Human Crossing

Though seemingly unconnected, the characters in HUMAN CROSSING all have something in common. They are dealing with the sometimes joyous, but often horrific realities of everyday life. Set in modern day Japan, this compilation of short stories explores the lives of people from all walks of life. The animation used here is subtle, with realistic renderings that fully express the range of emotions experienced by the film`s characters. HUMAN CROSSING taps into the dramatic potential of reality, focusing on the isolated, sometimes lonely nature of urban life. Ultimately, however, the film suggests that perhaps there is an inter-connectedness between people that binds even the most disparate strangers together.

Millennium Actress

Millennium Actress</i> blurs the lines between the past and the present, and truth and fiction, when a documentary filmmaker fulfills his quest to find the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, and learn why she mysteriously vanished at the height of her brilliant career. When Chiyoko grants the filmmaker’s request, he, in turn, presents her with a token – a key she had lost and thought was gone forever. The filmmaker could not have imagined that the key would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life, but also his own. (Source: Dreamworks) Note: The film received an early premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 28, 2001.</i>

Otona Joshi no Anime Time

A series of animations based on prize-winning short stories for women.Kawamo wo Suberu Kaze</strong> (January 7, 2011) In the story, 33-year-old Kanazawa native Noriko had decided long ago not to accept an ordinary, provincial life for herself. So, she had gone to college in Tokyo, worked on her own, married a man at an elite trading firm, and had a child. She has just returned home from five years abroad with her husband and four-year-old son. However, she senses a large emptiness in her heart since coming back. Moreover, there is a man who shares a big secret with Noriko.Yuuge</strong> (March 10, 2013) Mimi, a wife in her late 20s, leaves her family and begins living with a young man.Jinsei Best 10</strong> (March 17, 2013) Hatoko, a business woman, faces her upcoming 40th birthday and reunites with the person with whom she shared her first kiss in middle school, over two decades ago.Dokoka Dewanai Koko</strong> (March 24, 2013) A 43-year-old housewife gets a glimpse of a complicated relationship between a mother and a daughter. (Source: Anime News Network)

Genius Party

An anthology of seven short animated films from Studio 4°C: 1.) Genius Party</b> (directed by Atsuko Fukushima) A bizarre bird-like creature runs through a barren desert and finds what seems to be a smiling egg lying on the ground. 2.) Shanghai Dragon</b> (directed by Shouji Kawamori) An imaginative Chinese boy finds a futuristic device that can make his own drawings come to life. After discovering the device, the town he lives in is about to be invaded by spaceships and machines of mass destruction that are all centuries ahead of Earth's time. 3.) Deathtic 4</b> (directed by Shinji Kimura) A tale set in a world full of zombies, living their normal zombie lives. A living frog falls from the blackened sky of the zombie world, and a little zombie boy with his friends try to bring the living creature back to its own world. 4.) Doorbell</b> (directed by Youji Fukuyama) The main character is a ghost in his own world. He must outrun the other versions of himself, or they will take over his life. 5.) Limit Cycle</b> (directed by Hideki Futamura) An existential examination of the world as seen through the lens of a man seemingly trapped in an endless cycle of work. 6.) Happy Machine</b> (directed by Masaaki Yuasa) An infant who is happily secured in his own nursery suddenly discovers that everything about the nursery is fake. Soon the infant is forced out of the nursery into the world that exists outside, where adventure awaits, and there are many alien-like creatures to encounter. 7.) Baby Blue</b> (directed by Shinichirou Watanabe) A small adventure of two young students who decide to go anywhere they can for just one day, to enjoy that day without caring about the rest, and simply be together. (Source: Anime News Network)