The anime film We Are Aliens is heading to three major international film festivals in 2026: the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) in Canada, the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in Australia, and the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF).
Festival Dates
- NZIFF: July 29 – August 9
- MIFF: August 6–23
- OIAF: September 23–27
Both MIFF and NZIFF will also screen Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s live-action adaptation of Honobu Yonezawa‘s samurai historical mystery novel The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurōjō).
OIAF will additionally screen Gekijōban Mononoke Dai-San-Shō: Hebigami (Mononoke the Movie: Chapter 3: Snake God), the third entry in the Mononoke film trilogy, alongside a selection of short films, student films, and animation for young audiences:
- Chīsana uri bō (little boarlet) by Atsushi Wada
- Eri by Honami Yano
- Ji ugoki yama yureru toki (When The Mountains Shook) by Daiyu Li
- Candy Caries by Tomiki Misato
Story
We Are Aliens follows Tsubasa and Gyōtarō, two boys who became close friends in elementary school, only to be torn apart by jealousy and misunderstandings. Years later, living very different lives, the two are forced to confront their shared past when old memories resurface.
Cast
Ryōta Bandō (Fureru.; Japanese dub of the live-action How to Train Your Dragon) voices adult Tsubasa, while Amane Okayama (Blue Giant, Hirayasumi) voices adult Gyōtarō. The younger versions of the characters are voiced by Yūto Maki (Tsubasa) and Tasuku Nakagome (Gyōtarō), both cast through open auditions.
Staff and Production
Director Kadowaki — known for creating the ending sequence of BEASTARS Season 2 and music videos for YOASOBI — served as planner, scriptwriter, director, storyboard artist, and editor on the film. The score was composed by Yaffle, who has previously worked with Fujii Kaze and Kenshi Yonezu, among others.
The film was planned and produced by NOTHING NEW, a small production company founded in 2022 with the mission “to create a world where talent is not crushed.” French studio Miyu Productions (Ghost Cat Anzu, A New Dawn) co-produced the film after joining the project in June 2025.
Festival Run and Distribution
The film had its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, and screened in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which runs through June 27.
Sales company CHARADES has licensed the film to regional distributors: Hooray Films (Taiwan), Shaw Organisation (Singapore), Intercontinental Film Distributors (Hong Kong), and Sahamongkol Film (Thailand). CHARADES is handling all international sales.
Crowdfunding
The production team launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Motion Gallery platform in November, targeting 8 million yen (approximately US$50,365) to cover production and promotional costs and to “improve the quality of the work” and “distribute the film more widely.” The campaign closed on March 2, having surpassed its goal with a total of 9,604,510 yen raised (approximately US$60,467).
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