20th Media Arts Festival revealed the winners of the Award-winning works and Special Achievement awards.

Japan’s Media Arts Festival is an annual festival that honors spectacular works created for different media, and the awards are given in four categories: Art, Entertainment, Animation, and Manga. 4,034 works from 88 different countries and regions took part at the festival, the highest number of applicants ever. Out of these 4,034 works, the four award winners included Shin Godzilla and Kimi no Na wa (Your Name).

Shin Godzilla won the top prize in the Entertainment division. The movie was released in July 2016 and it was the first movie of the franchise in 12 years. The screenwriter and general director of this film was Hideaki Anno, who also directed Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the director/special effects director was Shinji Higuchi. Because of their creative prowess, the story of Godzilla was created with a unique approach and left a huge impact on the viewers.

Kazunari Yonemitsu, one of the award judges, commented, ‘The film has completely excluded the unnecessary human drama and simulated the realistic mainland battle from beginning to end. I’m sure the film-making staff members followed their convictions to create the work of entertainment they wanted to, and this lead to it becoming such a big hit. I’m very happy about that. I think this movie will have a strong influence on the way Japanese films will be created in the future.’

The award-winning work of the Animation division was Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) directed by Makoto Shinkai. This film illustrated the ‘distance’ and ‘connection’ between the two main characters and their dramatic story. This movie is highly rated for its beautiful screen images and its magnificent storyline.

One of the judges, Masao Yokota, praised the movie saying, ‘I want to highly evaluate the point that an animated film has finally symbolized the hearts of modern people.’

The Art division award was given to Interface I, a kinetic installation artwork using 192 direct current motors. The Manga division was won by Blue Giant, a story about a high school boy named Dai Miyamoto who loves jazz music and dreams of becoming a professional jazz player.

The award ceremony and an exhibition of the award-winning works are to be held in September at several places, including NTT Intercommunication Center (ICC) in Hatsudai, Tokyo, and Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery.

Japan Media Arts Festival Official Website
http://j-mediaarts.jp/

source: http://animeanime.jp/article/2017/03/16/32985.html