AFA UK: Studio Ghibli Pyjama Party, Wong Ping, Weathering With You and More
It's a new year and we're back once again with the very first edition of AFA UK for 2020! Each time we bring you the latest animated happenings in the United Kingdom.
The Prince Charles Cinema, London has announced a new season of Studio Ghibli Forever Screenings will take place in 2020, from January 12 through until November, Most excitingly of all, however, is The Studio Ghibli Pyjama Party, an all-nighter screening featuring six Ghibli classics will take place February 29.
London Short Film Festival runs in the capital from January 10-19. As part of this year's festival there's a new strand named Platform "a strand committed to spotlighting artist filmmakers on the ascent, working in unconventional ways across mediums" in association with Arts Council England. One of the three inaugural filmmakers selected is Hong Kong artist-animator Wong Ping.
Wong's work will be celebrated in a curated screening and Q&A session at the Soho Theater at 6 PM on January 19.
"Combining the crude, the grotesque and the political, Wong explores the pressing concerns of our age: existential angst, sexual impotence and societal limitations.
Straddling the chasm between low and high culture, Wong’s visually saturated, surrealist observations on contemporary life create a dystopian Kafkaesque world, depicting both mundane cruelties and a sense of comfort that our perversions and fantasies are shared by others."
Manga Entertainment have announced that four of their upcoming releases will be receiving the special edition treatment alongside their previously announced standard editions. SSSS Gridman, Zombie Land Saga, Fruits Basket Part 2 and Attack On Titan Season 3 Part 2 Special Editions will all be available on the same date as their regular counterparts.
Weathering With You, the new film from Makoto Shinkai hits cinemas in the UK and Ireland on January 17, tickets are on sale now, along with screenings of a double-bill will Your Name on January 15.
Scotland Loves Anime has announced a selection of films from their 2019 festival, including Weathering With You, Promare, and Ride Your Wave will screen in Aberdeen's Belmont Filmhouse from January 24-29.