Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 17, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
On August 21, the Bitfilm Festival will hold a theme evening featuring Japanese animated films under the title “Otaku Attack” at 3001 Kino in Hamburg. From 19:00 until after midnight, Bitfilm, in cooperation with the onedotzero festival and the Japan Foundation, will show animated short films, music videos, commercials, motion graphics and game intros, as well as the cult classic “Otaku No Video.”
“In Japanese, the term ‘otaku’ refers to extreme fans, particularly of manga, anime or computer games,” explains Japanologist and film expert Dagmar Seidel, who is responsible for this program at Bitfilm. “In the past, the term was used rather disparagingly - similar to the American ‘nerd’ - but the new generation of fans has simply turned that around and is now proud to be otaku.”
The program consists of four approximately 45-minute compilations of short Japanese animated films, shown on the hour. Bitfilm has again collaborated with the London-based, world-traveling onedotzero festival. The program is rounded off by the 1991 feature film “Otaku No Video,” an unconventional mixture of anime film and documentary about the early-1990s otaku scene. It was produced by anime studio Gainax and is regarded as a cult classic of the otaku nation. “Otaku Attack” is supported by the Japan Foundation, the Japanese cultural institute.
In parallel with “Otaku Attack,” a program of selected films from the Bitfilm Festival’s four competitions begins at 21:00 at Outdoor Cine in Schanzenpark. All competition films can be accessed at http://www.bitfilm.com/festival from August 20. The worldwide Bitfilm audience determines the winners through online voting; they will be presented and honored at the Bitfilm closing event in Tel Aviv on October 1.
Further Links:
- Bitfilm Festival
