A Night at the Rest Area
At a midnight highway rest area, weary travelers quietly relax their minds.
Language: In Japanese
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window
“Sit down! Stop talking. Pay attention!” School is hard enough, but little Totto-Chan just can’t seem to be still. Inquisitive by nature, she’s constantly inspired by the world around her—and in 1940s Japan, the wonders of Western modernization bring new and exciting ways to traditional Japanese life. When her behavior proves to be too distracting to the rest of the class (according to her teachers, at least), her parents make it their mission to find the right place for her. Totto-Chan is no ordinary child, and her new school takes place in no ordinary classroom but in an old street car. Her classmates are equally extraordinary, each with their own abilities and ways of thinking. With a schoolmaster that affirms rather than tamps down their joyous curiosity, Totto-Chan and her classmates flourish in an environment filled with acceptance and freedom of expression. The coming changes to Japan will make adjusting to new life all the more challenging, but Totto-Chan, charming, chaotic, sometimes troublemaking, and often irrepressible, will be just fine as long as she can be herself. Based on the best-selling memoir of famous Japanese television personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-Chan is a tender reminder the things that make us different are the very things that make us special.
The Concierge
Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my…do they know how to shop! They also have demanding tastes, especially when they walk into the Arctic Department Store, a unique, grand-scale shop that caters exclusively to animal clientele. Akino, a dedicated concierge trainee, is tasked with making sure shoppers are treated as the most welcomed guests. The trouble? As a human, handling her clients’ gruff manners isn’t exactly in her nature. A cheetah’s nose knows when a perfume is an imposter, and it’s not so easy to find the perfect gift when constantly hounded by a fox. But even under the—literal—eagle eyes of her clients and supervisors, Akino’s determined to rise to the challenge with grace and wit in Crunchyroll’s charming adaptation of the popular manga by Tsuchika Nishimura.
The Concierge
Insomniacs after school
Double Bill: Magic Candies + The Klutzy Witch
Take in a double dose of the enchanting with Magic Candies and The Klutzy Witch, two spellbinding stories that remind us that life is magical, even when we stumble through it.
In Person Q&A: Magic Candies
On March 16th the screening of Magic Candies will be followed by an in-person Q&A with the creators of the story and film. Ask them all your burning questions about how this delightfully spirited story came to be!
Science on Screen Talk
On March 2, The Klutzy Witch will be followed by Science on Screen®: Kawaii, Cuteness, & The Klutzy Witch with Cute Studies expert and Emory University assistant professor Erica Kanesaka. Warning: this look into cuteness in Japanese culture may cause adorable overload.
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
In Person Q&A: Magic Candies
On March 16th the screening of Magic Candies will be followed by an in-person Q&A with the creators of the story and film. Ask them all your burning questions about how this delightfully spirited story came to be!
Science on Screen
On March 2, The Klutzy Witch will be followed by Science on Screen®: Kawaii, Cuteness, & The Klutzy Witch with Cute Studies expert and Emory University assistant professor Erica Kanesaka. Warning: this look into cuteness in Japanese culture may cause adorable overload.
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Insomniacs after school
No one seems to understand Nakami. His nights are restless, his days sleepy, and his time at school is isolating. Yet all that seems to change when he encounters his carefree classmate, Magari, dozing off in their high school’s abandoned observatory. Not only is Magari friendly, she’s also a closet insomniac. Together they find solidarity in their shared condition, using the observatory to nap as needed. When their unsanctioned use of the space is discovered, the only way to save their refuge is to revive the school’s long defunct astronomy club. As they work together and get to know each other, their bond grows ever stronger, but hidden truths threaten to cut their budding friendship shot. An adolescent drama in the vein of My Girl or The Fault in Our Stars, Insomniacs After School is a tender look at how unbreakable bonds are formed.
