Anime Limited Releasing Stop-Motion Sci-fi 'Junk Head' In UK & Ireland

What exactly is anime? Some associate it with a particular style but for others, it is a label that can be applied to all animation produced in Japan. Regardless. when you think about anime not many people think of stop-motion. 

UK distributor Anime Limited have announced their first stop-motion release will come to cinemas in the UK and Ireland this April. Junk Head is a passion project animated solely by its creator Takahide Hori. Completed over seven years, the film started life as a short before Hori decided to develop it as a feature.

In a dystopian future humanity has managed to attain longevity, at the cost of the ability to reproduce. An artificial lifeform was created to deal with the decreasing population, but they revolted and founded their own subterranean colony. When the human population is ravaged by a virus, one human is sent underground to find out how this new species procreates. There he discovers the monstrous ways they have evolved and soon finds himself fighting for his survival.

The film is made up of 140,000 shots and was created almost single-handedly by Hori. He was responsible for everything from sculpting the puppets, building the sets and even composing the score.

The short film that inspired the feature attracted much acclaim including from Guillermo del Toro who described it as a "one-man band of deranged brilliance".  It went on to win awards including the Cigogne d’or prize for animated film at the 2021 Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival. The feature won the Special Mention Satoshi Kon Award at Fantasia Fest, as well as the Audience Award at the New York Asian Film Festival.

Junk Head will be released in select UK and Irish cinemas from April 24. For more information and to book tickets visit the film's website here.

Junk Head is an expansive stop-motion sci-fi action thriller, meticulously styled and set in a dark and perilous universe that harbours surprises around every corner.

In the distant future, mankind has lost its ability to procreate, a human-created species has revolted and developed a separate society underground. When a virus wreaks havoc on the surface, an expedition is launched to study how this newly developed species procreate, in an ultimate but desperate attempt to save humankind.

Over seven years in the making, Junk Head is the work of one obsessively dedicated man, Takahide Hori, who has singularly created the sets, puppets, sound, music and special effects and then animated everything to bring this masterpiece to the big screen.