Kōhei Kadowaki and NOTHING NEW’s anime film We Are Aliens (Ware Ware wa Uchūjin) has won the Kau Ka Hōkū, or Shooting Star, Award at the 46th Hawaiʻi International Film Festival in Waikiki. The award recognizes an international filmmaker’s first or second feature film.
The film follows Tsubasa and Gyōtarō, two boys who become close friends during elementary school before jealousy and misunderstandings separate them. Years later, after their lives have taken different paths, memories of their shared past force them to confront what happened between them.
Ryōta Bandō voices Tsubasa and Amane Okayama voices Gyōtarō as young adults. Yūto Maki and Tasuku Nakagome, both chosen through auditions, portray the characters during their childhood. The supporting cast includes Ten Yamasaki, Kemuri Matsui, Gaku Sano, Reika Ōzeki, Arisa Sasaki and Edo Harumi.
We Are Aliens opened in Japan on September 15. Before its Hawaiʻi screening, the film appeared at the Directors’ Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the New Zealand International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival.
The feature has also received several other festival honors. The Ottawa International Animation Festival awarded it the Grand Prize for Animated Feature, while the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya at Sitges gave it the Anima’t Award for best feature-length film. It additionally received Special Mentions at the Rome Film Festival and an Honorable Mention at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
Kadowaki served as planner, scriptwriter, director, storyboard artist and editor. NOTHING NEW planned and produced the film, with French studio Miyu Productions joining the production in June 2025. Yaffle composed the music, and artist adieu performs the theme song “Sasakure” (“Split”).
Sources: Anime News Network.