- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
- Sri Lanka votes in first poll since economic collapse
- Feminist author warns of abortion disaster if Trump wins US election
- US city of Flint still reeling from water crisis, 10 years on
- Arsenal's mean defence faces acid test to shut out Man City again
- Late surge lifts Thailand's Jeeno to LPGA Queen City lead
- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
- Poland charges Russian over attack on Navalny ally: prosecutors
- Man City have rest 'advantage' in Arsenal showdown: Guardiola
- Maresca has 'no doubt' in Jackson as Chelsea's number nine
Japanese anime sees challenge from China at Berlin fest
Anime director Makoto Shinkai on Friday said China could eventually leapfrog Japan on the global animation stage as Chinese animated drama "Art College 1994" had its world premiere in Berlin.
Shinkai's "Suzume", among the contenders for the Golden Bear at this year's Berlinale film festival, has made a splash amid a global boom in Japanese anime.
But "Art College 1994", Chinese director Liu Jian's animated portrait of a group of art students in the 1990s, has also got the critics talking.
Screen Daily said it "evokes a specific time and a place so vividly that you can almost taste the stale cigarette smoke and cheap beer".
"The quality of (Chinese) movies is improving rapidly, and they're also able to build those unique characters that we have in Japan," Shinkai told AFP.
"So I think that sooner or later they're going to overtake us."
Until 10 years ago, Japanese anime creators were "very confident that they were creating the best and most unique animation movies in the world", Shinkai said.
"But I think that this has changed in recent years, and most of my peers think that way as well."
The global market for Japanese anime grew 13 percent to an all-time high of 2.74 trillion yen ($20 billion) in 2021, according to the Association of Japanese Animations.
But Chinese films are catching up.
"In recent years there are more and more Chinese animation films coming out and they are becoming more and more diverse, not only commercial but also arthouse," Liu told AFP.
"Many commercial Chinese animations are influenced by Japanese animation but they are starting to find their own style," he said.
- McDonald's and Michael Jackson -
"Art College 1994", based on Liu's own experiences as an art student in the 1990s, is also competing for the Golden Bear, to be awarded Saturday by jury president Kristen Stewart.
The film tracks half a dozen young people as they pursue their studies, caught between Chinese traditions and Western influences.
Deep discussions about French literature and German philosophy are held as the students contemplate the meaning of art and their place in the world.
Not-so-subtle signs of Western influence are everywhere, with McDonald's and Michael Jackson both putting in a cameo appearance.
The early 1990s was "a very special period... where art and literature were prospering not only in China but also worldwide", said Liu, 53.
"At that time not only students but also people outside the campus were talking about these kinds of topics. It was a very energetic period."
Liu himself studied painting at Nanjing University of the Arts and began making animations in 1995.
He now also works as a college teacher and said some of his students who were born in the 1990s or later had watched the film.
"They are very curious about that period because it's very different, they don't have cellphones or the internet at that moment," he said.
Liu's dark comedy "Have a Nice Day" was the first Chinese animated film to compete at the Berlinale in 2017.
A.S.Diogo--PC