'Modest Heroes: Ponoc Short Film Theatre' Gets A New US Trailer
Studio Ponoc, the studio set up by former Studio Ghibli staff, is set to release its follow up to Mary And The Witch's Flower in the US early next year. Modest Heroes: Ponoc Short Films Theatre, Volume 1 was perhaps not the film that we were expecting. It is (as the name suggests) an anthology film. It consists of three short films, one directed by Mary and The Witch's Flower director Hiromasa Yonebaysahi and the other directed by Yoshiyuki Momose and Akihiko Yamashita- Ghibli veterans both making their directorial debuts. Yoshiaki Nishimura, Ponoc's founder is producing the film.
GKIDS Films and Fathom Events will bring the film to more than 500 US cinemas for two nights only, on January 10 and January 12, 2019. The first date's screenings will be showing with the new English dub, the second will screen in the original language version.
Yonebayashi's film Kanini & Kanino is a grand adventure featuring two crab brothers, Momose's Life Ain't Gonna Lose features a young boy and his strong-willed mother and Yamashita's Invisible features a man who wakes up one day to find nobody can see him.
Tickets are now on sale, and to mark the occasion, GKIDS have debuted a brand new English trailer. The new tariler certainly gives us our closest look at the film yet, and showcases the varied animation styles across the film beautifully.
Tickets are available now from FathomEvents.com, ModestHeroesFilm.com or at the box office at participating venues. Check out the trailer and offial synopsis, below.
Studio Ponoc, the new animation studio founded by two-time Academy Award®-nominee Yoshiaki Nishimura (The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There) and featuring many artists from the venerable Studio Ghibli, made an immediate splash last year with its acclaimed debut film Mary and The Witch’s Flower. The studio returns this year with Modest Heroes: Ponoc Short Films Theatre Vol. 1, an ambitious collection of three thrilling tales created by some of the greatest talents working in Japanese animation today.
In Kanini & Kanino, directed by Academy Award®-nominee Hiromasa Yonebayashi (When Marnie Was There, Mary and The Witch’s Flower), two crab brothers embark on a grand underwater adventure to find their father, after an accident carries him far downstream. Depicted as tiny beings in a large and merciless natural world, the brothers must evade a series of freshwater predators if they are ever to reunite with their family again.
In Life Ain’t Gonna Lose, acclaimed animator Yoshiyuki Momose (key animator on Isao Takahata’s films at Studio Ghibli, and animation director of the video game Ni No Kuni) makes his directorial debut with a very different kind of story. Eight-year-old Shun loves baseball and to run. Only eggs defeat him. With the love of his strong-willed mother (Maggie Q), Shun faces the challenge of an everyday life threatened by a deadly allergy.
Lastly, in Invisible (the directing debut of Akihiko Yamashita, a talented key animator on many of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s best-known films) a man wakes up one morning and goes through his day in a world where no one can see him. But just when he seems to have reached his limit, a momentous decision gives him the chance to reclaim his humanity.
Together, the stories explore ideas of heroism large and small, and the infinite potential of the short film format allows the directors and Studio Ponoc to experiment with breathtaking, action-packed visuals, concise human drama, and gorgeous fantasy worlds, in this unforgettable short film anthology that is further demonstration of the studio’s exciting future.
