Los Angeles Anime Film Festival (LA-AFF) will hold its second annual festival at Regal L.A. Live: A Barco Innovation Center, 1000 W. Olympic Blvd., from Sept. 21 to 23.
The festival will feature a full list of events in addition to the film screenings, including an opening night red carpet gala and Q&A sessions with directors, voice actors, and film creators.
For the full schedule and tickets, go online to www.la-aff.com.
Highlights of LA-AFF 2018:
For opening night on Friday, Sept. 21, the festival will host the North American premiere of “Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions – Take On Me,” directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, a feature that has been highly anticipated since the series finale in 2014.
In remembrance of the legendary animator and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata, the festival will feature these following five films throughout the weekend: “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” “My Neighbors the Yamadas,” “Pom Poko,” “Grave of the Fireflies,” and “Only Yesterday.”
The festival will screen all three animated feature films by the critically acclaimed director Masaaki Yuasa: “Lu Over the Wall,” “The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl,” and “Mind Game.”
LA-AFF will host the North American premiere of “Shonen Hollywood — Holly Stage for You — Complete Edition,” directed by Toshimasa Kuroyanagi, free of charge to all festival-goers. This animation project has raised over $700,000 from over 3,000 fans on the Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake, which is the most funds raised out of any anime and manga projects on this site. Ikuyo Hashiguchi, the original author of the title, will be present for a special Q&A session.
The global phenomenon “Your Name” returns to the big screen at this year’s LA-AFF for fans to re-experience director Makoto Shinkai’s dramatic masterpiece.
Other featured films include “King of Prism — Pride the Hero,” directed by Masakazu Hishida (North American premiere), and “Mary and the Witch’s Flower,” directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.
All screenings will be held in a cinema featuring all laser projection, the large Ultimate White Screen in the RealD Premiere House and high-performance sound to deliver anime films in their full splendor to awaiting fans.
All programs are subject to change at the festival’s discretion.
LA-AFF was launched in September 2017 as an annual film festival that showcases only Japanese anime. 2017 was the perfect inaugural year for LA-AFF since it also marked the 100th year since the birth of anime in Japan. The LA-AFF Executive Committee consists of three organizations: Rydgen Inc., Azoland Pictures and Japan Entertainment Exchange (JEX).
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