I've been an anime fan for 6 years now. My favorites are the Slayers series (it got me hooked), Ranma 1/2, Full Metal Panic and Love Hina. I went to Otakon (2003-2005), Manganext (06), Animenext (07), and volunteered at New York Anime Fest (07). I'm really into Harry Potter, Harry Potter fanfiction, and fantasy books like Dark Materials series. IF ANYONE IS GOING TO ANIMENEXT I'LL SEE YOU ALL THERE! The film Funky Forest: The First Contact by Katsuhito Ishii is being screened for a limited time in New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. For anyone not familiar with either the film or the director, the movie was made in 2005 by Katsuhito Ishii, director of The Taste of Tea and Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl. It has been featured in multiple international film festivals and was a official selection at the 2006 Montreal Fantasia Film Festival, the 2006 San Francisco Independent Film Festival and the 2007 New York Asian Film Festival.
New Yorkers will be able to watch this amazing film between March 7 to 13 at the Imaginasian Theater. It will then go on to the Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle, WA on March 21-27. Finally, the last screenings will be on April 18-24 in Los Angeles, CA at the Imaginasian Center.
For this film Ishii worked with Shunichiro Miki and Hajime Ishimine (ANIKI) to create a movie with 21 free-associative episodes that vary from a sci-fi comedy to a dance-battle daydream. In other words, the film is made up of multiple scenes that are sometimes related, sometimes not; they all depict strange events that are strung together in order to form the movie.
For us anime fans the "episode" we would want to watch is the one concentrating on Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno. In the film he is an animator who complains about the lack of artistry from the youth of today while drawing sequences for a project literally directed by, of all things, a dog. Thankfully the real Hideaki Anno hardly needs a dog to create wonderful masterpieces like Eva.
In a press release by Viz, Manami IIboshi, Director of Marketing, says, "We are excited to announce this special series of screenings of FUNKY FOREST: The First Contact. Director Katsuhito Ishii endeared audiences to his offbeat style of filmmaking with THE TASTE OF TEA, and he offers a daring, quirky and funny experience with FUNKY FOREST. For anime fans, the appearance of famed Evangelion director Hideaki Anno is also a treat. We look forward to cinema aficionados of all types seizing this rare opportunity to catch this unique film theatrically."
Source: VIZ Media