Special Program in Focus: Japanese Animation Special: Masterpieces of Madness, Exhilarating Prospects 12+1, 2026
We Are Aliens
우리는 외계인我々は宇宙人
Director KADOWAKI Kohei
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Coming of AgeAnimation
We Are Aliens draws from the awkward, unpolished memories of boyhood. In the summer of third grade, Tsubasa and Gyoutarou become friends. Its rotoscope-based realist style recreates the innocence of those remembered days in vivid detail: a lollipop melted onto the asphalt, sunlight filtering beneath an underpass, a dinosaur drawing proudly shown off to friends. Just as the film seems ready to settle into wistful lyricism, its mood takes a dramatic turn as the two boys enter adolescence. At an age when everything about them and around them is changing rapidly, relationships unravel all too easily, and the world itself begins to shift. Even decades later, a handful of memories from those years continue to haunt Gyoutarou and ultimately come to shape his life. The film’s form shifts deftly along with its narrative. Particularly in the latter half, when Gyoutarou’s emotions finally distort the world itself, the sheer dynamism of the images must be experienced firsthand. Screened this year in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, We Are Aliens heralds the arrival of an exciting new talent in Kadowaki Kohei.
Born in 1996, Kadowaki Kohei studied design at Tokyo University of the Arts before working at an animation production company, contributing to a diverse range of visual projects including commercials, promotional videos, and stage design. He has since continued directing animation that integrates the dynamics of live-action movement with 3D CGI. We Are Aliens, his feature animation directorial debut, was invited to the Directors′ Fortnight at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and the Competition section at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
