Fortune Favours Lady Nikuko Gets UK Release

While the anime medium has seen a recent renaissance owing to exciting epic fantasies and dazzling romances that are literally out of this world, sometimes, an ordinary life is the best of all. That’s the charm of Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, an eccentric yet heartwarming testament to the earnest lives of ordinary people from Japanese comedy legend Sanma Akashiya and award-winning director Ayumu Watanabe (Children of the Sea). Anime Limited are delighted to announce that Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is joining their Cine Matsuri season of exciting anime films, coming exclusively to selected cinemas in the United Kingdom and Ireland from 10th August 2022.

Everyone knows about Nikuko, the larger-than-life woman who works at the local grill house and lives in a cosy houseboat moored at the docks of a small town. She’s loud and the furthest from being fashionable, but she has a big heart - whether that’s for deadbeat men sure to deceive her, or her daughter. A girl on the cusp of adolescence, Kikuo wants nothing more than to fit in and is often embarrassed by her mother, until the unearthing of a secret threatens to either bring them closer together, or tear them apart.

The colourful and heartfelt story of Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko was brought to life after the film’s creative producer, the popular Japanese comedian Sanma Akashiya, found himself moved by the love between parent and child found in Kanako Nishi’s original novel, with Nikuko’s cheerfulness reminding him of women he knew growing up in Kansai. When deciding to bring Nikuko to life through anime, Akashiya believes that “There are many things that Japan can be proud of and defend on the global stage. Anime is one of them”.

This makes Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko more than a perfect addition to Anime Limited’s ongoing Cine Matsuri season, which will continue to bring a jam-packed line-up of exciting, diverse anime films to cinemas across the United Kingdom and Ireland throughout summer and autumn.

Spielberg Film The Fablemans Gets TIFF Premiere

TIFF is excited and honoured to announce that Steven Spielberg’s first ever appearance at the Festival will take place this September with the World Premiere of his new film, The Fabelmans, at the 47th edition of TIFF.

A deeply personal portrait of 20th Century American childhood, The Fabelmans is a coming-of-age story about a young man’s discovery of a shattering family secret and an exploration of the power of movies to help us see the truth about each other and ourselves.

The film’s ensemble cast includes four-time Academy Award® nominee Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn); Paul Dano (The Batman, There Will Be Blood); Seth Rogen (Steve Jobs, An American Pickle); Gabriel LaBelle (The Predator, American Gigolo series); Oscar® nominee Jeannie Berlin (The Heartbreak Kid, Inherent Vice); Julia Butters (Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, 13 Hours); Robin Bartlett (Moonstruck, Lean on Me); Keeley Karsten (Hunters, Evil Lives Here) and Academy Award® nominee Judd Hirsch (Uncut Gems, Ordinary People).

Inspired by Spielberg’s own childhood, The Fabelmans is written by Spielberg and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Caroline, or Change), who has earned Oscar nominations for his screenplays for Spielberg’s Lincoln and Munich. The film is produced by three-time Oscar® nominee Kristie Macosko Krieger (West Side Story, The Post), Spielberg and Kushner.

My Policeman Gets TIFF World Premiere

TIFF is thrilled to announce that My Policeman, directed by Michael Grandage, will have its World Premiere at the 47th edition of the Festival.

Adapted for the screen by Ron Nyswaner from Bethan Roberts’ award-winning novel of the same name, My Policeman follows three young people – policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin), and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson)– as they embark on an emotional journey in 1950s Britain. Flashing forward to the 1990s, Tom (Linus Roache), Marion (Gina McKee), and Patrick (Rupert Everett) are still reeling with longing and regret, but now they have one last chance to repair the damage of the past. Based on the book by Bethan Roberts, director Michael Grandage carves a visually transporting, heart-stopping portrait of three people caught up in the shifting tides of history, liberty, and forgiveness.

From Prime Video, My Policeman stars Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Gina Mckee, Linus Roache, David Dawson and Rupert Everett. It is directed by Michael Grandage from a screenplay by Ron Nyswaner, based on the book by Bethan Roberts. Producers are Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Robbie Rogers, Cora Palfrey and Philip Herd.

Goodbye, Donglees! Gets Edinburugh Festival Premiere

There’s no time more exciting yet poignant than the end of youth: when we weigh up what’s truly special to us and become aware of the wider world outside our humble hometowns. This fond farewell to childhood is at the heart of Goodbye, DonGlees!, a coming-of-age adventure that Anime Limited are excited to bring to new horizons with the film’s UK Premiere at the 75th Edinburgh International Festival on 16th August 2022, with the film’s director Atsuko Ishizuka in attendance! Goodbye, DonGlees! will receive a wider theatrical release in the UK and Ireland later this year.

Outcast by their classmates, teenagers Roma, Toto and Drop found each other and became the tightly knit friendship group dubbed the “DonGlees”. However, after meeting up for one last summer firework show together, they find themselves blamed for a nearby forest fire. Believing a wayward drone to be the only way of proving their innocence, the trio head into the rural mountains, and alongside frightful bears and perilous waterfalls, find that growing up might be taking them down different paths in life.

A story of embracing youthful adventure punctuated by emotional soul-searching, Goodbye, DonGlees! embodies the hallmarks that led director Atsuko Ishizuka’s 2018 anime series A Place Further Than the Universe to critical acclaim, with the New York Times naming it one of the Best International Shows of the Year. Ishizuka has also previously directed the highly popular fantasy anime series No Game. No Life, and its theatrical prequel No Game, No Life the Movie: Zero.

Goodbye, DonGlees! will be shown at Edinburgh International Film Festival on Tuesday 16th and Friday 19th August 2022, with the director in attendance for the former screening only. The film will be shown in Japanese with English subtitles.

For more information and to book tickets, please visit https://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/

The Woman King Gets TIFF World Premiere

TIFF is excited to announce TriStar Pictures’ The Woman King will have its World Premiere at the 47th edition of the Festival.

The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Inspired by true events, The Woman King follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Oscar®-winner Viola Davis) as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life. Some things are worth fighting for…

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the story is by Maria Bello and Dana Stevens and the screenplay by Dana Stevens. Produced by Cathy Schulman, Viola Davis, Julius Tennon and Maria Bello, Peter McAleese serves as executive producer. The film stars Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin and John Boyega. The action drama is co-financed by Entertainment One (eOne).