Keiichi Hara, animator for Doremon, Crayon Shin-chan to be in focus at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is to showcase the work of Keiichi Hara in this year’s Animation Focus section.

The animator has worked on internationally famous hits like Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan, before starting work on Summer Days with Coo (2007) and Colorful (2010), both of which won awards internationally as well as the Japan Academy Prize. 2015’s Miss Hokusai was a feminist anime that brought him commercial success and critical praise.

TIFF said Hara had been chosen due to his ‘increased international recognition’ as well as ‘his ability to combine a strong auteurist approach with commercial appeal’. The festival, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, also observed that this year marks the  100th anniversary of Japanese animation.

Previous editions of TIFF’s Special Focus on Japanese Animation have featured Hideaki Anno (Godzilla Resurgence), the Mobile Suit Gundam series and Mamoru Hosoda (The Boy And The Beast).

Established in 1985, the Tokyo International Film Festival is the only Japanese film festival accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). One of Asia premiere film festivals, TIFF seeks out excellent films from around the world and brings them to Tokyo, where filmmakers and film fans can enjoy them, meet young filmmakers, and be inspired.