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Colorful, Summer Days with Coo Director Keiichi Hara Awarded Anime d'or at TAAF 2015
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Production I.G announced on Monday that director Keiichi Hara won the Anime d'or prize at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF) event on Thursday.
Hara worked for years on the Crayon Shin-chan television anime series before garnering critical attention for such films as Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Appare! Sengoku Daikassen (Crayon Shin-chan; Brilliant! The Great Battle of the Warring States) and Summer Days with Coo. He earned the Jury's Special Distinction and the Audience Award for the bittersweet film Colorful at Annecy 2011. He has since made his first live-action film, a 2013 biography about the Japanese filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita.
The Anime d'or Award is given to animation professionals who display "the power to bring innovation into animation, our times, the world and the future." Hara is the second recipient of the award. TAAF awarded Grave of the Fireflies director Isao Takahata the prize last year.
Hara is currently working on the Miss Hokusai anime film with Production I.G The historical film adapts Hinako Sugiura's acclaimed historical manga Sarusuberi. Anne Watanabe will star in the role of O-Ei, daughter of acclaimed ukiyo-e painter Hokusai.
The film will open on May 9, and Production I.G is handling worldwide distribution and sales. Anime Limited will release the film in U.K. cinemas in October-November before releasing it on Blu-ray Disc and DVD.
TAAF staff also granted Meritorious Service Awards to Masahiro Ioka (Art Director), Hiroshi Ohtake (Voice Actor), Nobuyoshi Koshibe (Composer), Isao Sasaki (Singer), Hisashichi Sano (Producer), Sadao Tsukioka (Animation Artist), Toshio Hirata (Director), Monkey Punch (Original Creator), Tadakatsu Yoshida (Animator), Yoshitake Suzuki (Script Writer), and Kan Mizumoto (Sound Director).
Disney's Frozen won Animation of the Year: Theatrical Film, Ping Pong the Animation won Animation of the Year: Television, and Tiger & Bunny The Movie -The Rising- won Animation of the Year: Anime Fan Award on Sunday.
