The official website for Beyond the Trail ( Wadachi wo Koeteyuke in Japan), an independent anime film produced by Studio DOT, released a main trailer and a poster visual for its upcoming theatrical screening in Japan. The 30-minute film will screen in Theatre Shinjuku in Tokyo for a limited-time of one week from October 10. Beyond the Trail Main Trailer Poster visual Studio DOT, founded in 2022, is not a corporate studio, but rather an independent animation team made up of volunteers. Beyond the Trail was created over the course of a year by approximately 100 high school students and working adults who gathered online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film had its world premiere at the 29th Fantasia International Film Festival held in Montreal, Canada, in July, where it was nominated for the Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation and won the bronze award in the Best Short Animation category of the Audience Award. Rupert Bottenberg, a Canadian illustrator, comic artist and writer, introduced Beyond the Trail on the official website for Fantasia International Film Festival as below: In the shadow of a ruinous war, three young women are serving as soldiers in a barren, snow-swept landscape. Their task is to scour the frozen wastes for stragglers of the Iron Army, eerie, formerly human flesh-weapons. Gros and especially the inexperienced Leichte admire Esus, stronger and wiser than they. Esus has her weaknesses, though, and unhealed wounds in her heart. Somewhere out there in the vast, deadly sea of snow lie answers—to Esus’ pain, and to the awful secret of this war. A truly independent, crowdfunded labour of love from a dedicated team of young volunteer animators, each contributing what they could in their spare time, BEYOND THE TRAIL is a solid, self-contained serving of science-fiction anime, imaginative and emotionally honest. Main staff: Director: Vab.png (Ryusei Hasegawa), (Art Director) CUZ Producer: FutaMoku, Utsuro Ishinomaki Writer: Vab.png Cast: Hotori Asami, Lemone Ido, Youta Kawase, Mana Kobayashi, Kirara Omori, Yui Watanabe Cinematographer: CloA, Massy Composer: Abu-Se-Ken, Yuki Hayashi, Lemone Ido, ZEROKU, Mizore Sources : "Beyond the Trail" official website , Studio DOT official X (formerly Twitter)
