July 11-14, our annual series celebrating influential anime filmmakers returns with an added spotlight on select live-action films from some of Japan’s most boundary pushing contemporary directors.  

Anime Club Presents celebrates two years of anime programming at FACETS, from our Anime Auteurs series that started it all, to our monthly members only Anime Club that has grown into its own vibrant community. Chicago’s anime fans have shown their passion and openness to experience films, OVAs and mini-series they’ve never seen, and with this year’s screening series, we’ve decided to expand our reach and include a few modern Japanese live-action classics films alongside this year’s anime selection.  

This year’s series kicks off on Thursday, July 11 with LITTLE DYSTOPIAS, a member and series pass holders exclusive double feature inspired by the crumbling futuristic societies at the center of both films. Attendees will get the chance to enter our raffle and win special event posters or other anime-themed prizes. On Friday, July 12, we’ve paired two of the most chaotic and endlessly entertaining films of the 21st century, Masaaki Yuasa’s Night is Short, Walk on Girl (2017) and Takeshi Miike’s The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001). On Saturday, July 13th, we’re celebrating one of anime’s true living legends, Hideaki Anno with a screening of the alternate ending to his most famous work, The End of Evangelion (1997), followed by a rare on screen appearance from the filmmaker in Katsuhito Ishii’s psychedelic comedy Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005). Closing out the series on Sunday, July 14, is Shunji Iwai’s poetic exploration of a mythical pop icon’s effect on her young fan’s lives, All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001).