NEVER LOVE ANYONE AGAIN
Directed by Naoto Hidaka
Japan · 2026 · 4 min 23 sec · Animation
Submitted to RTV International Film Festival 2026Synopsis
A woman, exhausted by love and disappointment, decides that she will never love anyone again. Through an absurd and darkly comic monologue, “NEVER LOVE ANYONE AGAIN” explores desire, loneliness, romantic frustration, and the strange contradictions of human relationships in a surreal animated world.
About the film
A woman who has become disillusioned with love declares that she will never love anyone again. Through a surreal English-language monologue, she reflects on desire, disappointment, loneliness, and the contradictions of romantic relationships. Her increasingly uncompromising thoughts unfold within an absurd animated world where emotional pain and dark humor coexist. “NEVER LOVE ANYONE AGAIN” is a dark comedy that explores the irrational ways people protect themselves after being hurt, and the gap between the desire to be loved and the desire to avoid love altogether. The film is also a reimagining of a stop-motion clay animation created by director Naoto Hidaka approximately thirty years ago as his graduation film. The story, structure, visual ideas, shot composition, and camera concepts of the original work became the foundation for this new version, reconstructed using contemporary generative AI technology.
Director(s)
Naoto Hidaka is a Japanese filmmaker and director based in Tokyo and the founder of NASHFILM. His film “Caraway” received a theatrical release in Japan, and his works have been screened or presented at film festivals and international events including Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, Japan Expo Paris, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, and the Athens International Short Film Festival. In 2016, he received a category excellence award at the Eibunren Awards. Alongside commercial and narrative filmmaking, Hidaka has recently been exploring generative AI as a filmmaking tool, combining AI-generated imagery and animation with traditional directing, cinematography concepts, editing, and narrative construction. “NEVER LOVE ANYONE AGAIN” is a reimagining of an animation he originally created approximately thirty years ago as a student.
Trailer
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RTV International Film Festival — Inaugural Online Edition · 2026