| La Maison en Petits Cubes | |
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| Directed by | Kunio Katō |
| Written by | Kenya Hirata |
| Produced by | Masanori Kusakabe Yuko Hata |
| Music by | Kenji Kondo |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 12 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
La Maison en Petits Cubes (つみきのいえ,Tsumiki no ie; "The House of Small Cubes") is a 2008Japanese animatedshort subjectfilm created byKunio Katō, with music by Kenji Kondo and produced byRobot Communications and animated byOh! Production.
It won several prizes, including The Annecy Cristal at the 32ndAnnecy International Animated Film Festival and theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the81st Academy Awards.[1][2][3] It was also included in theAnimation Show of Shows in 2008.[4]
As his town is flooded by water, an aged widower is forced to add additional levels on to his home in order to stay dry. But when he accidentally drops his favourite smoking pipe into the lower submerged levels of his home, his search for the pipe eventually makes him relive scenes from his eventful life (including his time before the flooding began).
The concept for the film originated when Kunio Katō was studying atTama Art University inTokyo. It initially took the form of a painting featuring box-shaped houses arranged in stacks. During this time, Kunio was introduced to the world of animation when he watchedMark Baker's 1989 debut short film,The Hill Farm. This experience significantly influenced Kunio's creative direction. He collaborated with his colleague and screenwriter, Kenya Hirata, to bring the project to life. However, despite receiving acclaim afterward, Kunio remained unsatisfied with the project as a whole.[5]
La Maison en Petits Cubes has won the following awards: