Summary Kotatsu Festival Aberystwyth 2023
Due to unforeseen circumstances with our distributors, we can no longer screen Oblivion Island and Break of Dawn this year. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Fri 20th Oct
11:20 Patema Inverted (PG)
14:30 The First Slam Dunk (12A)
16:40 The First Slam Dunk (12A English Dub)
19:15 EVANGELION:3.0+1.01 THRICE UPON A TIME (15)
Sat 21st Oct
10:30 Liz and the Blue Bird (U)
12:30 Nico/Agony (12A)
+ The First Slam Dunk (12A)
15:00 Raffle
15:20 Macross Plus Movie Edition (12A)
Sun 22nd Oct
13:45 Chieri and Cherry (U)
15:35 Miss Hokusai (12A)
17:15 Raffle
+ Re:cycle Of The Penguindrum Movie 1 (15)
Unless otherwise stated, all films are in Japanese with English subtitles.
For ticket information please contact
Aberystwyth Arts Centre Box Office on +44(0)1970 62 32 32
Friday 20th October 2023
11:20 Patema Inverted
A young girl, from a civilization that resides in deep underground tunnels, finds herself trapped in an inverted world and teams up with a resident to escape and return home.
Japan | 2013 | 99’ | PG | Yasuhiro Yoshiura | Japanese with English subtitles | Trailer
14:30 The First Slam Dunk(Japanese with English subtitles)
© I.T. PLANNING, INC.
© 2022 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Film Partners
The First Slam Dunk
The film follows Ryota Miyagi, the point guard of Shohoku high-school’s basketball team. He had a brother, Sota, who was three years older than him, and who inspired his love for basketball. Ryota and his teammates challenge the inter-high basketball champions, the Sannoh school.
Japan | 2022 | 124’ | 12A | Takehiko Inoue | Japanese with English subtitles | Trailer
16:40 The First Slam Dunk (English Dub)
© I.T. PLANNING, INC.
© 2022 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Film Partners
The film follows Ryota Miyagi, the point guard of Shohoku high-school’s basketball team. He had a brother, Sota, who was three years older than him, and who inspired his love for basketball. Ryota and his teammates challenge the inter-high basketball champions, the Sannoh school.
Japan | 2022 | 124’ | 12A | Takehiko Inoue | English Dub | Trailer
19:15 EVANGELION:3.0+1.01 THRICE UPON A TIME
©khara
Shinji Ikari is still adrift after losing his will to live, but the place he arrives at teaches him what it means to hope. Finally, the Instrumentality Project is set in motion and he will make one last gruelling stand to prevent the Final Impact.
Japan | 2021 | 155’ | 15 | Mahiro Maeda, Katsuichi Nakayama, Kazuya Tsurumaki | Japanese with English subtitles | Trailer
As a special cinema exclusive, attendees to all screenings of EVANGELION:3.0+1.01 THRICE UPON A TIME will receive an exclusive Ayanami Rei / Shikinami Asuka Langley reversible A4 mini-poster. Subject to availability.
Saturday 21st October 2023
10:30 Liz and the Blue Bird
©Ayano Takeda,TAKARAJIMASHA/Hibike Partners
Students and best friends Mizore and Nozomi practice a complex duet, “Liz and the Blue Bird”, for oboe and flute. With graduation looming and the duet proving difficult, their friendship begins to buckle under the pressure. Interspersed is the fantasy storybook tale of Liz, contrasted with the crisp realism of the school, which weave with stirring music to tell a touching coming-of-age story.
Japan | 2018 | 91’ | U | Naoko Yamada | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated | Trailer
12:30 Nico/Agony + The First Slam Dunk(Japanese with English subtitles)
Nico/Agony
Nico is a housewife living in Tokyo with her husband Makoto, a musician from the underground music noise scene. After Makoto’s band breaks up, he becomes far too busy working at his new job and rarely gets home. Nico struggles to raise their child alone. She questions her situation, then a person appears in front of her.
Japan | 2023 | 10’ | 12A | Director: Umoto Yuuji | Animation Director: Yuka Akabane | F-Rated | Japanese with English subtitles
© I.T. PLANNING, INC.
© 2022 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Film Partners
The First Slam Dunk
The film follows Ryota Miyagi, the point guard of Shohoku high-school’s basketball team. He had a brother, Sota, who was three years older than him, and who inspired his love for basketball. Ryota and his teammates challenge the inter-high basketball champions, the Sannoh school.
Japan | 2022 | 124’ | 12A | Takehiko Inoue | Japanese with English subtitles | Trailer
15:00 Raffle Draw
Raffle
Tickets for this year’s raffle will be available at the festival, from the Kotatsu stand.
Tickets are 50p each.
