US Premiere

Little Nicolas

October 23, 2022 4:00 pm

Sold Out

In-person Q+A with director Benjamin Massoubre!

Over long cafe chats and bistro dinners in Paris, writer René Goscinny and artist Jean-Jacques Sempé solidified their warm friendship. The two shared more than meals, though, as they created the iconic French character of Little Nicolas, a mischievous school boy whose antics have captivated audiences for decades. Little Nicolas has been captured in comics, books and live-action film adaptations but he comes to life in a new way in Annecy’s Cristal Award-winning Little Nicolas Happy as Can Be. Nicholas leaps off the page and speaks directly to his creators to learn more about their own origin story. The film not only shows moments of Nicolas reveling in the misadventures of adolescence, but reveals the significant childhoods of the two artists and how it shaped their dreams, fears and ambitions. With a screenplay co-written by Rene’s daughter Anne Goscinny the film elegantly translates the magic of Sempe’s illustrations, transforming them into fluid, timeless animation.

Filmmaker Q&A, Rush Tickets Available, US Premiere

Wendell & Wild

October 21, 2022 7:00 pm

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Q&A with director Henry Selick, and Character Designer Pablo Lobato

In the almost twenty years since his iconic feature film debut, Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) has brought to the screen the perversely macabre worlds of Tim Burton, Roald Dahl, and Neil Gaiman. For his newest film – his first since 2009’s Coraline – he joins forces with master of modern horror, Jordan Peele, adapting an unpublished story by Selick himself, to delight and terrify a new generation with his stop-motion artistry.

When guilt-stricken orphan Kat (voiced by Lyric Ross) arrives at Rust Bank Catholic, a fancy All-Girls school that takes in the occasional troubled youth – for a fee, of course! – she discovers a long dormant connection to another world. There she meets Wendell and Wild (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele), two scheming demons who, in exchange for entry to the Land of the Living, promise to fulfill Kat’s only wish. A Netflix release.

Opening Night, US Premiere

Weathering With You: Screening #3

October 18, 2019 8:30 pm

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From October 18-20, visit JAPAN HOUSE Library, Level 5 (located in Hollywood & Highland) to see Weathering With You storyboards created by Makoto Shinkai.

This exhibit is free, visit www.japanhouse.jp/losangeles for more details.

US Premiere

Bombay Rose

October 20, 2019 4:30 pm

Filmmaker Q&A, US Premiere

No. 7 Cherry Lane

October 20, 2019 1:15 pm

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INTRO & Q+A w/ DIRECTOR YONFAN

Filmmaker Q&A, Opening Night, US Premiere

Weathering With You: Screening #2

October 18, 2019 8:30 pm

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Weathering With You is the highly-anticipated new film from director Makoto Shinkai and producer Genki Kawamura, the creative team behind the critically-acclaimed, global smash hit Your Name.

The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if to suggest his future. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds work as a writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky. With stunning visuals, depicting both the intricate detail of the Tokyo streets, to the sweeping beauty of a rain streaked sky, Weathering With You combines the artistry and powerful emotional pull that has come to define director Makoto Shinkai’s films.

Already a box office hit in Japan, Weathering With You is Japan’s official International Feature Film entry to the 2020 Academy Awards^®. A GKIDS release.

From October 18-20, visit JAPAN HOUSE Library, Level 5 (located in Hollywood & Highland) to see Weathering With You storyboards created by Makoto Shinkai. This exhibit is free, visit www.japanhouse.jp/losangeles for more details.

Filmmaker Q&A, Opening Night, US Premiere

Weathering With You: Screening #1

October 18, 2019 7:30 pm

Sold Out

Featuring an introduction and a Q&A after the showing with Director Makoto Shinkai.

Filmmaker Q&A, US Premiere

Marona’s Fantastic Tale

October 19, 2019 1:30 pm

INTRO & Q+A w/ DIRECTOR ANCA DAMIAN

Filmmaker Q&A, US Premiere

Children of the Sea

October 19, 2019 4:15 pm

INTRO & Q+A w/ DIRECTOR AYUMU WATANABE

Filmmaker Q&A, US Premiere

Tito and the Birds

October 21, 2018 4:30 pm

Q+A with Filmmaker

US Premiere

Another Day of Life

October 20, 2018 9:30 pm

Director Q&A, US Premiere

Mirai: Screening #1

October 19, 2018 7:00 pm

Sold Out

OPENING NIGHT FILM
Q+A with director Mamoru Hosoda

AIF 2018 opens with the latest from acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda – whose The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children and Boy and the Beast are also playing the festival. Mirai is a daringly original story of love passed down through generations and brings together two of Hosoda’s most resonant themes: the importance of family and the ability to pass through time. When four-year-old Kun meets his new baby sister, his world is turned upside down. Named Mirai (meaning “future”), the baby quickly wins the hearts of Kun’s entire family. As his mother returns to work and his father struggles to Run the household, Kun becomes increasingly jealous of baby Mirai… until one day he storms off into the garden, where he encounters strange guests from the past and future – including his sister Mirai, as a teenager. Together, Kun and teenage Mirai go on a journey through time and space, uncovering their family’s incredible story. But why did Mirai come from the future?

An official selection at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, and the epic capstone of director Mamoru Hosoda’s career, Mirai is a sumptuous, magical, and emotionally soaring adventure about the ties that bring families together and make us who we are.

A GKIDS release

Director Q&A, US Premiere

Mirai: Screening #2

October 19, 2018 7:30 pm

Sold Out

OPENING NIGHT FILM
Q+A w/director Mamoru Hosoda

In Japanese with English Subtitles

AIF 2018 opens with the latest from acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda – whose The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children and Boy and the Beast are also playing the festival.

US Premiere

Night Is Short, Walk On Girl

October 22, 2017 8:00 pm

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POST SCREENING SKYPE Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Acclaimed anime director Masaaki Yuasa, took a decade off directing feature animation only to return with two remarkable features in the same year – both selections in the festival, alongside his midnight classic Mind Game.

US Premiere

Lu Over the Wall

October 22, 2017 2:15 pm

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Director Q&A, US Premiere

The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales

October 21, 2017 1:30 pm

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DIRECTOR IN PERSON!

Director Q&A, US Premiere

The Breadwinner

October 20, 2017 7:00 pm

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WITH DIRECTOR Q&A

Animation is Film is thrilled to present the highly-anticipated new film from executive producer Angelina Jolie and the creators of Academy Award®-nominated The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, and based on Deborah Ellis’ best-selling novel.