A St Austell-based animator Ignatius Rake has become the first foreign artist to win a second award at the annual Unco Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan.

Ignatius landed a Jury Prize for his musical animation Toire o Fumanai, backed by a disco/funk soundtrack he produced himself. 

It follows a Special Award in 2022 for his animated pop video parody Unco Daisuki. 

Both feature a roster of characters taken from his universe of green-eyed alien-human hybrids and were written entirely in Japanese.

This year’s event was staged over two days in September to accommodate around 50 entries from across Japan and beyond. 

“I’m well chuffed to have scooped a second Unco, particularly given that this year’s instalment was the biggest yet,” said Ignatius.

His style of art is known as kimo-kawaii in Japan, which translates as ‘adorably gross’.

“It’s not to everyone’s taste in the West,” he admits, “but the Japanese have a complex aesthetic that makes them stand out on the planet thanks to their ability to see beauty in all forms of creation, including things that might be considered a little too off-the-wall elsewhere.”

Ignatius has also won two Best Music Video Awards at film festivals in India. 

First, he tapped top gong at the Death Skull International Film Festival, for Still Dead After All These Years - an animated music video made for Poland-based garage rockers Dead Members.

The following week, he bagged gold at the Vaaranam International Film Festival for She’s So Spector-Esque, made for Cornish ska and soul stalwart Andy Keys Clark. 

She’s So Spector-Esque also landed laurels at the BonDance International Film Festival in Japan in July.

Originally an analogue collage artist, Ignatius Rake creates digital artworks using the same cut-and-paste principles but employing modern technology to produce images that blend photographic realism with the physiologically impossible, with disconcerting results.

He has produced videos and animations for musicians, artists and galleries across the UK, Poland and Japan, including members of Madness and Dexys Midnight Runners; to date, he has won a total of nine film festival awards. See his work at www.ninjinart.com/video