Anime
We Are Aliens: Anime film wins awards in Ottawa and Sitges
Kohei Kadowaki's feature film received both awards after its Japanese theatrical release on September 25, 2026.
The Japanese anime film We Are Aliens (我々は宇宙人) won main prizes at two international film festivals. At the Ottawa International Animation Festival, the film received the Grand Prix for animated feature films. At the 59th Sitges Festival in Spain, it followed with the award for best animated feature film in the Anima't section. Direction and screenplay are by Kohei Kadowaki.
Two awards after the theatrical release
The production company NOTHING NEW announced the Ottawa success on September 28, 2026, three days after the Japanese theatrical release on September 25. According to the company, Kadowaki thereby received his first film award. At 29 years old, he was also the youngest director to win the festival's feature film Grand Prix to date.
On October 17, NOTHING NEW announced a further success: We Are Aliens prevailed in the Anima't animation section at the Sitges Film Festival. It was the first Japanese winner of this prize since Our Seven-Day War in 2020. According to the production, Kadowaki is also regarded there as the youngest Japanese director to receive the award.
Even before these prizes, the film had its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and was selected for the feature film competition of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2026. Since October 16, it has been shown in additional Japanese cinemas.
A friendship across three decades
The story begins in a small Japanese town during the Heisei era. The reserved Tsubasa becomes friends with his classmate Akitaro in elementary school. When Akitaro later becomes an outsider, their relationship changes. The film follows this friendship over a period of 30 years.
We Are Aliens is NOTHING NEW's first full-length animated production. Ryota Bando and Amane Okayama voice the two main characters; the music comes from Yaffle. The trailer for We Are Aliens, released earlier, shows the characters' relationship and features the title song by adieu.
Further festival reports on aninew.de cover the two awards for If You See a Cat and the ANIAFF anime film festival in Nagoya. The production has not yet announced a German cinema release or streaming date.