My Inner Ear Quartet

| Japanese title: Mimi ni Sumumono | Chinese title: 耳朵裡的四重樂隊・耳朵里的四重奏 |
| VR Animation | 2023 | Japan | Around 35'00" | 360° interactive movie | Japanese, English | Trailer | | |

Author: Ogawa Yoko, Script: Ogawa Yoko, Yamamura Koji
Producer: Ishimaru Kenji, Executive Producer: Noma Yoshinobu
CG Director: Gee Yeung, Lead Unity Engineer: Jorge Pedrero Reyna
Line Producer: Kano Yumiko, Production Manager: Tamanaha Yui
Sound Director: Ota Masataka, Music: Ueno Koji
Voices: Daman Mills as "Man", Nicholas Young as "Boy"
Planning & Production: »Kodansha VR Lab, Ltd.



What lives in the ears of a lonely boy? And why in a boy's ear?
Every day the boy dug in the dirt and collected what he found in a cookie tin. In his notebook, he records his life and the lonely voices of the things he finds. Behind his ears lived four musicians and two shrimp that lived in a lace-shaped kairou-dou hole. They encouraged the boy by playing and dancing whenever he shed a tear. In return, he would shake a cookie tin filled with found objects. In this way, the boy grew up.
As an adult, the boy became a salesman selling hearing aids and no longer picked up lonely voices or shed tears. One day, he saw a brooch on TV news, a handmade bird brooch found in a Japanese American internment camp, and was fascinated by it. What did he find there?

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Awards (12):
Asia Digital Art Award: 23rd Asia Digital Art Award FUKUOKA, Japan, 2023.11
The Minister of METI Award: 23rd Asia Digital Art Award FUKUOKA, Japan, 2023.11
Virtual Reality Winner: 47th Ottawa International Animation Festival, Canada, 2023.09
Comment from jury: For its handcrafted feel and heartfelt storyline that weaves simple interactivity with a gentle but powerful narrative voice, the jury awards the Award for Best Virtual Reality Animation to My Inner Ear Quartet by Koji Yamamura.
VR category Special Prize: 13th Advanced Imaging Society Lumiere Japan Awards, Japan, 2023.11
Cinequest Award Winner: Cinequest Film Festival, US, 2024.03
Best Virtual Reality Winner in June 2024: 4th World Film Festival In Cannes, France, 2024.06
Media Art Category Silver Award: 29th ifva Festival, China, 2024.03
Silver winner in Craft-Use of VR for Immersive, Interactive, & Mixed category: 45th Telly Awards, US, 2024.05
Silver (Games & XR - Entertainment category): 1st Collision Awards 2024, US, 2024.07
BRONZE CUBE: ADC 103rd Annual Awards; Gaming - Animation, US, 2024.05
Special Mention in the New Frontiers competition: 24FRAME Future Film Fest, Italy, 2024.11
Pioneering Visual Effects Award: 13th VFX-JAPAN Awards 2025, Japan, 2025.11

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Official Selection (26):
47th Ottawa International Animation Festival, Canada, 2023.09
23rd Kaohsiung Film Festival, Taiwan, 2023.10
4th Beyond the Frame Festival Japan, 2023.10
13th Advanced Imaging Society Lumiere Japan Awards, Japan, 2023.11
23rd 2023 Asia Digital Art Award FUKUOKA, Japan, 2023.11
5th Feinaki Beijing Animation Week, China, 2023.11
30th Etiuda & Anima International Animation Festival, Poland, 2023.11
20th Animateka International Animated Film Festival, Slovenia, 2023.12
33rd Cinequest Film Festival, US, 2024.03
29th ifva Festival, China, 2024.03
6th Kaboom Animation Festival, Holland, 2024.04
7th NewImages Festival, Paris, 2024.04
14th Beijing International Film Festival, China, 2024.04
22rd ANIFILM 2024 Liberec International Festival of Animated Films, Czech Republic, 2024.05
17th Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, US, 2024.05
ADC 103rd Annual Awards, US, 2024.05
63rd Annecy International Animation Festival, France, 2024.06
45th Telly Awards, US, 2024.05
11th Fine Arts Film Festival, US, UK, 2024,06
ADC 103rd Annual Awards; Gaming - Animation, US, 2024.05
63rd Annecy International Animation Festival, France, 2024.06
1st Collision Awards 2024, US, 2024.07
24 FRAME Future Film Fest, Italy, 2024.11
8th International AIXR XR Awards: XR Film and experience of the Year- Finalist Netherlands 2024.12
4th Red Movie Awards, France, 2025.05
6th Tbilisi International Animation Festival, Georgia, 2025.06
1st ICE MOVIE AWARDS, Best Animation category, French Alps, 2026.12

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Review:
"What Lives in the Ear," an XR film directed by Koji Yamamura, a legend in the Japanese animation world: XR Movie Guide No. 55
2025.04.07　»Site

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Interview:
The affinity between VR and the original author Yoko Ogawa, "What Lives in Your Ear," a VR work directed by animation artist Koji Yamamura.
(Part 1) 2024.08.11 »Site
The production team of "What Lives in Your Ear," a VR work by director Koji Yamamura and original author Yoko Ogawa, talks about a "new challenge."
(Part 2) 2024.08.12 »Site
Text and interview by Yuji Makkari, Real Sound

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Screening:
VR "My Inner Ear Quartet"
2024.08.01-2025.01.31, Tokyo, XR experience space NEUU
Reservation: »Site

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Sale:
VR"My Inner Ear Quartet"
Price: $19.99s
2024.10.10 »Steam
2024.11.12 »Vivenport

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