Ponoc Short Films Theatre, Volume 1 - Modest Heroes
From director Hiromasa Yonebayashi: “Kanini & Kanino”; “Life Ain’t Gonna Lose” directed by Yoshiyuki Momose; and “Invisible” directed by Akihiko Yamashita. These leaders of animation draw tales of modest heroes of our times.
Casts & Crew
Min Tanaka
Kentaro Sakaguchi
Joe Odagiri
Fumino Kimura
Rio Suzuki
Machiko Ono
Souta Shinohara
Also Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.
Arrietty, a tiny teenager, lives with her parents in the recesses of a suburban home, unbeknown to the homeowner and housekeeper. Like others of her kind, Arrietty remains hidden from her human hosts, but occasionally ventures forth from beneath the floorboards to borrow sugar cubes and other supplies. A secret friendship forms when 12-year-old Sho meets Arrietty, but their relationship could spell danger for Arrietty's family.
In a world of magical creatures, Kanini and Kanino are tiny humanoid siblings who live underwater in a stream. Their father currently takes care of them while their pregnant mother has gone away to give birth. When a heavy current carries their father off, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey to find and rescue him.
Kanazawa College of Art is scheduled to move to a new campus in 2023. In December 2020, the short animation "With All Our Hearts" was completed with the aim of publicizing the new campus. This work was created by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, an animation director who studied at the College and also a visiting professor, collaborating with 20 students. It is an original story directed by Yonebayashi based on the images and ideas that the students had in mind.
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
Mary Smith, a young girl who lives with her great-aunt in the countryside, follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest where she finds a strange flower and an old broom, none of which is as ordinary as it seems.
Also Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose
On a trip to attend a wedding, a young girl sees herself amidst a major rampage at a construction site of a flying city after a slight malfunction of her means of transportation.
Ghiblies, a totally different look on the staff of Studio Ghibli as they go through life, work on new animation projects, office jokes, off the wall events, and deciding what to have for lunch.
A new hand-drawn / hand-painted animated short film by Studio Ponoc & director Yoshiyuki Momose
Based on the award-winning novel “The Imaginary” by A.F. Harrold. The main character of The Imaginary is Rudger. Born from a young girl’s imagination, Rudger is a boy no one can see who lives in a world where imaginations can live and be eaten by others. The Imaginary is an extraordinarily touching and beautiful hand-drawn fantasy film in which Rudger and his new friends in “The Imaginaries Town” embark on an adventure no one can see at the risk of the futures and fates of those they love.
A music video to the song Piece by singer Aragaki Yui.
A young fashion fan gets her revenge on the super model who hit her while shopping on the glorious Space Station No. 9.
Flying City Planning (空飛ぶ都市計画 , Soratobu Toshi Keikaku) is a single by CAPSULE whose music video was directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, animated by Studio Kajino and produced by Yamaha Music Communications. It premiered alongside the 2005 film Touch (タッチ), based on a manga by Mitsuru Adachi. The song was released on the mini-album AEROPOLIS by the now-defunct Contemode label on September 10, 2005. It is the final entry in a SF trilogy which includes, Space Station No. 9 and Portable Airport.
High schooler Yuu and his friend Haru get involved in a case involving his childhood friend Kotona, which forces them to go back and forth between another world that is different but is somewhat similar to their world, Ni no Kuni. The real world and Ni no Kuni, when Kotona's life is in danger, what's the ultimate choice the three of them have to make in Ni no Kuni?
Ghiblies (pronounced with a hard "g" as in "gallop") is a short film aired during a TV special about Ghibli. It's about a fictional animation studio named "Ghibli" and the people who work there.
A young girl, after looking through a fashion magazine, decides to go to Paris. For that, she'll need a portable airport.
Also Directed by Akihiko Yamashita
A salaryman is not only invisible but also needs to hold on to a heavy weight to stay on the ground. Throughout one day, he is always ignored by everyone else, and he nearly floats away when he loses the fire extinguisher he uses to hold himself down. But then a blind man speaks to him, making him feel better about himself. The invisible man then suddenly has an opportunity to be a hero.
Chu Zumo is the story of an old farmer who discovers a group of rats heading to a sumo wrestling bout. After they lose miserably he decides to feed the rats to boost their chances of winning.