is a 2001 Japanese animated

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, shown only in the

Ghibli Museum The is a museum showcasing the work of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. It is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western city of Tokyo, Japan. The museum combines features of a children's museum, technology museum, and a fine a ...

in Mitaka,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The film has a running time of 16 minutes. It is drawn in a different, simpler style compared to other Studio Ghibli films and uses bright

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

colors. ''Kujiratori'' tells the story of school children pretending they are building a boat. As imagination replaces reality, they find themselves on the ocean, hunting for a

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

. A big, gentle whale appears, accompanies them back to land and plays with them. Then the fantasy ends and the children are back in their class room. The film was shown at the 2002

New York International Children's Film Festival New York International Children's Film Festival (NYICFF) Established in 1997, NYICFF’s mission is rooted in the belief of film as a path for young people to understand themselves and others. All programs are designed to celebrate the beauty and po ...

. It won the Ōfuji Noburō Award at the 2001

Mainichi Film Awards The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

References

External links

''Kujiratori''
on the

's website. * * 2001 anime films 2001 films Anime short films Animated films about whales Films directed by Hayao Miyazaki 2000s Japanese-language films Studio Ghibli animated films 2001 animated short films Films scored by Yuji Nomi Fictional whales {{anime-film-stub