Iizuna Fair（大座法師池）

Sumito Sakakibara was born in 1980 in Tokachi, Hokkaido. In 1996, he went to England alone. After working as an overseas student at the Agency for Cultural Affairs, he completed his doctoral program in animation at the RCA (Royal College of Art) in 2004. After returning to Japan, I made my production base in Nagano Prefecture.

It is known for its animated video works such as “Floating Tower,” which won the Japan Media Arts Festival Grand Prize, “É IN MOTION No. 2,” which received rave reviews at the DOMANI exhibition (2015), and “Solitarium,” which was presented at the 30th anniversary exhibition “Spectrum,” and the film was screened at museums, art festivals, etc., and invited to screen at many overseas film festivals, etc. Also, “Iizuna Fair-,” which was created in 2021, was announced as the first exhibition after the Nagano Prefectural Museum of Art renovation in 2021, and is still being screened as a permanent exhibition. He is an animation artist who has received numerous awards and invitations for this film at animation festivals around the world, and his talent is attracting worldwide attention.

This work depicts a scene from the animated film “Iinawa Fair” produced in 2021. Happy couples, parents and children stand alone against the backdrop of Oza Hoshi Pond, which actually exists in Iinawa Plateau. These two people seem to tell me through the screen how happy they are in a peaceful, pristine landscape with powdery snow.