The 13th Annual Vince Koehler Film Festival will feature a sampling of the best of Japanese anime in English with their program: “Go Anime! Bambi Eyes and Robot Dreams.” The program will be Saturday 26 July from 6 to 10:30PM at the University of Missouri Kansas City (School of Ed Bldg, Room 115, 52nd and Holmes, Kansas City, MO). Admission is free.
A speaker wearing an anime costume will introduce each film (in English). The evening’s selections will include:
Patlabor: “Ingram Activated” (23 min) In the future, “labors” are giant robotic exoskeletons used for construction… and sometimes for crime. Police Patrol Labors, or “patlabors”, are used to fight criminals’ labors. In the first episode from this “mecha” series, a fresh new recruit pursues criminals who have stolen a new patlabor prototype.
Last Exile: “First Move” and “Luft Vanship” (44 min) In this retro-science fiction series, young Claus and Lavie crew a courier “vanship” (a small wingless aircraft), flying messages to a fleet of aerial warships. The series is set in a world very different from our own, where the nations of Anatoray and Disith battle for supremacy of the skies but are ruled by the mysterious, high-tech Guild. The stunning animation style creates a world that is strange and fascinating but oddly familiar.
Intermission (20 minutes). During intermission, they’ll be showing a variety of anime music videos, previews of anime series, and “our usual selection of shorter subjects to keep everyone well entertained.”
The Story of Saiunkoku: “Every Good Deal Has a Catch” (25 min) A poor, young noble woman makes a bargain for a princely sum… without asking what she’s agreeing to. The story is set in a fantasy realm resembling that of medieval China and contains strong elements of drama, comedy, and romance. The richly detailed artwork and colors of this film are a true visual feast.
Read or Die (86 min) In an alternate world where Great Britain remains a superpower, the British Library has a Special Operations unit with super-powered operatives who investigate the theft of very rare books. This apparently silly premise is handled deftly in a humorous and highly original story line in which a meek bookworm heroine fights bizarre, half-human super-villains. The top-notch art in this film features an overtly cinematic style, somewhat reminiscent of the better, more recent James Bond films.
The “Late Show” starts at about 10PM, and is the R rated PuniPuni Poemy: “Poemy is in a Bad Mood” (28 min) This comedy is billed as “An all new exercise in breaking the weirdness barrier.” That is an understatement: If this hilarious film does not turn your brain to sushi, we will cheerfully refund your (free) admission. You’ll be too busy laughing to mind that it’s blissfully incoherent!
The event is funded by UMKC’s Communiversity program, and named for Vince Koehler, who was a respected member for many years of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle. He hosted a KC area cable TV show and wrote a column for the Johnson’s County Gazette, both entitled “Entertainment Spectrum.”