Full details of the raflle prizes can be found on our raffle page
15:20 Macross Plus Movie Edition
©1995 BIGWEST/MACROSS PLUS PROJECT
The year is 2040 and the galaxy is flourishing with several colonies and advanced technology. AI is near perfection and the current top idol is the near-completed Virturoid Idol Sharon Apple. All that is missing are her actual feelings, which instead are supplied by Myung Fang Lone. Sharon’s debut concert is on planet Eden, where at the same time, fighter pilots Isamu Dyson and Guld Bowman battle over air superiority for the “Supernova Project.” Isamu, Guld and Myung were once childhood friends, but after an accident seven years ago, they went their own separate ways.
With Myung back in the picture, the old disputes are once again awakened. And when an unstable and illegal AI technique is installed in Sharon, the situation is worsened.
Japan | 1995 | 120’ | 12A (TBC) | Kawamori Shoji | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated
Sunday 22nd October 2023
13:45 Chieri and Cherry
©「ちえりとチェリー」製作委員会
The only friend Chieri has is a stuffed animal Cherry; it talks and plays with Chieri, and helps her get through life in place of her late father. When she visits her grandmother’s house for her father’s memorial, they find a stray dog giving birth to puppies, but a mean crow and strange monster come trying to get the baby dogs. Can Chieri and Cherry save their lives?
Japan | 2016 | 54’ | U | Makoto Nakamura | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated | Trailer
15:35 Miss Hokusai
© 2014-2015 Hinako Sugiura•MS.HS / Sarusuberi Film Partners
Set in 1814 Edo (Tokyo), an accomplished artist, Katsushika Hokusai, works tirelessly in his house-atelier. Decades later his work would come to mesmerise Van Gogh, Monet, Klimt and Debussy. His daughter who often painted for him remained uncredited. O-Ei, is a free-spirited woman overshadowed by her father. Her art is so powerful that it leads her to trouble.
Japan | 2015 | 90’ | 12A | Keiichi Hara | Japanese with English subtitles | F-Rated | Trailer
17:15 Raffle Draw / RE:cycle of the PENGUINDRUM MOVIE – Part 1 Your Train Is the Survival Tactic
Raffle
Tickets for this year’s raffle will be available at the festival, from the Kotatsu stand.
Tickets are 50p each.
Full details of the raffle prizes can be found on our raffle page
©2021 ikunichawder/pinglobeunion
RE:cycle of the PENGUINDRUM MOVIE – Part 1 Your Train Is the Survival Tactic
The Takakura brothers search for PENGUINDRUM by order of a mysterious penguin-shaped hat. A destiny has been written in a diary, and an attempt to rescue a precious person of fate. Siblings, penguins, the past and the future… who rides the train to change fate? Can you ever come back from the place fate takes you?
Japan | 2022 | 124’ | 15 | Kunihiko Ikuhara | Japanese with English subtitles | Trailer
Also available
Kotatsu Festival Stand
A selection of anime related goods. All money raised on this stand will be used to help fund future Kotatsu Festival events.
Manga Kissa (Manga Café)
New this year, why not settle down in our comic corner and read some of your favourite manga or general Japan-related books or magazines. If you have any spare reading materials, please consider bringing them along and donating them to our reading area for others to enjoy.
The majority of reading materials are kindly donated by Andrew Offiler from Calon. Thank you Andrew!
Please don’t take them home, so others can enjoy!
Japan-bits
Selection of cute amigurumi – hand made characters, japan-themed items, japan-themed cards.
2023 Kotatsu Film Critics’ Award
The 2023 Kotatsu films will be judged by a panel of three critics.
Andrew Offiler
Andrew is a script-editor and writer who has worked on both international animated series and feature films including: Asterix in America, Fireman Sam, Hilltop Hospital and Hana’s Helpline. He also created ‘Igam Ogam’ for S4C/Channel Five.
Robert Brown
Robert is an Award Winning Freelance 2D Animator / Director / Illustrator / Author with over 30 years experience in traditional hand-drawn animation and digital using Adobe CC Animate and TvPaint. He has animated on the legendary Chuck Jones Emmy Award Winning film ‘Peter and the Wolf’, as well as animating on European Feature Films and Children’s TV series shown on BBC, ITV, Channel 4 / S4C, Channel 5. He has also animated on a music video for Sir Tom Jones! As well as his professional work he also makes his own personal short films, which have WON 13 AWARDS and have been screened at film festivals all over the world. In 2018 he wrote and Illustrated his first children’s book ‘Hafwen and the Egg’ and his new book ‘Hafwen and her Butterfly’ is out now. He is based in Caerphilly, Wales, UK.
Nia Edwards-Behi
Nia has been immersed in Welsh film culture for over 15 years, and has experience in, and passion for, the arts and media more broadly. Nia has a doctorate from Aberystwyth University, and worked at Aberystwyth Arts Centre for a decade, and worked for a period at S4C before joining the Screen and Sound Archive of the National Library of Wales in 2023.
Nia is co-director of the Abertoir Horror Festival, programmer for the Wales One World Film Festival and contributes regularly to events and publications on film. She is a Theatr Genedlaethol board member and part of Film Hub Wales’ advisory group.Throughout her career Nia has specialized in issues of representation, inclusion and access.
