We Are Aliens earns Shooting Star honor at Hawai'i film festival
Kōhei Kadowaki and NOTHING NEW's anime film We Are Aliens (Ware Ware wa Uchūjin) won the Kau Ka Hōkū (Shooting Star) Award on Sunday at the 46th Hawai'i International Film Festival in Waikiki.
The Kau Ka Hōkū award recognizes an international filmmaker's first or second feature.
We Are Aliens follows Tsubasa and Gyōtarō, who became close friends in elementary school before jealousy and misunderstandings broke their bond. Years later, they have taken different paths in life, but returning memories force them to confront what happened between them.
Ryōta Bandō (Fureru., the Japanese dub of the live-action How to Train Your Dragon) voices Tsubasa as a young adult, while Amane Okayama (Blue Giant, the live-action I''s, Hirayasumi) voices Gyōtarō at that age. Child actors Yūto Maki and Tasuku Nakagome, both selected through auditions, voice the younger Tsubasa and Gyōtarō, respectively. The remaining cast includes:
- Ten Yamasaki, a member of idol group Sakurazaka46, as Konatsu.
- Comedian Kemuri Matsui as Batahara.
- Gaku Sano as Seiya Toda, Tsubasa's friend.
- Reika Ōzeki as young Seiya.
- Arisa Sasaki as Elmo Matsushita, Toda's friend.
- Edo Harumi as a calligraphy teacher.
The film opened in Japan on September 15.
Its festival screenings included the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight on May 14 and the competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which ran from June 21 to 27. It also screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF), and in the "Japanese Animation Special: Masterpieces of Madness, Exhilarating Prospects 12+1" category of the 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).
Last month, the Ottawa International Animation Festival awarded it the Grand Prize for Animated Feature. Earlier this month, it won the Anima't Award for best feature-length film at the 59th Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya in Sitges, Spain. On October 25, it received Special Mentions in the Alice nelle città section of the 21st Rome Film Festival and an Honorable Mention at the 35th Philadelphia Film Festival.
Kadowaki handled planning, scriptwriting, directing, storyboarding, and editing. His previous work includes the ending sequence for BEASTARS' second season and music videos for YOASOBI. Yaffle, whose music production credits include Fujii Kaze, Kenshi Yonezu, and others, composed the score.
NOTHING NEW planned and produced the film. French studio Miyu Productions (Ghost Cat Anzu, A New Dawn) collaborated on production after joining the project in June 2025. Artist adieu performs the theme song, "Sasakure" (Split).
Source: Variety (Naman Ramachandran)
