Oblivion Island Greeted with Jury's First Mention at Expotoons 2010

Tokyo, December 3, 2010

Shinsuke Satō's 3DCG animated feature film "Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror" was greeted with the Jury's First Mention in the Feature Films Category at the 4th annual Expotoons International Animation Festival, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from November 30 to December 2, 2010.

Expotoons is the most representative animation festival in the region and a reference for the whole industry. Its objective is to spread animation as a growth engine for cultural and audiovisual industry, creating a space for exchanging trends, technology, knowledge, artistic proposals and experiences from different countries.

Production I.G's first 3DCGI feature film, OBLIVION ISLAND has received several recognitions so far, such as Animation of the Year at the Japan Academy Prizes, Jury Recommended Work in the Animation Division of the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival (2009), the Nippon Cinema Award at the Nippon Connection Film Festival (Germany), the Visual Technology Award for the animation section of the 9th annual Video Technology Awards, the Digital Content Grand Prix 2010 - DCAJ Chairman Prize, Feature Films Competition Special Jury Prize at SICAF 2010 (South Korea), and the Jury Special Mention at Fantasia 2010 (Canada)

MESSAGE from NAOYOSHI SHIOTANI (Animation Director)
This movie, "Oblivion Island" takes inspiration from an old folk lore of the Japanese countryside. The story revolves on Haruka, a 16-year-old ordinary girl who is in the middle of the awkward transition from childhood to adulthood, and who experiences an unforgettable adventure in an amazing world beyond imagination. What we carefully tried to portray with this story was the way we treat and behave towards objects and people around us. It's an attitude that in my country is described as compassion, or consideration and kindness towards your fellow, and it's been highly regarded in Japanese society since old times.

Therefore, I'm deeply impressed and overjoyed in realizing that the message we crafted inside our movie was so well received by our friends in Buenos Aires, which is so far away from Tokyo.

On behalf of all the people who spent four hard years of their lives at Production I.G to make this movie possible, please allow me to say a big thank you from the deep of my heart for this great honour that you have awarded to our work today. Thank you very much to all of you!

Naoyoshi Shiotani

PS: And don't worry, the memory of this day will never fade away and be brought on the island by Teo and his fellow islanders!

STORY
Haruka is an ordinary teenager. Her mother passed away when she was a kid, and her father looked after her ever since. But now that she' s 16, communication with her ever-absent workaholic father is not at its best, and “home” has become synonymous of solitude. One day, in a shrine yard, Haruka spots a strange creature resembling a fox, carrying a toy plane. But as she goes after the funny animal, she finds herself on... Oblivion Island! This is a strange world made of memorabilia. And here, Haruka will encounter the memories of her childhood. But humans are not supposed to be on Oblivion Island, and the Baron, who rules that world, has put his eye on that unexpected intruder... And from here, the story bends dramatically into an unpredictable direction at increasing and uncontrolled speed... Will Haruka find her long lost memories and bring them back to the real world?

ABOUT PRODUCTION I.G
Established by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa in 1987, Production I.G is one of the world's leading animation studios. With its cutting-Edge Works, such as "Ghost in the Shell" (1995), "Jin-Roh" (2000), "Blood: The Last Vampire" (2000), "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" (animation segment, 2003), "Innocence" (2004) and "The Sky Crawlers" (2008), I.G has gained high reputation around the globe, inspiring Hollywood creators such as James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino and the Wachowski brothers.

Official Website: http://www.production-ig.com
Contact: [email protected]