We Are Aliens, Candy Caries Win Awards at Ottawa Animation Festival

Two anime titles secured major honors at the 2026 Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) during its 50th anniversary ceremony on September 26. Kohei Kadowaki’s We Are Aliens received the Grand Prize for Animated Feature, while Tomoki Misato’s Candy Caries won in the Animation for Young Audiences 7+ Competition category.

We Are Aliens, a film previously screened at Annecy and released in Japan on September 25, explores a fractured friendship between two boys in late-1990s rural Japan. Produced by NOTHING NEW with music by Yaffle, the movie is slated for an international release in 2027 following a successful crowdfunding campaign. Meanwhile, Candy Caries, a stop-motion series directed by Misato at WIT STUDIO’s TORUKU studio, recently concluded its run of 24 episodes after premiering on TBS in April. The show streams globally on Prime Video and follows a child named Ame whose cavity, Caries, takes over her life in a slapstick comedy format.