Ōfuji Noburō Award

Ōfuji Noburō Award
Country Japan
First awarded 1962
Currently held by The Moon That Fell Into the Sea (2013)

The Ōfuji Noburō Award (大藤信郎賞 Ōfuji Noburō shō) is an animation award given at the Mainichi Film Awards. It is named after Japanese animator Noburō Ōfuji.

History

Following the death of pioneering animator Noburō Ōfuji in 1961, Mainichi established a new award in his honour to recognise animation excellence. A specialist in silhouette animation, Ōfuji was one of the earliest Japanese animators to gain international recognition, winning accolades at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival and the 1956 Venice Film Festival. This award was first presented in 1962 for Tale of a Street Corner (ある街角の物語 Aru Machi Kado no Monogatari) by Osamu Tezuka.

With the growth of the animation industry in Japan, the award in the 1980s came to be dominated by big budget studio productions, over the work of the independent animators for whose efforts it was originally established. To address this concern, the Animation Grand Award was established to reward large scale cinematic animation, enabling the Ōfuji award to focus on shorter pieces again. This award was first presented in 1989 for Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便 Majo no Takkyūbin) by Hayao Miyazaki.

The award encompasses a much wider variety of animation than many western anime fans would consider. Two of the most frequent winners over the years, Tadanari Okamoto (岡本忠成 Okamoto Tadanari) and Kihachirō Kawamoto (川本喜八郎), specialize mainly in stop motion rather than cel animation. As well as being an adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel, The Old Man and the Sea is the winning work of Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov.

Winners

Note: Incomplete.

References

  1. ↑ "Wolf Children, 'Combustible' Win at 67th Mainichi Film Awards". Anime News Network. 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  2. ↑ Kevin Ma (January 21, 2014). "Great Passage, Pecoross top Mainichi Award". Film Business Asia. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Princess Kaguya Wins at 68th Mainichi Film Awards". Anime News Network. January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
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