
2026
We Are Aliens
2026
We Are Aliens
In a small Japanese town, Tsubasa is drawn to Gyotaro, a strange, magnetic boy who claims he is an alien. Their friendship and its heartbreaking end echo across decades in a visually extraordinary animation about childhood, memory and how differently we can experience the same life-changing moments.
Childhood can be a world unto itself, where loyalties feel absolute, small cruelties are devastating and another person can remain unknowable even when you believe you know them best. In a small Japanese town, Tsubasa is drawn to the strange, magnetic Gyotaro, who claims he is an alien. Their intense friendship and its heartbreaking end continue to shape both boys into adulthood. Moving across decades and between perspectives, We Are Aliens gradually transforms our understanding of the memories they share and the lives that followed. Kohei Kadowaki’s delicate animation renders everyday life with almost hyperreal clarity, heightening fleeting gestures, facial expressions and childhood landscapes into images of extraordinary emotional intensity. Drawing beauty and heartbreak from the smallest moments, this formally ambitious animation explores memory, guilt and the enduring mystery of other people.