The Klutzy Witch
Fukka is a loveable but clumsy apprentice witch and princess of the Silver Castle who, unlike her classmates, still needs some practice with her beginner spells. Despite her lack of natural majesty, she aspires to be just like her mother, the Silver Queen, legendary master of all things magic. When she accidentally breaks the seal of darkness and is transported to a spooky amusement park, nervous Fukka will have to complete a series of tests in order to defeat an evil witch. Luckily for Fukka, childhood friends Karin, gentle princess of the Green Castle, and cheeky Chitose, prince of the Blue Castle, are there to help. But in the face of danger, hot-headed Chitose and stubborn Fukka can’t seem to keep it together. It’s up to patient Karin to find a path to harmony so the trio can go from clumsy to clever. From award-winning anime studio Production IG. and veteran director Takayuki Hamana.
Magic Candies
Uniting the best creators of Korea and Japan, Magic Candies brings the beloved picture book by highly acclaimed Korean author Heena Baek to the screen in a film by renowned Toei anime master Daisuke Nishio, of Dragon Ball Z fame, in a visually striking, magical realist 3D CGI style. The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. That’s ok. He’s fine just playing marbles on his own. One day, he buys a bag of colorful candies instead of new marbles. The first time he pops one of them into his mouth, his old sofa starts talking to him! The two share an unexpected conversation before the sweet melts away. As it happens, the people, animals, and objects in Dong-Dong’s life have a lot to say. With each candy, he discovers new voices and perspectives, including his own. Heartfelt and totally strange, Magic Candies will have you rethinking how you treat the objects, and others, in your life.
Mai Mai Miracle
Shinko spends her days running barefoot among the endless green wheat fields in her small country village, imagining she is playing 1,000 years ago when the area was the local capital and home to a beautiful young princess kept hidden from society. Shinko gets a new partner for her games when she befriends Kiiko, a shy transfer student from Tokyo whose nice clothes and modern luxuries immediately set her apart from the other kids. Together, the two girls spend their afternoons daydreaming, building dams, chasing animals, and living an otherwise simple and idyllic life—until looming adolescent responsibility and harsh grown-up truths begin to encroach on their make-believe world of princesses and castles, and it becomes increasingly difficult to disentangle fantasy from reality. Director Sunao Katabuchi worked with Hayao Miyazaki as assistant director on Kiki’s Delivery Service, and the influences show, from Mai Mai‘s stunning animation and exalting focus on nature, to the film’s nostalgia for the endless days of summer, and the tender portrayal of a young girl at the transition between childhood and adult.
Oblivion Island
The creators of Ghost in the Shell mix exquisitely detailed 2D backgrounds with modern 3D character designs in a dazzling animated adventure that plays like Alice’s fall through the rabbit hole into a world of topsy-turvy, anime dream-logic. When Haruka misplaces a hand-mirror that was a keepsake from her mother, she stumbles upon a portal to the subterranean world of Oblivion Island, a place where strange masked creatures gather up all the childhood trinkets humans abandon as they grow older and attend Dream Theaters where they can watch and feel the memories locked in these forgotten objects. The land is ruled by an evil overlord, The Baron, who craves the power created by the memories locked in Haruka’s cherished mirror—a power that will allow him to rise beyond his world of discards and take over the world of humans. Aided by Teo, a lowly junk collector, and Cotton, her old stuffed animal brought back to life, Haruka struggles to recapture the mirror from The Baron, and to rediscover the fleeting moments of childhood love and friendship that are among life’s most precious treasures.
Summer Wars
NYICFF 2010 opens with the scintillating new feature from emerging anime star Mamoru Hosoda. Kenji is a teenage math prodigy recruited by his secret crush Natsuki for the ultimate summer job—passing himself off as her boyfriend for four days during her grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. But when Kenji solves a 2,056 digit math riddle sent to his cell phone, he unwittingly breaches the security barricade protecting Oz, a globe-spanning virtual world where millions of people and governments interact through their avatars. Now a malicious AI program called the Love Machine is hijacking Oz accounts, growing expontentially more powerful and sowing chaos and destruction in its wake. This “intriguingly intelligent” cyberpunk sci-fi story is a visual tour-de-force, with the amazing world of Oz as the highlight. Like the internet as conceived by pop artist Haruki Murakami, Oz is an hallucinatory pixel parade of cool avatar designs, kung fu jackrabbits, toothy bears, and a bursting rainbow of colors.
