HIDARI – Stop-motion Samurai Film | Masashi Kawamura

FROM THE CREATOR

After being betrayed by his peers and losing both his father and his right arm, legendary craftsman “Jingoro Hidari” is on a journey of revenge with his partner “Sleeping Cat” and his mechanical prosthetic arm. Finally, Jingoro faces one of his adversaries, “Inumaru”, in a fight to the death…

This is a pilot version of the stop-motion samurai film that tells the story of “Jingoro Hidari,” a legendary Edo-era craftsman.

All the characters are made by wood and animated frame by frame, just like how Jingoro’s wooden sculptures came to life in his many anecdotes. We hope you enjoy this film, which mixes dynamic actions as seen in Japanimation, and the rich analog expressions of stop-motion animation.

Our intention is to use this pilot film as a starting point to create a full-length feature film. We’re currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to gain support for our activities to find the necessary partners to go into production of the feature-length version.