The New York Anime Film Festival

Japan Society and The Sci-Fi Channel’s “Anime Colony” are teaming up to present the amazing world of Japanese anime to the masses in New York City during the New York Anime Film Festival, a 3-day event beginning Friday, October 6th and lasting through Sunday, October 8th. Film screenings, along will special introductions by top figures in the anime industry, will be held at both the Japan Society and the Director’s Guild of America theatre. Panels will discuss topics including cross-cultural differences and similarities in the reception of anime, the roles of anime and manga as vehicles to communicate popular Japanese culture abroad, the history of anime in the U.S. and a brief discussion on the importance of music and sound in the story-telling, bringing anime to U.S. audience and what challenges await, and a special discussion of Yoshitaka Amano’s work, lead by Amano himself. Special guests are scheduled to include Yoshitaka Amano, Kunihiko Ikuhara (director of Utena), and Ken Iyadomi, President of Bandai Entertainment. Some of the highlight screenings and premiers at the convention will include the Utena and Escaflowne movies, Amano’s 1001 Nights, and several US premiers, including Blood: The Last Vampire, the new Vampire Hunter D, Peter Chung’s Alexander, Jin-Roh, and the full CG “anime” movies Alice and Aurora in the Sea. For more information about the convention, visit Sci-fi.com’s official New York Anime Film Festival website.