Suzume
From the visionary director of worldwide phenomenon Your Name. (NYICFF 2017)! In the quiet town of Kyushu in southwestern Japan, Suzume encounters a young man who’s looking for a door. When she comes across a single, weathered door standing upright in the midst of ruins, she is drawn by its power. Suzume reaches for the knob… Doors begin to open one after another all across Japan, unleashing destruction upon any who are near. It’s up to Suzume to close the portals and prevent further disaster.
Suzume
From the director of the acclaimed Your Name. (NYICFF 2017). On the other side of the door, was time in its entirety…As the skies turn red and the earth trembles, Japan stands on the brink of disaster. But one determined teenager, Suzume, sets out on a mission to save her country. Able to see the supernatural forces that others can’t, it’s up to her to close the mysterious doors spreading chaos across the land. A perilous journey awaits as the fate of the country rests on her shoulders.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Kokoro has had enough of the buzzing bells, shouting teachers, noisy hallways, and mean classmates at her middle school when she decides to just stay home. Bored and trapped, she finds a portal in her bedroom mirror that whisks her away to an enormous castle, where she’s greeted by the mysterious and gruff Wolf Queen—a wolf in girls’ clothing or the other way around, she’s not sure. Along with six other smart but world-weary students, she must follow all of the Queen’s rules, including a strict curfew. They are all in search of a magic key, hidden somewhere in the castle, that will grant whoever finds it any wish they want. As they conspire over strategy and share their stories, bonding in a place that’s free of fear and judgment and learning when to make (and sometimes break) their own rules in the name of friendship. Maybe the adults will begin to understand that it’s the circumstances, and not the kids, that need to change in this meaningful anime adapted from Tsujimura Mizuki’s popular YA novel.
The Old Young Crow
A magical sketchbook toggles between time and place in this fantastical tale of an Iranian boy, a big black crow, a long-lost son, and a loving mother who cross spiritual paths at a Tokyo grave.
One Summer Story
One Summer Story
Between competitive swim team practice and cramming for classes the anime Buffalo Kotek is Minami’s only respit from her hectic life. So it feels a lot like kismet when she discovers that her classmate Shohei, and aspiring manga artist, shares her obsession—and that his brother is an amateur detective. It seems as though Minami’s finally formed the perfect team to help her unravel a big mystery of her own, following a recent trail of clues that just might lead to her long lost father. The timing couldn’t be better when an out-of-town swim competition presents itself as the perfect alibi, and she sneaks off to the Japanese coast to discover a whole new side of herself in this bold and charming story of anime, friendship, family, and the life aquatic.
Blue Thermal
Tamaki is ready to create an exciting social life for herself at university when she, quite literally, bumps into the members of the aeronautics club, knocking over their glider plane. With the pricey damage done, she begins working in the club to compensate. The grace that Tamaki lacks on the ground she quickly finds in the sky, but in order to fly high, she has to catch a thermal—no easy feat for a team that relies on reading the sky rather than high tech devices. Then there’s her older sister, Yano, who holds a grudge and will use sneaky means to win the contest for herself and her teammate, the too-cool-for-school Hatori. But Tamaki plays fair and square, even to her own disadvantage, as she’d rather have a stiff rival than win by the competition’s careless mistakes. She wants nothing more than to repay club captain Kuramochi, not only for the damaged glider but for taking her under his wing and helping her discover her power and passion. But when he disappears, will she find a runway back that feels like a win?
A Bite of Bone
Vividly-rendered animation relays this story of a little girl’s last summer with her father.
It’s a Summer Film!
