Background:
Ningen Doubutsuen is based on a poem by Shuntarou Tanikawa (谷川 俊太郎, b. 1931). The film won the Special Jury Prize at Annecy in 1963 and the bronze award for animation at the 1963 Biennale in Venice. It also won the 1965 Oofuji Noburou Award.