ABOUT / MESSAGE
NEW CHITOSE is returning to an in-person edition in 2023!
New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival is an animation festival dedicated to animated films held at the terminal building of New Chitose Airport (Hokkaido, Japan), which connects Hokkaido with the rest of the world as an entertainment airport.
The festival not only attracts attention as one of the few film festivals in the world where all screenings, lodgings, and stays are completed at the airport but also boasts the largest number of entries in the competition section in Japan. The festival also offers a multifaceted program introducing animation, including lectures by Japanese and foreign creators and exhibitions in public spaces. It has now grown into one of Japan’s top animation film festivals.
For the commemorative 10th edition, by utilizing the unique venue for close interaction between guests and audiences and as a “playground” to create new values that extend the significance of animation, we continue to aim to create a cultural exchange center where people can take home the energy.
We believe that by providing animation experiences at New Chitose Airport every fall that will lead to a diverse future, we can cultivate global human resources that will connect with the wider world and ultimately promote cultural tourism in Hokkaido. We look forward to your continued support.
New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival Committee
Message from Chief Director
The New Chitose Airport International Animation Film Festival, born ten years ago, has changed as animation has diversified beyond expectations over the years, including establishing Music Animation and Feature Film Competitions. In addition to screening films, we have been working to create a place where visitors can connect with the broader world and have been actively introducing works produced in Japan through the “Japan Competition,” one of the first competitions held since the establishment of the festival. It has received a great deal of interest from animators and producers invited from around the world and has become a vibrant opportunity for Japanese artists to interact and deepen their relationships with each other.
In the new decade, the festival will move forward to create a cultural exchange center in the unique setting of an airport, where visitors can bring back stimulating energy. And we want them to come back year after year for the power of imagination and creativity. Since this festival has brought about experiences filled with discovery through close interaction between guests and audiences, we are confident that it can create new animation values from the local region as a base for diverse projects to gather, a “playground for expanding the significance of animation,” so to speak.
Tomoko ONO
