Bath House of Whales

くじらの湯

Kujira no Yu

Synopsis

Mizuki Kiyama’s short animation utilizes a paint on glass technique to render a young girl’s visit to a neighborhood sento (bath house) with her mother with dazzling sensuous wonder. Evoking child-like fascination at daily rituals, this quotidian act amidst feminine intimacy becomes a space of otherworldly fantasy. Bath House of Whales won the Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film in Germany. This film was made as a graduation project at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts.