Great Foreign Animations Are In for the Best Animation Award at STVF

The 23rd Shanghai TV Festival Animation Section has stopped accepting applications lately. Many brilliant domestic and foreign animation works will be participating in competitions in different categories, and 10 will be selected as nominees for the final round. 

There are a lot of surprises in the applications this year, such as The Dragon Dentist which the great Hideaki Anno worked on as a producer and Ernest & Celestine whose movie version was nominated for the Oscar Award. What is also worth mentioning is that works which are quite popular in China, such as ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. We Bare Bears and Chi’s Sweet Home are also candidates for the awards this year. 

Now we would like to give you some previews of these great shows. 

Ernest & Celestine (France) 

Ernest is an unconventional bear playing the accordion on the street for a living. He is grumpy but he often laughs happily after he lets off steam. When he is extremely happy or angry, he would speak his unique mother language. When faced with danger, he is brave, fearless, and decisive. 

Ernest brings back to his old house a mouse called Celestine who grows up in an orphanage. Celestine generously treats Ernest as a friend. She is optimistic and determined: once she makes up her mind, no one would ever be able to stop her, even the bad-tempered Ernest. Curious about everything that is unknown to her, she is a carefree and diligent girl. Also, she is really gifted in arts and writing and writes about her adventures with Ernest. This animation is about the unique exciting adventures of Ernest the bear and Celestine the mouse and how their friendship grows in the riveting stories. 

Ernest and Celestine the movie that was released several years ago was nominated for and won a number of awards, including the Annie Awards, the Cesar Awards and the Academy Awards. This time, Ernest and Celestine, the TV cartoon series, continues with the same beautiful and refreshing pictures as well as warm and moving stories in the movie. 

We Bare Bears (the U.S.)

We Bare Bears is adapted from a web-comic created by Chinese-Singaporean Daniel Chong who is a Annie Award winner and one of the producers of Pixar’s Inside Out. The story is about three bears who live in mountainous areas near the city but want to become superstars over the internet. They try really hard to fit in the human society, and the entire process is a hilarious comedy. 

The animation is in 10-minute episodes, each telling a different story. The main idea is to express how “the three bears find their place in this world”. Grizz, the hot-blood brown bear, is outgoing, creative and full of righteousness and actions. Panda the giant panda is based on China’s beloved animal, cute, shy and lovable. He loves taking selfies and sharing them on social media. The Ice Bear is the most attractive one among the three. Although he doesn\'t have many facial expressions, he is warm from the inside, and he is even good at knitting and cooking. This is a team, but each member is so unique. Their filing-up way of walking keeps people interested, and the plots are also appealing to the young audience nowadays. The bears are like our friends and even ourselves. 

Stories about the otaku bear Panda, cute brown bear Grizz and charming Ice Bear are funny and relaxing. You will be laughing really hard! Their dream of becoming popular online is about to come true…

The Dragon Dentist (Japan)

The story takes place in Dragon Country. Nonoko is a newly appointed dentist and her mission is to protect the dragon, the guardian of the country, from tooth-cavity bacteria. The Dragon Country is at war with the neighboring country and the war is getting worse. One day, Nonoko finds in the dragon\'s tooth an unconscious boy soldier from the enemy country. His name is Bell, and he has been resurrected from inside the tooth by the dragon—a supernatural phenomenon that legend says occurs before a major disaster. He is really confused about where he is now. In order to help him survive, Nonoko convinces him to become a dragon dentist as well. But after an explosion that they encounter unexpectedly, countless tooth-cavity bacteria emerge. As Nonoko and Bell go through a series of fierce battles, they eventually learn to accept their fate.

The unprecedented major adventure in fantasy will definitely bring an exciting experience to the audience’s body and soul. 

When is the EVA movie coming out? Nobody knows. But before that, a cartoon series with Hideaki Anno as the executive producer, Kazuya Tsurumaki as the supervisor produced by Khara for NHK might be a comfort to the audience as a precious gift that they should treasure. 

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. (Japan)

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. is adapted from a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono. The target readers of the manga are females ranging from 20 to 30 years old and it is serialized in Square Enix\'s monthly magazine Big Gangan. An anime television series adaptation by Madhouse aired in January 2017. 

It is a unique work in terms of style. The kingdom is subdivided into 13 states. These 13 states are controlled by the giant organization known as ACCA. The story is about this organization and people involved in it. 

The illustrating style is quite special but beautiful. The voice artists are worth the expectations. The story has a one-of-a-kind perspective, through which we can not only see tricks, schemes and control-it-all power, but also pretty boys in uniforms with different characteristics and the chemistry among them, bringing both visual and auditory pleasure to the audience. 

Chi\'s Sweet Home Season 3 (Japan)

The naughty and curious kitten Chi lives happily with the Yamada\'s. Although tiny, Chi is really active and energetic. Sometimes she plays at home or in the park; sometimes she plays some pranks; sometimes she gets into fights. With the love and care from the Yamada’s, Chi grows stronger each day. Every day in her life is an adventure which she takes on with her friends Blackie and Kocchi. 

It is the healing-style short animation that is cheering. Season 3 will be in 3D. The cute and lovable Chi is irresistible as usual! Cat loves can’t afford to miss it!