Zipangu Fest on Tour heads to Newcastle!

We've teamed up with the wonderful Star and Shadow Cinema to bring the best of Zipangu Fest 2010 to Newcastle. The cinema will be playing host to us from 7-17 April 2010, showing a Japanese Film Season programme selected from our first year.

As this is from our 2010 programme, this could well be one of your last chances to enjoy this selection of rare live-action feature films and animations from some of Japan's most innovative talents, so catch them before 2011 takes over!

This season was curated by Jasper Sharp, director of Zipangu Fest, and he'll be opening on 7th April at the CALF Animation event. For more information on ticketing, please refer to the Star and Shadow Cinema website.

Thursday 7th April, 7.30pm
Beyond Anime: CALF Animation + TALK (2007 to 2010)
The season opens with the popular CALF Animation programme. The new and exciting CALF label aims to redefine our notions of the term "Japanese animation", with a collection of award-winning works from a few of Japan's most innovative and exciting animators. This screening will be introduced by the director of Zipangu Fest, Jasper Sharp. More here.

Sunday 10th April, 7.30pm
NN-891102 + 3 short films
NN-891102 is an unforgettable indie classic about a man struggling to overcome the trauma of the A-bomb through sound. The screening includes three must-see shorts: PsychoMediaParty, Pussycat and the extremely charming and highly-addictive A Wolf Loves Pork. More on the event here.

Thursday 14th April, 7.30pm
Ero Guro Anime Night (1993 to 2008)
For an unusual strain of horror, check out this compilation of 4 nightmarish short animation films which won praise from audiences at Zipangu Fest 2010. These works from underground filmmakers Hiroshi Harada and Naoyuki Niiya introduce a fascinating genre called ero guro nansensu ("erotic grotesque nonsense"). From gruesome urban myths to parallel universes to freakshows, this is the true stuff of bad dreams! More on the event here. Information on the films themselves can be found in the Films section of this site, and also on Jasper Sharp's blog.

Sunday 17th April, 7.30pm
Footed Tadpoles (2009) + 2 short films
Wax nostalgic about your carefree youth with Footed Tadpoles, a quirky coming-of-age comedy about first love in junior high school. And if you enjoyed A Wolf Loves Pork and Pussycat on the 10th, be sure to catch the equally addictive A Song Like a Fish, and Bloody Night, by the same young animators respectively. More on the event here.