We Are Aliens Film Wins Sitges Film Festival's Anima't Award
Other Japanese films which have won the award are Makoto Shinkai's your name. in 2016 and Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai in 2018. However, Kadowaki, who just turned 30 on October 14, is the youngest Japanese director to achieve this feat.
We Are Aliens centers on Tsubasa and Gyōtarō, two boys who as elementary school students became close friends, but jealousy and misunderstandings eventually drove them apart. Years have passed and the two boys have gone in different directions in life. But when the memories from their past come back, they must face what happened between them years ago.
The film stars Ryōta Bandō (Fureru., live-action How to Train Your Dragon's Japanese dub) as Tsubasa, and Amane Okayama (Blue Giant, live-action I''s, Hirayasumi) as Gyōtarō, when both characters are young adults. Child actors Yūto Maki and Tasuku Nakagome — who were both selected through auditions — voice Tsubasa and Gyōtarō, respectively, when they were younger. Other cast members include Sakurazaka46 idol group member Ten Yamasaki as Konatsu, comedian Kemuri Matsui as Batahara, Gaku Sano as Tsubasa's friend Seiya Toda, Reika Ōzeki as young Seiya, Arisa Sasaki as Toda's friend Elmo Matsushita, and Edo Harumi as a calligraphy teacher.
We Are Aliens opened in Japan on September 15. The film screened at the Directors' Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, and screened in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which ran from June 21 to 27. The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF), and the "Japanese Animation Special: Masterpieces of Madness, Exhilarating Prospects 12+1" category of the 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) also screened the film. Ottawa International Animation Festival awarded the film the Grand Prize for Animated Feature last month.
Kadowaki, who created the second BEASTARS season's ending sequence and music videos for YOASOBI, served as the film's planner, scriptwriter, director, storyboard artist, and editor. Yaffle — who previously produced music for Fujii Kaze, Kenshi Yonezu, and others — composed the music. NOTHING NEW planned and produced the film, and French studio Miyu Productions (Ghost Cat Anzu, A New Dawn) collaborated on the production, after joining on the project in June 2025. Artist adieu performs the film's theme song "Sasakure" (Split).
Source: Comic Natalie
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