This is about craziness, for real.
Shoko Hara is not only a former student and current lecturer, but also an extraordinary animation filmmaker. Not only because she combines documentary and animation film, but above all because her films focus on very special corners of the soul, which normo-normative people don’t even want to suspect exist.
Years of intimacy without a single touch. Erotic photos on death row… Three women talk about their relationship with a serial killer and rapist imprisoned in the 1980s.
What were these women looking for? How strange and obsessive – how close and comprehensible are the shared letters and emotions in their retrospect? An animated documentary film about the essence of love.
Shoko Hara was born on June 28, 1988 in Okayama / Japan. At the age of ten she moved with her family to Germany at Lake Constance, where she spent the rest of her childhood. In 2012, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Media Design at the DHBW Ravensburg. With her final thesis “Abita” she received several nominations and awards. With her preference for analog and experimental work, Shoko Hara studied motion design at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg from 2012 to 2016. Her graduation film “what they believe” won the “Best Student Animation Award” at the Animafest Zagreb 2016. Currently she teaches motion graphics at the DHBW Ravensburg and works as a freelance motion designer and animation film director for commercials and music videos.
Filmography
2016 “What they believe” | 10 min. 30 sec. | animated short film | graduation film
Director: Shoko Hara
Producer: Michaela Edl
Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg
Awards: Best Student Animation / Animafest Zagreb 2016,
2nd Prize Best Experimental Animation / Athens Animfest 2016,
Best Animation / Film Show Baden-Wuerttemberg 2016
2012 “Abita” | 4 Minutes 50 sec. | animated short film | graduation film
director: Shoko Hara, Paul Brenner
DHBW Ravensburg, Media Design
Awards:
Grand Prize / Mr.I Development of Rising Artists Awards, Okayama/Japan 2015,
International Uranium Film Festival 2013 / Rio de Janeiro: Yellow Oscar Best Animated Film
Special Mention Backup Film Festival, Weimar 2013