5 Masaaki Yuasa Films Get Retrospective Screenings in California on August 5-7

GKIDS announced at its panel at Anime Expo on Sunday that it and American Cinematheque will screen a retrospective of films by anime director Masaaki Yuasa in two California theaters from August 5 to 7. The retrospective celebrates and leads up to GKIDS' upcoming screening of Yuasa's latest film INU-OH in U.S. theaters on August 12.

INU-OH and Ride Your Wave will screen as a double feature at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica on August 5, with a Q&A segment with Yuasa in between both films.

Mind Game and The Night is Short Walk On, Girl will both screen at the Loz Feliz Theatre in Los Angeles on August 6. The Mind Game screening will have a Q&A with Yuasa. The director will also introduce The Night is Short Walk On, Girl film screening.

Lu over the wall will screen at the Loz Feliz Theatre on August 7.

GKIDS describes INU-OH:

Inu-Oh is born with unique physical characteristics, and the horrified adults cover every inch of his body with garments, including a mask on his face. One day, he meets a boy named Tomona, a blind biwa player, and as Tomona plays a delicate song of tangled fate, Inu-Oh discovers an incredible ability to dance.

Inu-Oh and Tomona become business partners and inseparable friends, using their creative gifts to survive on the margins of society, as song after song gain them notoriety and propel them to stardom. Through the songs, Inu-Oh mesmerizes his audiences on stage, and gradually begins to transform into someone of unequaled beauty. But why is Tomona blind? Why was Inu-Oh born with unique characteristics? It is a story about the friendship of Inu-Oh and Tomona, who dance and sing to get to the truth and break each other's curse.

The film opened in Japan on May 28. ASMIK Ace will release the film in Asia, North America, France, the U.K, and Benelux. ASMIK Ace and Fortissimo have sold the screening rights of the film to Sun Distribution for Latin America, Rapid Eye for Germany, Front Row for the Middle East, and Cinemaran for Spain.

Avu-chan of the Queen Bee rock band plays Inu-Oh, and Mirai Moriyama plays Tomona. Tasuku Emoto, Kenjiro Tsuda, and Yutaka Matsushige play Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Inu-Oh's father, and Tomona's father, respectively.

Manga creator Taiyo Matsumoto drafted the original character designs for the film in his second collaboration with Yuasa, who directed the anime of Matsumoto's Ping Pong manga. Akiko Nogi wrote her first anime film after scripting such live-action works as I am a Hero, We Married as a Job!, and Unnatural.

The film made its world premiere in the 78th Venice International Film Festival in September 2021, and it was the first 2D Japanese film to compete in the Venice International Film Festival's Horizons category. The film has since screened at many other film festivals.

Sources: GKIDS AX 2022 panel (Lawrence Furry), American Cinematheque