The title Shiranui—literally ‘unknown fire’—refers to mysterious lights that appear and vanish along the horizon on summer nights. The film weaves around this phenomenon a legend that it can grant a single wish. It is the summer of 1996 in a coastal town in Kumamoto. For ten-year-old Minato, who lives alone with his alcoholic father, his only refuge is ‘Ben-chan,’ a young goddess he meets on Benten Island. As the day approaches when he will be sent to a care facility, Minato wishes upon the lights over the sea. But as his resentment toward his father grows, his prayer turns into an inescapable curse. From the cruelty of a longing to be loved that instead drives people apart, to the forgiveness and self-reflection found only in the wake of loss, the emotional depths of this short rival those of many a feature film. CoMix Wave Films, the studio of director Shinkai Makoto, discovered Katanosaka Ryo, then an unknown, self-taught independent animator, and supported his original film for theatrical release. Rising to the occasion, Katanosaka drew two-thirds of its 325 rough key animation cuts himself. Like the lights on the horizon, the things that fl icker only briefly are often the ones that linger longest.
Born in Fukuoka in 1987. Katanosaka studied film at Seian University of Art and Design and worked freelance on various projects, including corporate commercials. In 2015, he founded the production company Office Kabochi and made his feature directorial debut with Tabi no Yamabiko (2015), for which he also wrote the screenplay and edited. He taught himself animation and went on to create his first commercial animated feature, Shiranui.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
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ShiranuiBusan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31Special Program in Focus: Japanese Animation Special: Masterpieces of Madness, Exhilarating Prospects 12+1
