Yokaitopia, the newest short film from Glenna Burmer, received an Award of Merit in May from the Accolade Global Film Competition.
Accolade is a worldwide online competition recognizing film, television and movie professionals who demonstrate exception achievement in craft and storytelling. Created in 2003, the festival attracts filmmakers at all levels of experience, and entries come from across the globe – more than 70 countries and counting.
Yokaitopia introduces Western audiences to the mysterious world of Yokai — strange, sometimes terrifying, Japanese spirits that inhabit all living and inanimate objects. The film begins with a young Japanese boy enjoying a carefree bicycle ride through a sun-dappled forest. Suddenly he encounters a mysterious black cat, and within minutes his life changes.
The young boy follows the cat to a secluded house where he finds broken toys trapped inside by the snow demon Yuki-Onna. He repairs them and then outwits the demon, breaking the spell and freeing the toys. The film’s message of kindness and generosity is brought to life with sumptuous animation, rich vibrant color palette and stirring all-original musical score.
A classical composer and award-winning concert and animated-film producer in Seattle, Burmer’s music and original voice create compelling stories that resonate with audiences worldwide. Yokaitopia is the third animated film produced by the multi-award-winning collaboration between Glenna Burmer and the animation studio Deep Sky. Her previous films are Nana korobi, Ya oki, which received the 2021 Seattle Filmmaker Award, and Bippy the Little Robot, a festival favorite deemed by judges as “a small visual masterpiece … The animation, the cinematography and the editing are just perfect.”