New York Film Academy Alum Tatsuhiro Kimijima started working on his film, The Magic Rabbit, since 2006, as part of NYFA’s 1 Year Filmmaking Program. Jump into 2010, and the short film he made during class has been nominated for 22 international film festivals and won 8 so far, listed below.
Awards:
- Director’s Choice Award @ Rincon IFF (USA)
- Golden Palm Award @ Mexico IFF (MEXICO)
- 2nd Place Experiment @ Skyfest 2009 (USA)
- Award of Merit @ The Indie Fest (USA)
- Award of Merit @ The 2009 Accolade Competition (USA)
- Special Jury Award @ 2009 Yosemite IFF (USA)
- Gold Kahuna Award @ 2010 Honolulu IFF (USA)
- Award of Excellence @ 2010 Canada International Film Festival
Screened and nominated:
- London independent Film Festival 2009 (UK)
- Polar Film Festival (Truku, FINLAND)
- Fast Forward Film Festival (London, UK)
- Portello River Film Festival (ITALY)
- CinemadaMare (ITALY)
- Action on Film Festival (USA)
- The BuSho Film Festival 9.3 (HUNGARY)
- Southern Appalachian International Film Festival (USA)
- Bogota Film Festival (COLOMBIA)
- International Film Festival of Patras City (GREECE)
- FESANCOR 2009 (CHILI)
- Nimbin Film Festival (Australia)
- 48th Malta International Film Festival (Malta)
- 2nd Sundial Film Festival (USA)
The film follows a blind woman walking through New York. Though in reality the woman travels alone, a rabbit doll is her imaginary guide as she travels the city. One day, the protagonist suddenly regains her vision and is greeted by another surprise as she retraces her steps through New York. Another member of the NYFA family, Clarissa Hagan of the Acting Program stars as the blind young woman
The next screening of The Magic Rabbit, (possibly its last screening, according to Kumijima), will be at the Burbank International Film Festival, starting September 10th. Support our alum and pick up a Magic Rabbit t-shirt or tote on the film’s website.
