STUDIO GHIBLI FOREVER A season of classic animated tales by one of the greatest animation studios, made in their 30 year plus history. The films will all be screening with subtitles, and additional Family Friendly ‘Cine Kids’ screenings will be presented in the dubbed versions.
Howl’s Moving Castle (Haruru No Ugoku Shiro) Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd July Japan 2004 119 mins Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
Sophie is an ordinary girl who works in a hat shop, but one day she is swept off her feet by the mysterious wizard Howl, and is then turned into a 90-year old woman by the evil Witch of the Waste. In order to lift the curse, Sophie travels with Howl aboard his floating castle, as he risks his life to bring peace to a warring kingdom. Based on the beloved novel by English writer Diana Wynne Jones.
The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu) Friday 8th – Sunday 10th July Japan 2013 126 mins Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
Miyazaki announced his retirement and said that The Wind Rises would be his last feature film of an illustrious career. He continues his love of aviation with this tale of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed the Japanese fighter planes during World War II. Chronicling his life from key historical events, to more personal loves and friendships, Miyazaki has created a moving and beautiful masterpiece.
JUL– AUG
Princess Kaguya (Kaguyahime No Monogatari)
Laputa: Castle In The Sky (Tenku No Shiro Rapyuta)
Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th July Japan 2013 137 mins Dir: Isao Takahata
Friday 5th – Thursday 11th August Japan 1986 125 mins Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata explores one of Japan’s most famous folktales, ‘The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter’, in this enchanting animation. An old bamboo cutter happens upon a tiny girl the size of his thumb. Taking her home to his wife, the couple raise the girl as their own.
Pazu, an engineer’s apprentice, finds a young girl, Sheeta, floating down from the sky wearing a glowing pendant. Together, they discover both are searching for the legendary floating castle, Laputa, and vow to unravel the mystery of the luminous crystal around her neck. Their quest isn’t easy though with sky pirates, secret agents and monumental obstacles stopping them from discovering the truth.
Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (Kaze No Tani No Naushika) Friday 29th July – Thursday 4th August Japan 1984 117 mins Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
Miyazaki’s first film under the Studio Ghibli umbrella is an adaptation of his manga, set in the distant future after human civilisation has been wiped out in a global war known as the ‘Seven Days Of Fire’. In the isolated Valley Of The Wind, Princess Nausicaa rules over a small group of survivors, the valley bordered on all sides by a toxic jungle guarded by monstrous insect creatures.
Porco Rosso (Kurenai No Buta) Friday 12th – Thursday 18th August Japan 1992 94 mins Dir: Hayao Miyazaki
‘Porco Rosso’, a veteran World War I pilot in 1930s Italy, who has been cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig! He makes a living flying contract jobs, such as rescuing those kidnapped by air pirates. When rival ace, Curtis arrives intent on making a name for himself at Porco’s expense, Porco has to stand up and be human again.
SCULPTING TIME ANDREI TARKOVSKY SEASON
JUL– AUG
A season of films from iconic Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky starting with Andrei Rublev and ending with his final film The Sacrifice. All seven of his films are presented in brand new digital restorations as part of a nationwide tour.
Andrei Rublev
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Mirror
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Nostalgia
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USSR 1966 183 mins Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
USSR 1975 107 mins Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
USSR 1983 125 mins Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
This epic historical drama charts the life of Andrei Rublev, 15th century icon painter. Rublev lives in a world consumed by feudal violence and human degradation, and the turmoil around him makes him lose the will to speak. After many years of silent travelling around medieval Russia, he meets a young boy who has taken charge of the construction of a large silver bell, and in him discovers the inspiration to speak again. Immediately suppressed upon release by the regime, Andrei Rublev is considered Tarkovsky’s first masterpiece.
After the success of Solaris, Tarkovsky made one of his most personal films in the heavily autobiographical Mirror. Reflecting upon his own childhood alongside the history of the Russian people, Tarkovsky creates a dreamscape layering memories of childhood with dreams and nightmares. A visual insight into Tarkovsky the man and Tarkovsky the artist, the film resonates with directors, placing No.9 in the 2012 Sight and Sound Greatest Films Of All Time Director’s Poll.
Andrei Gortchakov (Oleg Yankovsky) is a Russian author on an Italian research expedition with his beautiful translator Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano) to retrace the journey of 18th century Russian composer named Sosnovsky who, despite achieving international recognition away from his homeland, eschewed fame and returned to the humble life of a feudal serf. Highly cerebral, beautifully realised this is an abstract exploration of nostalgia, for a physical and cultural past.
Solaris
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USSR 1972 166 mins Dir: Andrei Rarkovsky
Adapted from the 1968 novel by Stanislaw Lem, Tarkovsky tackled the book in an attempt to find a popular cinematic subject. Donatas Banionis is a cosmonaut sent to investigate disappearances on the space station orbiting the planet Solaris, only to be confronted by the past in the vision of his dead wife, absorbingly played by Natalya Bondarchuk. Tarkovsky presents the story as a dreamlike interrogation of faith, memory and the power of love.
Stalker
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USSR 1979 162 mins Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
Deep within the Zone, a bleak and devasted forbidden landscape, lies a mysterious room with the power to grant the deepest wishes of those strong enough to make the hazardous journey to get there. Desperate to reach it, a scientist and a writer approach the Stalker, one of the few able to navigate the Zone’s menacing terrain, Adapting Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s ‘Roadside Picnic’, Tarkovsky’s second foray into science fiction is a surreal and disturbing vision of the future.
The Sacrifice
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USSR 1986 149 mins Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
Tarkovsky’s final film explores a deeply personal statement on humanity’s self-destruction and the end of the world. Starting on the precipice of World War III, the story is about Alexander, a journalist and former actor and philosopher who, on the outbreak of war, turns to God and offers himself up as a sacrifice to change the world and stop the war. The Sacrifice is a heart-breaking but ultimately reaffirming film about love, humanity and faith.