The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents
ANIME AT THE MODERN
August 20-22, 2021
Join us as we celebrate the Japanese anime genre—films that are visually stunning, richly imaginative, and poetic in their story telling.
Screenings will be held in the Modern’s auditorium. Tickets are $10, $9 for Modern members, $7 for Modern Reel People members. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, August 3. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.themodern.org or by visiting the museum’s admission desk.
SCHEDULE
August 20, 7:30 pm
Mind Game
Special guest speaker Dr. Christine Veras, Assistant Professor of Animation and History of Animation at University of Texas at Dallas
The cult film Mind Game (2004), the first feature animation from the award-winning director Masaaki Yuasa, opens the 2021 Anime at the Modern series—even though this is not a typical anime. Its eccentric plot mixes a wide range of animation styles and techniques. Mind Game follows the wild and surreal story of a young manga artist and his childhood sweetheart through multiple alternative realities as they struggle to get a new chance in life (even though they may already be dead).
(This film is not rated, but due to its sexual and violent imagery, it is strongly suggested for mature audiences only.)
August 21, 11 am
Patema Inverted
Special guest speaker Dr. Marc Hairston, Professor of Science at the University of Texas at Dallas
An overlooked gem, Patema Inverted (2014) is the perfect fantasy fable for our divided times. Patema is a young girl living in a steampunk underground world wondering about a rumored surface world. Age is a boy living on the surface in an authoritarian society with legends of sinners who were snatched up into the sky. When Patema finds her way to the surface world and meets Age, their worlds and their worldviews collide, starting with the key question “which way is up?”
August 21, 2 pm
Earwig and the Witch
Special guest speaker Dr. Marc Hairston, Professor of Science at the University of Texas at Dallas
Earwig and the Witch (2020), the first new feature film from Studio Ghibli in six years, breaks new ground as their first foray into 3D CGI animation. Directed by Goro Miyazaki (son of Hayao Miyazaki), Earwig is based on a novel by the British fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones, author of the original novel of Howl’s Moving Castle. Left as an infant at St. Morwald’s Home for Children, Earwig lives there until, at the age of 10, she is “adopted” by a witch, Bella Yaga, and her companion, the Mandrake. They have “adopted” Earwig so that Bella can have “an extra pair of hands” as she makes her potions, but Bella annoys Earwig by refusing to teach her any magic. More conniving than the typical sweet anime heroine, Earwig fights back and, in the process, discovers the hidden connection between her captors and her missing mother.
August 22, 2 pm
Ride Your Wave
Special guest speaker Dr. Marc Hairston, Professor of Science at the University of Texas at Dallas
We close the 2021 Anime at the Modern series with a bittersweet rom-com, Masaaki Yuasa’s recent animated film Ride Your Wave (2019). Hinako Mukaimizu, a college student whose passion is surfing, falls in love with Minato Hinageshi, a young local firefighter. But when Minato drowns in a surfing accident, Hinako’s life is shattered until Minato’s ghost returns to her, but with a catch: he can only appear to her in water. Bit by bit, with the help of Minato’s ghost, Hinako begins to move on to learn she can still ride her own wave.
LOCATION
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
Telephone 817.738.9215
Toll-Free 1.866.824.5566
Fax 817.735.1161
www.themodern.org
