New York Asian Film Fest to Screen Miss Hokusai, Tekkonkinkreet Anime Films

The organizers of the New York Asian Film Festival announced on May 31 that it will screen Keiichi Hara and Production I.G's award-winning Miss Hokusai anime film, and Studio 4°C's Tekkonkinkreet anime film.

Miss Hokusai is set in Edo in 1814, and centers on O-Ei, the daughter of famous painter Katsushika Hokusai, and who often helps her father in his work. The film proceeds through many vignettes of O-Ei's interaction with people from all walks of life, whose circumstances and imagery often color the famous work that she and her father produce.

The film premiered in Japan last May.

Miss Hokusai previously won: the Jury Award in the Official Feature Film Competition at the 39th Annecy International Film Festival in June 2015; the Sequences Award for best Asian feature film, the Satoshi Kon Award for best animated feature film, and the Gold Audience Award for best animated feature film at the 19th annual Fantasia International Film Festival last August; the Best Animated Feature Film award at the 48th annual Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival last October; Best Animated Feature Award at the Asian Pacific Screen Awards last November; and Best Animation Film Award at the Mainichi Film Awards in February.

Additionally, Keiichi Hara won Digital Content Expo's Asiagraph 2015 Tsumugi Prize for the film last September. The film was also nominated for Animation of the Year by the Japan Academy Prize Association.

Tekkonkinkreet centers on two orphans named Black and White, living in Treasure Town, a slum-like town that is overrun by rampant crime. A Yakuza boss named Snake is aiming to demolish Treasure Town to build a theme park, but Black interferes with their operations.

The film's screening at the New York Asian Film Fest commemorates the film's 10th anniversary. The film won Best Original Story and Best Art Direction at the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair, and was also awarded Animation of the Year in 2008 by the Japan Academy Prize Association. Director Michael Arias will be in attendance at the festival.

The festival will also present the live-action HK/Hentai Kamen Abnormal Crisis sequel film; Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Creepy; Hideo Sakaki's Kiyamachi Daruma; Iwai Shunji's All About Lily Chou-Chou, A Bride for Rip Van Winkle, and Swallowtail Butterfly; Shinya Tsukamoto's Tetsuo: The Iron Man; Kazuya Shiraishi's Twisted Justice;Yoji Yamada's What a Wonderful Family!; and two as-yet unannounced Japanese films.

Shunji will receive this year's Livetime Achievement Award at the festival.

Subway Cinema launched the New York Asian Film Festival in 2002. The festival "selects only the best, strangest, and most entertaining movies to screen for New York audiences, ranging from mainstream blockbusters and art-house eccentricities to genre and cult classics."

The New York Asian Film Festival will run from Wednesday, June 22 to July 5 at the Film Society's Walter Reade Theater, and on July 6 to 9 at the SVA Theatre.​