The Niigata International Animation Film Festival returns to the Chubu region city in spring for a six-day event from March 15 to 20. The festival will be full of talks, screenings and retrospectives on the history of anime in Japan. Today, the festival revealed the line-up for the Satoshi Kon retrospective, the first screening in Japan of the Studio BONES documentary BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD and the first screening of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within since 2001 and more.
As part of the festival’s Satoshi Kon retrospective, which already includes screenings of all his feature films, NIAFF also confirmed that Roujin Z (which Kon worked as Art Director) will also recieve a screening. There will also be talks after the screenings of Millennium Actress, Paprika and Perfect Blue. On March 15, the A Turning Point in Japanese Anime CG event will be held all night. It will include a screening of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Knights of Sidonia The Movie, as well as a talk from Appleseed director Shinji Aramaki and Mahiro Maeda, best known as a designer for Evangelion and Kaiju No. 8.The final announcement from NIAFF today revealed that In This Corner of the World director Sunao Katabuchi will hold a panel on his newest film The Mourning Children: Nagiko and the Girls Wearing Tsurubami Black, discussing the characters.
The newly announced BONES documentary screening of BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD will be accompanied by a screening of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos — the second film based on the manga and following the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood anime. BONES president Masahiko Minami will be joined by J.C. Staff Head of Production Yuji Matsukura and I.G. Port president and founder of Production I.G. Mitsuhisa Ishikawa for the “A Half Century of Anime Studios and Films” panel on March 16.Crunchyroll is currently streaming the BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD four-part documentary and describes it as such:
BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD explores the creation of Studio BONES and its most legendary series. From its high quality adaptation of beloved manga series to unique and original animated stories, this anime storyteller’s history will enthrall fans of the long-standing studio. This four part series was shot entirely in Japan and features interviews with more than 30 staff and creators from their most beloved works, such as Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, My Hero Academia, Mob Psycho 100, Bungo Stray Dogs, Eureka Seven, and their 25th Anniversary original anime Metallic Rouge.
Source: Niigata International Animation Film Festival on X (formerly Twitter)
