The VR animation film “IF YOU SEE A CAT” , planned and produced by Kodansha VR Lab Ltd. The film has been nominated for the “VENICE IMMERSIVE” competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, which will be held from August 27 to September 6, 2025. This film is a collaboration between internationally acclaimed animation artist Atsushi Wada (“The Great Rabbit” Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival 2012) and VR producer Kenji Ishimaru, and expresses the difficulties, challenges, and hopes of mental health care in Japan by making maximum use of the realism and interactive features of VR. The film expresses the difficulties, challenges, and hopes of psychiatry in Japan.

【Synopsis】

It is said that one out of every 20 people in Japan is currently being treated for some form of mental illness. The field of psychiatry in Japan has various problems such as historical backgrounds, difficulties in psychiatry itself, and structural distortions of psychiatry, which may hinder the recovery of people suffering from mental illnesses. In this work, a boy who lost his beloved cat and began hallucinating about the cat is diagnosed with a mental illness simply because he can see the cat, and is forcibly admitted to a hospital for treatment. What will the boy experience in the hospital? This is a work that only VR can provide a realistic view of the problems of psychiatry, the relationship between mother and child, and what salvation means to the boy.

【Director Atsushi Wada’s Comment】
 In depicting a young boy who is at the mercy of his mother and the hospital for his mental illness, I had to portray him as an outsider, but I was always conscious of the fact that I might be in the same position tomorrow.

【Producer Kenji Ishimaru’s Comment】
The title “IF YOU SEE A CAT” was taken from the main character’s line, “What’s wrong if you see a cat in your vision?” These words express the problems and difficulties we felt during our interviews with the boy. We hope that the story of the boy will help people understand the challenges of psychiatry.

【About Venice International Film Festival】
Venice International Film Festival is an international film festival held in Venice, Italy from the end of August to the beginning of September every year, and is one of the three major film festivals in the world along with Cannes International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. One of its sections, Venice Immersive, attracts outstanding films from around the world and is a coveted film festival for XR creators and studios, with more than 50 nominated films on display.

https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2025

【Outline】 
・Title: IF YOU SEE A CAT 
・Scale: approx. 37 min 
・Genre: VR Animation 
・Planning/Production: Kodansha VR Lab Ltd. 
・Production: Kodansha Ltd. 
・Plan completion: August, 2025

【Main Cast (English)】
Naoki: Akinari Sato 
Midori: Ayumi Tsunematsu 
Doctor Inai: Kentaro Tone 
Nurse Takagashira: Emiko Takeuchi 
Nurse Mikita: Wataru Komada

【Main Staff】 
Producer/VR Director : Kenji Ishimaru 
Director/Screenplay : Atsushi Wada 
CG Director : Omar Espinosa 
Sound Director : Masumi Takino 
Line Producer : Yumiko Kano

【About the Director: Atsushi Wada】 

Born in 1980 in Hyogo Prefecture. He began creating animation around 2002, and has continued to work on the major themes of “pause” and “pleasant movement” (representative works: My Swamp (2017), The Birds of Peninsula (2022), Ikimono-san (2023)).

 【About Kodansha VR Lab Ltd.】
Kodansha VR Lab Ltd. is a studio established in October 2017 by Kodansha, a general publisher, and Polygon Pictures, the largest digital animation studio in Japan, to plan and research new entertainment with a focus on VR. We are a studio that plans and researches new entertainment with a focus on VR. and then gives shape to it and presents it to the world.

Representative Director: Kenji Ishimaru 

URL: kodanshavrlab.com