YOUR NAME. and Makoto Shinkai Receive Nominations for 44th Annual Annie Awards

: 29 November 2016

Film and Director Selected for Best Animated Feature – Independent and Directing in an Animated Feature Production Categories Source: Funimation Films press release Official Site: kiminona.com (Japan), funimationfilms.com/movie/yourname (US) Special Thanks to Scott Lonski The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced the nominations for its 44th Annual Annie Awards™ which recognize the best in the field of animation. YOUR NAME. (?????, Kimi no Na wa., 2016), the hit film from Toho Co. Ltd. which is being distributed in North America by Funimation Films, picked up a nomination for Best Animated Feature - Independent as well as a nomination for Directing in an Animated Feature Production for the film’s director Makoto Shinkai. ASIFA - Hollywood voting members will begin voting on January 2, 2017. Winners will be announced on February 4, 2017 at a black tie ceremony in Royce Hall at UCLA. YOUR NAME. has earned in excess of $19.4 Billion Yen (~$172 Million USD) at the box office in Japan since opening on August 26, 2016 -- making it the #1 highest grossing film of 2016. It now has the singular distinction of being the first anime film to gross more than $10 Billion Yen (~$96 Million USD) at the Japanese box office that was not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the world`s most prominent anime director. YOUR NAME. has already surpassed Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997), PONYO (2008) and THE WIND RISES (2013) and is currently ranked as the #6 highest grossing film of all time in Japan. The film is a beautiful story about time, fate and the hearts of two young souls. The day the stars fell, two lives changed forever. High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers, living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly and the two must adjust their lives around each other. Yet somehow, it works. They build a connection and communicate by leaving notes, messages, and more importantly, an imprint. Tugging at the string of fate, they try to find a way to each other. But distance isn’t the only thing keeping them apart. Is their bond strong enough to face the cruel irony of time? Or is their meeting nothing more than a wish upon the stars? YOUR NAME. opens this Friday, December 2, for a one-week limited engagement at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills. Director Makoto Shinkai will be in Los Angeles from December 3 – 5 to attend a number of events associated with the engagement including a special Q&A screening on December 3. YOUR NAME. will open in theaters across the U.S. and Canada in early 2017.

About Funimation Films

Funimation Films, the theatrical division of Funimation Entertainment, acquires both anime and live action movies from prominent international filmmakers that appeal to the interests and passion of all types of fans and distributes them throughout North America. The division was launched in December 2014 following the box office success of DRAGON BALL Z: BATTLE OF GODS that same year. Funimation Films released DRAGON BALL Z: RESURRECTION `F` a year later and which became #9 highest-grossing anime movie in North America. Funimation Films has gone on to release numerous movies including most recently SHIN GODZILLA. Funimation Entertainment is a subsidiary of Group 1200 Media, a fully integrated, next-generation, independent entertainment studio based in Dallas. For more information on Funimation Films, visit funimationfilms.com.

For more information on YOUR NAME., please see the earlier coverage here on SciFi Japan: