We have officially run out of Studio Ghibli films! But let's continue with the spirit of our Ghibli Movie Nights by watching some other wonderful anime that Hayao Miyazaki himself would have been proud to conceive and direct!

• When: Every Friday at 8:30 PM (ending approx. by 11:00 pm)
• Where: KCECH 1938 Lounge (snacks and refreshments provided)
• No RSVP required: just show up, and feel free to bring your friends!

This Friday we will be screening Satoshi Kon's mesmerizing: 千年女優, Sennen Joyū ("Millenium Actress", 2001), produced by Madhouse, and musicalized by Susumu Hirasawa. The budget was one of the lowest production costs for anime, and the film performed modestly because it wasn't much advertised. However, critics published excellent reviews, and soon Millenium Actress received award after award --including the Grand Prize in the Japan Agency of Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival, tying with Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away!

Loosely based on real-life actresses Setsuko Hara and Hideko Takamine, this movie tells the story of two documentary filmmakers investigating the life of a retired acting legend. As she tells them the story of her life, the borderline between cinema and reality gradually becomes blurred.

Ginei Studios, a prestigious but bankrupt film studio, goes out of business. Television interviewer Genya Tachibana and his cameraman Kyoji Ida prepare for a retrospective interview with Chiyoko Fujiwara, the studio's best known star, who thirty years prior retired from acting and became a recluse. When they meet, Tachibana gives Chiyoko a key he believes she lost at the studio, prompting her to reflect on her life. As Chiyoko begins, the film becomes a story within a story --in a fractal structure-- wherein events from Chiyoko's life are interwoven with scenes from films in which she has appeared, while Tachibana and Ida appear within them as documentary filmmakers.

As a teenager, Chiyoko was given the key by an artist and political dissident opposing the Sino-Japanese War. She helped him escape from the authorities and, after his departure, decided to become a film actress in the hope that he would recognize and find her. Her quest continues for decades and Chiyoko becomes famous, acting in films like jidaigeki (period pieces in the style of Akira Kurosawa), chanbara (sword fighting stories featuring myths and folklore), family dramas (in the realist-lyrical style of Yasujiro Ozu), science fiction, and kaiju (a subgenre of sci-fi involving giant monsters in the style of Godzilla). Despite not hearing from the mysterious artist, she never loses hope...

The critics said "A piece of cinematic art. It's modern day Japanese animation at its best [...] It's animated, but it's human and will touch the soul of anyone who has loved deeply."