Stop-Motion Magic in Tokyo: A Workshop at Kineko International Film Festival

TOKYO, November 3rd – When the invitation arrived to lead a stop-motion workshop at Kineko International Film Festival for young Japanese children, Anita and Claus knew this was a challenge worth every ounce of preparation. And what a preparation it became. The weeks leading up to this day were filled with careful planning, creative problem-solving, and one very ambitious build: three portable multiplane stands, custom-designed and ready to travel across the world.

A young animator encounters The Hedge of Thorns on real film for the first time. Photo: KINEKO

These stands became the beating heart of our workshop—each one a sturdy platform for discovery, equipped with an iPad camera and the Stop Motion Studio app on top. But there was more to it than just the technical setup. Anita envisioned something special: what if the children could animate the very figures from her film Hedge of Thorns? A film that has found a lasting home in Japan, screening at Kineko every single year since 2001.

This year, that film—along with Angry Man, arguably Anita's most celebrated work—received something increasingly rare in our digital world: a dedicated screening day on 35mm film. Yes, actual film. Those physical reels. The word "film" itself comes from these former tangible strips of celluloid, and Anita wanted the children to see that, to hold that knowledge in their hands and minds. So when we unveiled an actual film reel from Hedge of Thorns at the start of the workshop, the room filled with wonder. The children's eyes widened. Here was cinema in its most honest, most tactile form.

Concentrated hands at work: animating the original characters from The Hedge of Thorns on one of three portable multiplane stands imported from Norway. Photo: KINEKO

Then came the real magic: learning to bring those characters to life themselves.

The children worked in groups of five at each multiplane station, their small hands carefully moving the figures frame by frame, watching on the iPad screen as the characters began to move, to gesture, to feel. It was remarkable to witness. Three hours. That's all it took for these young animators to grasp not just the technique, but the soul of stop-motion—that patient, deliberate craft where simple figures become vessels for emotion through analog handwork.

What struck us most wasn't just what they created, but how they created it. The concentration. The collaboration. The moment when each child understood that they weren't just pressing buttons—they were telling stories, frame by frame, breath by breath.

Working together to bring a character to life—each child playing their part in the stop-motion process. Photo: KINEKO

For Trollfilm, days like this remind us why our work matters. It's not enough to make films. We want children to understand how films are made, to get a taste of that ancient magic where patience and care and a little bit of imagination transform simple materials into living, breathing worlds. Finally, a big thank you to the wonderfull crew at KINEKO!

We're already dreaming about the next workshops. Hopefully this is just the beginning.