Life Cycle at Tokyo Big Sight

Life Cycle is a short animated film created specifically for Tokyo Big Sight. It was submitted to the second edition of the Tokyo International Projection Mapping Awards (TIPMA), and was awarded the Jury Award by the panel of judges.

The cherry blossoms are in bloom, signaling the beginning of spring. A young boy finds joy in nature’s gift of the blossoming of the flowers. He is taken by their beauty but when the time comes for the petals to fall, he worries. The little boy is faced with the very big question of the meaning of life. If something so beautiful can be gone so quickly, what about life itself? We step into the imagination of the boy as he wonders about the obstacles he will have to face. When the cherry blossoms return in bloom, he realizes that he must accept the cycle of life. He finds happiness at having accepted this. Beauty lies in life’s small and sometimes ephemeral moments.

The piece is inspired by Buddhist and Hindu beliefs on acceptance, detachment and the cycle of life. ‘Life Cycle’ tries to capture an understanding of these concepts within a playful narrative. The piece addresses how some obstacles we have in our lives are those that we create in our minds, and can be overcome with acceptance. Happiness is found in the small moments we sometimes take for granted, and the sakuras are a symbol of life’s ephemeral moments found in nature.

Visuals by Harshini J. Karunaratne

Sound design by Keira J. Simmons

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