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San Francisco Int'l Film Festival Screens World Premiere of Tonko House, dwarf, Akihiro Nishino's 'Bottle George' Animated Short

California-based studio Tonko House (Oni: Thunder God's Tale), dwarf studios (Rilakkuma and Kaoru), and Akihiro Nishino — creator of the Poupelle of Chimney Town (Entotsu-chō no Poupelle) picture book — announced on Monday that the world premiere of their 13-minute "Bottle George" animated short will screen in competition at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival. The staff also unveiled a trailer and poster:

This year's San Francisco International Film Festival will take place from April 24-28.

Tonko House's Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi (Hayao Miyazaki's nephew-in-law) is directing the short and is also writing the screenplay. dwarf studios' Noriko Matsumoto (Rilakkuma and Kaoru) is the producer. Nishino is writing the screenplay for the stop-motion animated short, and he is credited for the original work. His Chimney Town company is co-producing.

The short explores the relationship between George, a man trapped inside a small bottle, and Chako, a young girl who is scared of her alcoholic father. She is poor, but resilient, and she lives with her cat. The story depicts the light and darkness of people.

Tonko House and dwarf studios previously collaborated on the Oni: Thunder God's Tale CGI animated series. The four-episode series debuted in October 2022. The Animation Is Film Festival hosted the theatrical world premiere of the series in the same month.

dwarf studios animated Pokémon Concierge, a stop-motion animated series for the Pokémon franchise, which debuted with four episodes on Netflix on December 28.

Studio 4°C's anime film of Nishino's Poupelle of Chimney Town (Entotsu-chō no Poupelle) picture book opened in Japan in December 2020 and ranked at #4 and earned 322,998,700 (about US$3.13 million) in its opening weekend. Eleven Arts screened Poupelle of Chimney Town across North America in January 2022.

Source: Email correspondence