Infatuated with sword-slinging samurai films, Barefoot and her two best friends, Blue Hawaii and Kickboard, study every scene, honing their directorial chops like another martial art. When Barefoot gets the chance to produce her own screenplay for a high school project, it’s both a dream come true and an enormous challenge—especially with all of the support and attention going to a competing student’s cheesy, soft-focus romcom. So Barefoot mobilizes a crew to shoot the film in one summer, guerilla-style. But just as production hits its stride, the sudden appearance of a mysterious, equally samurai-obsessed student brings dismal news of the future of movies. It’s a Summer Film is a love letter to cinema of all stripes, with an exhilarating mix of time travel, swordplay, and girls-behind-the-camera action that will keep you cheering from “Action!” to “Roll credits!”
It’s a Summer Film!
Infatuated with sword-slinging samurai films, Barefoot and her two best friends, Blue Hawaii and Kickboard, study every scene, honing their directorial chops like another martial art. When Barefoot gets the chance to produce her own screenplay for a high school project, it’s both a dream come true and an enormous challenge—especially with all of the support and attention going to a competing student’s cheesy, soft-focus romcom. So Barefoot mobilizes a crew to shoot the film in one summer, guerilla-style. But just as production hits its stride, the sudden appearance of a mysterious, equally samurai-obsessed student brings dismal news of the future of movies. It’s a Summer Film is a love letter to cinema of all stripes, with an exhilarating mix of time travel, swordplay, and girls-behind-the-camera action that will keep you cheering from “Action!” to “Roll credits!”
In the Shadow of the Pines
Pining replaces embarrassment as one girl looks back on her experiences as a self-conscious student at the school where her Japanese immigrant father served as a janitor.
My Dad is a Heel Wrestler
Nine-year-old Shota’s dad was a star top-tier pro wrestler until age and injuries dropped him to the kitschy B-league of wrestling. Shota believes his dad is still number one, until one day he makes the shocking discovery that his father is not a hero wrestler but Cockroach, the “heel”, or villain, everyone loves to hate. Can Shota’s father take off his mask and learn that there are more important things than saving face? Can Shota learn that real heroes don’t always don the guise we think? Find out in this heart-warming, body-slamming, smile-inducing tale that lights up the ring.
Presented with support from:
Presented with support from:
My Dad is a Heel Wrestler
Nine-year-old Shota’s dad was a star top-tier pro wrestler until age and injuries dropped him to the kitschy B-league of wrestling. Shota believes his dad is still number one, until one day he makes the shocking discovery that his father is not a hero wrestler but Cockroach, the “heel”, or villain, everyone loves to hate. Can Shota’s father take off his mask and learn that there are more important things than saving face? Can Shota learn that real heroes don’t always don the guise we think? Find out in this heart-warming, body-slamming, smile-inducing tale that lights up the ring.
Onomatopoeia Rap (Japangle: Manga)
English comics use zips, zaps, and pows! Learn the Japanese equivalents and show off your manga style.
On-Gaku: Our Sound
From grunge to genius, On-Gaku turns it up to eleven musically and visually! Kenji and his two buddies are considered the toughs in their high school. Only clever Aya knows their too-cool-for-school attitude is a total act, until a bass guitar unexpectedly ends up in Kenji’s hands. With its deadpan humor, fresh animation style, and upending of the high school musical genre, there’s no wonder this film won the Ottawa Int’l Animation Festival’s top prize.
Note: Some mature language and threat of menace
Note: Some mature language and threat of menace
Children of the Sea
Adapted from the acclaimed manga comes this visually dazzling, mind-bending aquatic mystery. Ruka’s dad is so absorbed in his studies at the aquarium that he hardly notices when she befriends Umi and Sora. Like Ruka, the mysterious duo has the unique ability to hear the call of the sea and its endangered creatures. Together, can they save them?
Note: Depicts alcoholic parent
Note: Depicts alcoholic parent
Bento Harassment
Can food speak louder than words? With Futaba’s mother tired of her teen’s icy attitude, she’ll try an unusual tactic to get her to talk—by way of her bento lunch box. For an entire school term, Futaba opens box after box, each designed with its own cringe-worthy message. An offbeat story of growing up, Bento Harassment will leave audiences laughing…and hungry.