ORIKASA Ryo

Born in Ibaraki, Japan, 1986. "Datum point" (2015) based on a poem by Japanese poet Yoshiro Ishihara, won the Golden Zagreb Award at Animafest Zagreb 2016. "Miserable Miracle" (2023) inspired by Henri Michaux's book of poetry and drawings of the same name, was co-produced by Miyu Productions (France), the National Film Board of Canada (Canada) and NEW DEER (Japan), winning the Grand Prize for Short Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival 2023. In 2025, as the second installment of the Yanai Initiative's "Bungaku Bideo" project, the film "The Graffiti" (2025), based on the poem of Makoto Takayanagi, was completed and won the Off-Limits award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

IWASAKI Hirotoshi

Hirotoshi Iwasaki (born in 1981, he/him) is a filmmaker and artist. He earned a Doctorate in Fine Arts from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2019. He primarily creates experimental animated works using the technique of rotoscoping, in which live-action footage is traced to produce animation. He is also active as a researcher of rotoscoping, having developed an original theory that focuses on the act of tracing itself and the hybrid images that emerge from the process.
His work crosses boundaries between the fields of fine art, film, and advertising, and has been exhibited at galleries and museums both in Japan and internationally. In 2015, he won the Grand Prix at the Holland Animation Film Festival. As a commissioned artist, he has provided animation and illustration for clients such as Calvin Klein, Coldplay, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. His advertising-related projects with Dentsu Inc. have received awards from THE ONE SHOW, NY ADC, and Tokyo ADC. He has also collaborated on several documentary films, including Beyond Utopia, which was nominated in the Documentary category at the 2024 BAFTA Awards, where he was responsible for the animation segments. His work continues to receive recognition across multiple disciplines.
Since 2022, he has served as a selection committee member for the Short Film Competition at the New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival. Currently, associate professor at Nagoya Zokei University, part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media Department of Animation.

https://hirotoshiiwasaki.com/