©Emma de Swaef & Marc James Roels

Oh Willy... is a stop-mot ion film made with puppets that were animated frame by frame on sets ranging from 10 x 10m to2 x 2m for interiors. All props and characters were made out of wool and fabric. Forced to return to his naturist roots, Willybungles his way into noble savagery. The filmmakers were inspired by Diane ARBUS’s photos of people living in nudist
colonies. The photos are as poetic as they are uncomfortably banal and confronting. The artists wanted to achieve thesame tension between poetry and shockingly uncensored imagery by combining the wool with the theme of naturism
and the question of what it means to live in a natural way.

COMBUSTIBLE | OTOMO Katsuhiro

Japan

Grand Prize 12 min. 43 sec.

©SHORT PEACE COMMITTEE

Set in mid-18th-century Edo (the old name for Tokyo), COMBUSTIBLE centers on Owaka, a merchant’s daughter, and herchildhood friend Matsukichi. Though the two are attracted to each other, Matsukichi’s family has disowned him because
he wants to work as a fireman. But just as their relationship is starting to bloom, Owaka’s family begins to move forwardwith plans to find her a husband. Unable to forget Matsukichi, in a fit of crazed passion Owaka causes a huge fire to breakout, burning down the town. The two lovers happen to cross paths again in the midst of this blaze. The backdrop for thisspectacle is one of the great fires that frequently occurred in the metropolis of Edo.

17TH JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Thursday, July 11– Thursday, September 12, 2013
EXHIBITION OF AWARD-WINNING WORKS OF
THE 17TH JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL

Wednesday, February 5– Sunday, February 16, 2014*closed on Wednesday, February 12

venue: National Art Center, Tokyo

Enquiries: NHK International Inc. Section of Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festivals | mail jmaf-info@nhkint.or.jp

http://j-mediaarts.jp/
http://jmaf-promote.jp/global/en/