Acclaimed Japanese director joins Annie Atkins, Helen McCarthy and Andrew Partridge for a weekend of masterclasses, premieres and craft-focused talks in medieval Kilkenny, 11-13 September.<\/em><\/p>\nJapanese filmmaker Naoko Yamada (The Colors Within) will serve as guest director of this year\u2019s Kilkenny Animated, leading a three-day program of screenings, masterclasses, workshops, and industry talks in Kilkenny, Ireland, running September 11\u201313.<\/p>\n
Yamada, whose credits include A Silent Voice, Liz and the Blue Bird, and The Colors Within, will give a director\u2019s masterclass focused on her creative process, influences, and approach to storytelling. The session will feature clips from her films and translation throughout.<\/p>\n
The festival will also screen A Silent Voice and The Colors Within, with Yamada personally introducing the latter.<\/p>\n
Graphic designer Annie Atkins will also attend this year\u2019s event and present \u201cStorytelling Through Things,\u201d a look at how props and other seemingly ordinary objects contribute to cinematic worldbuilding. Atkins\u2019 screen credits include Wes Anderson\u2019s The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, and The French Dispatch.<\/p>\n
Author and animation historian Helen McCarthy will deliver an illustrated talk tracing anime\u2019s arrival and development in Western markets. McCarthy will also participate in \u201cEast West Anime,\u201d a panel examining how culture, language, and translation influence the way anime is received internationally. The discussion will be moderated by Toho Europe chief content officer Andrew Partridge and will also feature animation historian Charles Solomon.<\/p>\n
Partridge will introduce the Irish and U.K. premiere of Tomohiko Ito\u2019s The Keeper of the Camphor Tree, the upcoming anime feature adapted from Keigo Higashino\u2019s novel.<\/p>\n
Kilkenny\u2019s local creative community will be well represented throughout the weekend, too. Members of independent publishing collective The Zine Machine will join author and comedian Aoife Dooley for a discussion of the process behind producing four editions of their collaborative zine.<\/p>\n
The festival\u2019s artist market will return for a third year, offering original work by artists and illustrators from the region\u2019s animation community. Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon will also host a signing for The Art of Cartoon Saloon: 25 Years, a new visual retrospective devoted to the studio behind Wolfwalkers, Song of the Sea, and The Secret of Kells.<\/p>\n
Kilkenny Animated is organized by Cartoon Saloon, Lighthouse Studios, and Schweppe Curtis Nunn Events. The festival was established as an intimate, craft-oriented gathering bringing animation professionals and audiences together in the medieval Irish city.<\/p>\n
Tickets for individual events will go on sale Friday, July 31 see the Kilkenny Animated website <\/a>for more details.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Acclaimed Japanese director joins Annie Atkins, Helen McCarthy and Andrew Partridge for a weekend of masterclasses, premieres and craft-focused talks in medieval Kilkenny, 11-13 September. Japanese filmmaker Naoko Yamada (The Colors Within) will serve as guest director of this year\u2019s Kilkenny Animated, leading a three-day program of screenings, masterclasses, workshops, and industry talks in Kilkenny, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12035],"tags":[1296,6034,5714,4251,57650,11315,161772,3684,34025,7037,12884,34026],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-358818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation","tag-animated","tag-director","tag-global","tag-guest","tag-headlining","tag-industry","tag-kilkenny","tag-lineup","tag-naoko","tag-programme","tag-unveils","tag-yamada"],"yoast_head":"\n
Kilkenny Animated Unveils 2026 Programme with Guest Director Naoko Yamada Headlining a Global Industry Line-Up - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=358818\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kilkenny Animated Unveils 2026 Programme with Guest Director Naoko Yamada Headlining a Global Industry Line-Up - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Acclaimed Japanese director joins Annie Atkins, Helen McCarthy and Andrew Partridge for a weekend of masterclasses, premieres and craft-focused talks in medieval Kilkenny, 11-13 September. 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