Anime Movie Classics week

The ImaginAsian Center in Los Angeles will be showing three Bandai Entertainment films on good ol' 35mm for its Anime Movie Classics week February 15 - 21:

Escaflowne: The Movie
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

Hayao Miyazaki Tribute

Next weekend American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA will be showing three Hayao Miyazaki movies:

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - February 1 at 7:00 pm
My Neighbor Totoro - February 2 at 3:00 pm
Spirited Away - February 2 at 7:30 pm

If you're in the Washington, DC, area…

Japanese romantic comedy LoveCom will be playing with English subtitles at the Japan Information and Culture Center January 24 (Thursday) at 6:30 pm. It's free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Seating is limited, with a first come, first serve basis.
RSVP: jiccrsvpwinter08@embjapan.org
Here for more details.

"Risa is just too tall and too intimidating for the boys at her school to like her. She longs for the attention of a boy. Atsushi is just too short for a girl to be interested in him. Despite the difference in height, the two share everything from their taste in food to their favorite band and become the best of friends. Can they overcome the inches that separate them and become the perfect couple everyone says they will be? Based on the comic book “Lovely Complex” by Aya Nakahara, LoveCom is a story about two friends who slowly come to realize they are perfect for each other, despite a difference in stature."

I've seen this one and it gets upbeat crazy points.

While we're there...

In April, animation director Mamoru Oshii will have a guest faculty position in the Department of Communication Studies – the Media Production Workshop division - at Tokyo Keizai University. The University is in Kokubunji, a neighborhood in western Tokyo, where many anime studios are located.

Also in April (Japan’s school year starts in April) Tokyo National University of Fine Arts will have guest lecturers from anime and manga. It will be the first public university to have a major in anime.

And over in Japan...

After a nine city North American tour (yeah, sorry I missed that one. Oops.), the traveling exhibition Shojo Manga! Girl Power! is being reverse-imported back to Japan, and will be displayed under the new title Shojo Manga Power! One of (if not the) first shows of its kind, the display focuses on the international and native views of shojo manga (girls' comics). This version will have most of the materials assembled by Dr. Masami Toku, which represented works from twenty-three creators, with new titles added.

Kawasaki City Museum: February 16-March 30
Kyoto International Manga Museum: July19-August 31

Meanwhile in Europe...

International Film Festival Rotterdam, January 23 to February 3. They will add more details to their website January 18th.

Official site (English)






Berlin International Film Festival (Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), February 7-17. Program details will be updated in February. All I can tell you is that live action anthology Shin Onna-Tachiguishi Retsuden (Eat and Run - 6 Beautiful Grifters) from Mamoru Oshii will have its world premiere in the Food and Culture category.

Official site.(Deutsch or English)


Or you could check out the Nippon Connection Festival in Frakfurt which runs from April 2-6.

Official site (Deutsch, English, Japanese)

Moving on to Australia...

In the Sidney Australia area? Then you might be interested in seeing Grindhouse at Chauvel Cinema January 17-23.

“This presentation will be shown on 35mm exactly as the original version was intended, complete with ‘fake’ trailers (by directors such as Eli Roth & Edgar Wright), intentional print scratches and intermission.”

Chauvel Cinema

Starting in the 'States...

If you're in Baltimore January 17-20, Jack Everly will be conducting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra SuperPops in geek movie music. Along with a vocal ensemble dressed in Starfleet Uniforms, they'll be surrounded by Stormtroopers while performing music from Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, and E.T. And narrating? George Takei. The audience is encouraged to come in costume. Tickets run $15-$84 through the BSO ticket office.

More here.


Texas Frightmare Weekend will be held in Dallas February 21-24. Guests include cast and crew from Night of the Living Dead, Malcolm McDowell, Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, and Dee Wallace Stone

SXSW Film Festival

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival will run March 7-15 in Austin, TX. So far they've confirmed the following movies:

21
At the Death House Door
Dreams With Sharp Teeth
Flawless
Run Fatboy Run
Wild Blue Yonder

More here.

Takashi Miike retrospective

The Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles will be showing Takashi Miike films Sundays in January and February.

Audition – January 6
One Missed Call – January 13
Big Bang Love – January 20
Gozu – January 27

Happiness of the Katakuris
Visitor Q – February 3

Ichi the Killer
Fudoh – February 10

The Great Yokai War
Zebraman – February 17

Double Christmas horror

Tonight only, as part of their Grindhouse Film Festival, The New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles will be showing the original 1974 Black Christmas and Silent Night Deadly Night, starting at 7:30 pm.


Hey! If you know of any film events, please submit them. I could use the help.

NY Anime Fest fraud

If you went to the New York Anime Festival last week, be sure to check out the following:

"WARNING! A travel agency called VTS Travel exhibited at the New York Anime Festival. In the wake of the show, VTS Travel is contacting attendees, telling them that they’ve won a trip to the Bahamas – but they need to provide their credit card number to finalize everything. VTS is operating a scam. Please report any contact with VTS directly to NYAF’s management. They’ve insulted the New York Anime Festival by offering a fake giveaway at our event, and we do not want any of our attendees to fall prey to them."

NYAF can be contacted here.

Toho Film Fest - Okay this is getting ridiculous!

So another film festival out of Los Angeles that's already in progress.

This time it's the Toho Festival: Deploy All Monsters. Every Sunday in December is a different Japanese rubber suited movie.

You can still catch:
Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (16th)
King Kong Escapes (23rd)
Destroy All Monsters (30th)


Go to The Silent Movie Theater's website for details.

Another Festival in Progress

*sigh* Another film festival I'm late on...

"The Festival will celebrate Conservation, Imagination and Exploration."

The Jules Verne Festival is going on in Los Angeles right now, and... is almost done. But you can still check out "Alien VS Predator Night" on the 14th, and the closing events on the 15th: Appleseed: Ex Machina premiere; Stan Lee being awarded the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award; Heroes - The Event.

The official site for more details.

Film Fest - In Progress

If you're in the LA area, you may want to check out the New Beverly Theater. Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hott Fuzz) is having his own film festival, The Wright Stuff. It's already started (on the 2nd), but will keep running 'til the 17th. You can go to the New Beverly's site to get info on movies and guests.