North American anime fans are in a treat as a great anime film lineup has been announced for the upcoming Animation is Film Festival in Los Angeles on October 19 to 21. Its official website has now released the schedule for all screenings.
The following films are Okko’s Inn, I want to eat your pancreas, and Mirai. The film festival will also premiere the English dub of Modest Heroes: Ponoc Short Film Theater, Vol. 1 and the L.A. premiere of penguin highway.
One of the guests during this film festival will be Director Mamoru Hosoda who will also be doing Q&A sessions. The festival will also screen his anime films: Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and The Boy and The Beast. His latest film Mirai will be the festival’s opening film and will be screened in both English and Japanese.
Mirai is centered on a family living in a small house located in an obscure corner of a city, particularly Kun-chan the spoiled four-year-old boy. When Kun-chan gets a little sister named Mirai, he feels that his parents’ love was stolen away from him because of her. As he was overwhelmed through all this, he meets the older version of Mirai who came from the future.
I want to eat your pancreas story is narrated from an unnamed protagonist’s point of view when he founds a diary in the hospital one day which belonged to his classmate named Sakura Yamauchi. Yamauchi is suffering from a terminal illness in her pancreas and is only given a few months to live. It was only the unnamed protagonist that knows about her conditional aside from her family.
Despite obvious differences, the protagonist promises to keep Sakura’s illness a secret and decided to be with her in the last few months of her life.
Okko’s Inn is based from the juvenile literature series Waka Okami wa Shogakusei written by Hiroko Reijo and artist Asami. It will have an original story not told in either the original book series or the television series adaptation. The movie will be a story about “Okko” and her parents. It will officially open in Japan on September 21.
Modest Heroes: Ponoc Short Film Theater, Vol. 1 is Studio Ponoc three-part anime film anthology film. It officially opened in Japanese theaters on August 24. The following anime shorts included in this anthology are the following: “Kanini & Kanino” by When Marnie Was There director Hiromasa Yonebashi, the 15-minute “human drama” story “Life Ain’t Gonna Lose” (“Samurai Egg”) by Yoshiyuki Momose, and the “action spectacle” story “Invisible” by Akihiko Yamashita.
The penguin highway anime film first premiered in Japan on August 17 and premiered in the US at Crunchyroll Expo earlier this month. The film is also slated to premiere in United States theaters this winter. The story of the film is based on the original novel of the same name created by Tomihiko Morimi. It centers on the fourth grader Aoyama and an older woman who works as a dental assistant. Aoyama uncovers the reason for the appearance of a group penguins in his quiet neighborhood.
Source: Animation is Film Festival Website and Variety