Culterix
Genius Party
The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima’s intro piece is a fantastic abstraction to soak up with the eyes. Masaaki Yuasa, of MIND GAME and CAT SOUP fame, brings his distinctive and deceptively simple graphic style and dream-state logic to the table with “Happy Machine,” his spin on a child’s earliest year. Shinji Kimura’s spookier “Deathtic 4,” meanwhile, seems to tap into the creepier corners of a child’s imagination and open up a toybox full of dark delights. Hideki Futamura’s “Limit Cycle” conjures up a vision of virtual reality, while Yuji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" and "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe use understated realism for very surreal purposes. And Shoji Kawamori, with “Shanghai Dragon,” takes the tropes and conventions of traditional anime out for very fun joyride.
Directed by: Atsuko Fukushima, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura
Cast: Tomoko Kaneda, Rinko Kikuchi, Taro Yabe, Yuya Yagira, Nanase Iwai, Miki Yamamoto, Gakuto Furuhara, Hiroshi Mikami
Paradise Calling
La Fin des étés
Remodeling Her Husband
Bright Star
Poker King
Redemption
The Whisper
Alone Man