anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

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davemerrill
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anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by davemerrill »

The Toronto Animation Arts Festival International is coming up at the end of the month and they're doing a whole slew of events, and in conjunction with this, the Japan Foundation is going to be having a film and lecture series on anime. Dates and times are below, and full info (including locations) can be found at http://www.jftor.org/whatson/2013Anime.php.

I'm not going to be able to make anything but the GALAXY EXPRESS screening- everything else happens when I'm at work - but it's a pretty incredible slate of events regardless. If you're anywhere near Toronto you should come up and check it out.

Monday, July 8, 6:30 pm Lecture Anime Fandom and Otaku Culture - JFT
Tuesday, July 9, 6:30 pm Screening Arcadia of My Youth - Innis Town Hall
Tuesday, July 16, 6:30 pm Screening Chibi Maruko-chan - Innis Town Hall
Monday, July 22, 6:30 pm Lecture Anime and the Media Mix - JFT
Tuesday, July 23, 6:30 pm Screening 7 Short Films by Koji Yamamura - Innis Town Hall
Tuesday, July 23, 8 pm Screening The Girl Who Leapt through Time - Innis Town Hall
Saturday, July 27, 9:15 pm TAAFI Screening Galaxy Express 999 - TIFF Bell Lightbox
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by _D_ »

No Tezuka films? Yow!
davemerrill
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by davemerrill »

What would you suggest, Phoenix 2772? Cleopatra? 1001 Nights? Personally I'm really excited to see Galaxy Express, especially at the TIFF.
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by _D_ »

Blackjack, any of the one off films like Marine Express or Fumoon, any of the odd series like The Blue Blink, any of his experimental films like Jumping, any of his old films like Cleopatra Queen of Sex. Take your pick...there is a lot of material. Oddly enough, most of it has shown on TV in Quebec.
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by davemerrill »

Jumping and Broken Down Film make it into animation festivals all the time - saw it at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in the 80s. Have you seen Cleopatra? I mean, tried to watch it? As a curiosity it's fascinating, but as an entertaining piece of film it's a tough sell. It doesn't belong in a animation film festival, except as a warning, I suppose. It's been screened in London and Australia, but definitely as a curiosity. Blackjack is a TV show made after he died, Marine Express and Fumoon are direct-to-TV specials he didn't direct, Blue Blink is a TV show made after he died.

It's tough to imagine the rationale of any of those titles replacing the 999 movie or Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Unless, of course, you just want to find something to nitpick. The Arcadia film I have my doubts about, but hey, at least it's a theatrical film that stars popular characters and did some business (and that they can get a 35mm print of). I certainly wouldn't drop any of TAAFI/JAFTOR's selections in favor of a Tezuka piece, simply for the reason of including a token representation of the Tezuka brand.
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llj
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by llj »

Thanks for the heads up. I've seen most of these except Arcadia and Chibi Maruko Chan, but I'll have to think hard about not trying to catch at least one of them when/if I'm downtown. 35 mm prints are an added bonus too. In recent years I've attended several theatrical anime screenings only to get somewhat dismayed when I see the words "DVD PLAYER OPEN" or "INSERT BLU RAY" on the screen prior to each movie.

If I were to make a personal nitpick, I kinda wish they went for a Satoshi Kon film instead of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, simply because I've never seen a Kon film on the big screen and some of his earlier films could use some re-exposure (such as Perfect Blue). But perhaps a Kon retrospective might be coming someday to TIFF anyway, as I've seen some Kon retrospectives pop up here and there across North America in the past few months.
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by davemerrill »

I'd love to see a Kon retrospective, that's a great idea. I wasn't that impressed with Perfect Blue, but Millennium Actress was outstanding, and Paprika was terrific as well. He's definitely a talent that we lost way too soon.

What I'm digging about these JFTOR screenings is that, apart from Girl Who Leapt etc., I don't believe these films have ever been screened in theaters here. Well, except for that edited New World version of 999. Catching an uncut 999 on the big screen has long been on my list of things that I'd like, to see but probably never will.
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llj
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by llj »

I quite liked Perfect Blue. But then, I'm a fan of that kind of Italian Giallo-esque "slasher" genre. I've always regretted missing Perfect Blue back when it was running in the pre-renovated Bloor Cinema when I was in college. It's the perfect kind of film to watch late at night in a grimy rundown theatre.

Anyway, this film series is the kind of thing I like seeing from JFTOR from time to time. I remember a year or two ago I was in town for a film screening (I forgot what) and was asked to fill out an "audience comments" card. Under the question "What would you like to see more of?" I remember specifically asking that they try to get some older animated films to screen here (I kind of had Toei's REALLY old films in mind when I wrote it--like Little Prince and the Eight Headed Dragon and Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon--but I don't think I specified those films on my card) so maybe there were enough people asking about this stuff to compel them to give this a try.

15 minutes later EDIT: I just happened upon your site's review of Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon while casually googling these old Toei films after writing this post. Great stuff. I should also mention that anime in "scope" ratio seems really rare, and I agree with you: we can only imagine how great these old "Toeiscope" films would look on the big screen. At least with prints that are still in good condition.
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by davemerrill »

Well, we made it back from the Mechanized Planet of Tiff on Saturday night for the 999 screening. The theater was pleasantly filled, not stuffed, not as packed as it was for Nausicaa, but a good sized crowd nonetheless. The rep from TAAFI was impressed with the turnout and said that this was the largest crowd any of their events had drawn, which may mean more classic anime titles in the future... The print (from the Japan Foundation library) had seen some wear but on the whole still looked great. We're gonna look into what other titles the Japan Foundation has tucked away in its vaults, if they have anything interesting, we might put together another screening.
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Re: anime lectures and screenings in Toronto

Post by davemerrill »

My full report on Galaxy Express 999 and the TAAFI screening is here:

http://letsanime.blogspot.ca/2013/08/ta ... urney.html

Actually it's not a totally full report. What did I leave out? That day was our wedding anniversary, which made the screening a nice present. Donald and David from Anime North were there with us, as were a few other AN staffers that we didn't see until the film was over. The print had some dust and scratches but overall was solid. Sound was a little flat.
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