We Are Aliens has won Best Animated Feature Film in the Anima’t section of the 59th SITGES International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in Spain.

The film, titled Wareware wa Uchuujin in Japanese, adds the honor to a festival run that includes selection for the 79th Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight and the Grand Prize for Animated Feature at the 50th Ottawa International Animation Festival.

At 30 years old, Kohei Kadowaki is the youngest Japanese director to receive this SITGES award. Previous Japanese winners include Makoto Shinkai for your name. in 2016, Mamoru Hosoda for Mirai in 2018 and Yuta Murano for Seven Days War in 2020.

Kadowaki, who directed YOASOBI’s “Comet” music video, handles the film’s planning, screenplay, direction, storyboards and editing. NOTHING NEW oversees planning and production, with French studio MIYU PRODUCTION co-producing and Yaffle composing the music. The film is currently screening in Japan.

The film’s story is described as follows:

In a rural Japanese town during the Heisei era, Tsubasa and Akitaro form a connection shaped by how others see them. Tsubasa wrestles with feeling ordinary, while Akitaro is treated as someone special. As unease seeps into their daily lives, an irreversible incident transforms their bond, leaving memories of youth that may be painful to revisit.

Sources: Comic Natalie; SITGES official festival website