SHORT FILMS

Check This Out: Stop-Motion Samurai Project 'Hidari' in Development

by Alex Billington
April 27, 2023
Source: YouTube

Wooden puppet stop-motion samurai awesomeness! A must watch! Hidari is a stop-motion animated film currently in development in Japan under the direction of Masashi Kawamura. The film recently finished a massive funding round on Kickstarter, and they've released a 5-minute pilot short to show everyone how this will look. IT RULES!! I've always been a fan of stop-motion, but I've never seen anything like this. The film tells the story of "Jingoro Hidari," a legendary Edo-era craftsman. All characters are made by wood & animated frame-by-frame, just like how Jingoro's wooden sculptures came to life in his stories. This short mixes dynamic action as seen in Japanimation, and the rich analog expressions of stop-motion. "As a kid who was raised watching films by Ray Harryhausen, Kihachiro Kawamoto, and Phil Tippett, I always dreamt about one day creating a long length stop-motion animation film." I'm 100% in. Can't wait to see it finished.

Thanks to Marisa for the tip on this. Story introduction from YouTube: "After being betrayed by his peers and lost both his father and his right arm, legendary craftsman 'Jingoro Hidari' is on a journey of revenge with his partner 'Sleeping Cat' and mechanical prosthetic arm. Finally, Jingoro faces one of his adversaries 'Inumaru' in a fight to the death…" Hidari is a stop-motion animated project in development now - this is a pilot short film to promote the full feature. Hidari is created and directed by Japanese filmmaker Masashi Kawamura, who wrote the original script and assembled the production team - including Dwarf Studios (of Pokémon Concierge) and TECARAT. The project was funded on Kickstarter (funding complete) and it's currently aiming for the next steps. Kawamura is working with multiple studios on the puppets, animation, and design aspects. For more info, visit the Kickstarter page. To watch more shorts, click here. Look good?

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