The short film “Junko’s Shamisen” has been circulating the film festival circuit the past year. Now, the Canadian short is available to watch online for FREE. Here’s a synopsis:

Blending the aesthetic of Japanese Kabuki, contemporary manga illustration, stop-motion, cell and computer animation; writer, director and animator Sol. Friedman brings you this stylized, imaginative and haunting tale of vengeance.

Set in the rural backwoods of feudal Japan, a young peasant girl named Junko, returns home to discover her blind grandfather brutally murdered. Filled with despair, Junko, accompanied by a mystical fox spirit, abandons her old life and sets off for the village in search of better fortune. While begging, young Junko inadvertently encounters the evil samurai lord responsible for killing her grandfather and with the influence of the fox spirit, avenges her grandfather through a gruesome act of poetic justice.

“Junko’s Shamisen” offers an amazing display of visuals bringing the story to life. It’s like a live action graphic novel.

Junko’s Shamisen