November 2008
Japanese Animation Night
Mini-Animation Series 
Cindy Mochizuki, 4 minutes)
Amused constantly by eccentric people, Cindy Mochizuki has grown to realize that she attracts bizarre situations and enjoys morphing them into her art. She was born and raised in Vancouver and holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Arts. She is a visual artist working primarily in video, text, installation and performance. Her works have been exhibited at various galleries.
Minoru: Memory of Exile 
Michael Fukushima, 1992, 18 min 45 s, English
The bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor thrust nine-year-old Minoru Fukushima into a world of racism so malevolent. Like thousands of other Japanese Canadians, Minoru and his family were branded as an enemy of Canada, dispatched to internment camps in the interior of British Columbia, and finally deported to Japan. The film artfully combines classical animation with archival material to tell a touching family story and the unforgettable history of Japanese Canadians.
Michael Fukushima has been directing and producing animation films since 1984. On the strength of his first auteur film, Tako, Fukushima was invited to the National Film Board in 1990, where he completed this award-winning animated documentary. Since 1997, Fukushima has been working as an NFB producer and is the creator of the Animation Hothouse, a program that is helping usher in a new generation of filmmakers to the NFB.
Selected Awards 1994 Best Short Documentary, Hot Docs
Showa Shinzan 
Alison Reiko Loader, 2002, 12 min 56 s English
This animated story, based on actual events, evokes the look and feel of the Japanese art of Bunraku puppetry. Alison combines 3-D computer animation with archival footage and drawings to present a story of nature’s destructive beauty. These awesome forces provide the catalyst for personal transformation as a young girl learns about the world and begins to understand and admire the man who helps expand her awareness.
Roots 
Alison Reiko Loader, 2006, 10 min 55 s, English
Director Alison Reiko Loader herself is an adoptee. This brilliant film is a one-of-a-kind produce-eye journey through a supermarket – and through the highly sensitive issue of adoption disclosure. As a series of fruits and vegetables each drop into a shopping cart, they quickly get caught up in a conversation about origins. Together, they offer a diet of strongly held opinions: from a weepy apple who desperately seeks the truth about her natural mother, to a moralistic mushroom who thinks adoption information is best kept in the dark.
Alison Reiko Loader began her filmmaking career as a student of traditional animation at Concordia University. After several years of designing corporate logos and brochures, she returned to her first love – animation by way of 3-D computer animation. She currently teaches digital animation at Concordia University. (film website: http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/showashinzan/)
What Are You Anyways?
Jeff Chiba Stearns, 2005, 11 min, English) (Filmmaker in attendance)
This classically animated film was entirely hand drawn. Filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns grew up as a mix of Japanese and Caucasian in the small “white-bred” city of Kelowna, British Columbia, where he was constantly asked “What are you anyways?” He reaches an epiphany one day when he discovers the term Hapa, referring to his mixed racial identity. In fact, he coined the term Hapanimation after his unique blend of North American and Japanese animation styles. His story is a humorous yet serious one of struggle and love and finding one’s identity.
Selected Awards
2006 Best Animated Short Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts
2005 Best Animation – Los Angeles ARPA International Film Festival
Yellow Sticky Notes 
Jeff Chiba Stearns, 2007, 6 min, English)
Another experimental film by Jeff, which was drawn straight ahead with only a black ink pen on over 2300 yellow sticky notes. After realizing that yellow sticky note “to do” lists were consuming his life, Jeff decided to visually self-reflect on his filmmaking journey by animating on the same sticky notes that caused him to ignore major world events for the last nine years.
Selected Awards
2008 Best Animated Short Film: Calgary International Film Festival – Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2008 Best Animated Short Subject : Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts
2008 Platinum Remi Award Winner for Best Animated (Classic Cel Animation):
41st WorldFest – Houston Remi Awards
2008 Golden Reel Award for Short Film – Nominee
Los Angeles VC Asian Pacific Film Festival
Jeff Chiba Stearns is a Vancouver/Kelowna-based internationally award-winning animator and illustrator working in traditional and computer-based techniques. He enjoys creating works aimed at children and adults that combine different philosophical elements together to create humorous, inspiring, and entertaining stories. Jeff graduated from Emily Carr Institute with a Bachelor of Media Arts majoring in Film Animation in 2001. He also has a Bachelor of Education with a major in Secondary Fine Arts Education from the University of British Columbia (2003). Currently, he is the classical animation instructor at the Center of Arts and Technology Kelowna. (filmmaker’s website: www.meditatingbunny.com, Blog. www.hapanimation.com)
Machine with Wishbone 
Randall Okita, 2007, 6 min, English) (Filmmaker in attendance)
You are invited on a journey into a dreamscape of mechanical oddities in this live action sculptural show.
Shot without special effects and featuring the breathtaking work of internationally celebrated artists, this experimental film is a creative coming together of kinetic sculpture and boundless imagination.
Selected Awards
2008 Vancouver International Film Festival , Official Selection
Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival, WINNER – Golden Sheaf Award for Best Experimental
Winnipeg International Film Festival,
WINNER – Outstanding Experimental Film
Toronto International Film Festival,
Official Selection
Randall Okita is a filmmaker based in Vancouver, Canada. Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Okita spent a number of years in Asia before relocating to Vancouver. His film Machine with Wishbone, which he wrote, produced and directed, features the creations of international artists and was made with the support of Bravo!FACT, the British Columbia Arts Council and the National Film Board of Canada.
(film website: http://www.absitomenmedia.com/)
Mushi-Shi (蟲師) (2 episodes) 
Hiroshi Nagahama, Artland Production, 2005, Japanese with English Subtitles
Adapted from Manga into an animated television series by Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Nagahama in 2005, this film has won critical awards and commercial success all over the world. The story explores Japanese mysticism and its impact on the characters’ lives, featuring ubiquitous creatures called Mushi that often display supernatural powers. Ginko, the Mushi-shi (Mushi master) travels from place to place to research Mushi and aids people suffering from problems caused by them.
Edmund Yee, the communication director of Anime Evolution, will give an overview introduction of Japanese animation at the beginning of this session.
