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The Scribe and the Swordsman

  • Country: Japan
  • Genre: Animation (Sci-Fi or Fantasy) FeatureFilm
  • Category: Official Selection
  • Runtime: 01:04:10

Created entirely by a single filmmaker using AI-assisted visual production, this 64-minute full-voice feature is set on the verge of a kingdom’s fall.

On the verge of a kingdom’s fall, Shugen, the chief swordsman, returns to the castle in search of a place to die.
There, amid rebellion and ruin, he encounters Kyori, a civil official who alone remains to write the final official chronicle of the dying state.

The king is already dead by his own hand.
All that remain are one poem, one sword, and two men facing the last two hours of their lives.

One was born to letters, the other to the blade.
As destruction closes in, Kyori and Shugen struggle to protect not only their king and their country’s final truth, but also the meaning of their own lives.

Blending classical Chinese poetry, voice performance, and sword action, the film explores what human beings choose to preserve at the very end—and what may serve as proof that they once lived.

The Scribe and the Swordsman Official Trailer