Crunchyroll announced today a special one-day-only private pop-up installation in Los Angeles exploring the complete works of celebrated Japanese animation filmmaker Makoto Shinkai. Makoto Shinkai: A Journey from Voices of a Distant Star through Suzume will be held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Sunday, November 19, and will feature a special appearance by the award-winning anime auteur. The RSVP-only event will also be bookended by public screenings of Shinkai’s films.
The exhibition is organized by Crunchyroll, in cooperation with CoMix Wave Film, STORY inc, and TOHO Co., Ltd., and will present artwork and materials from eight of Shinkai’s works, starting with Voices of a Distant Star (2002) through his latest critically acclaimed film Suzume (2023). Guests of the event will be able to explore his creative process – from initial proposals and early sketches to design, including storyboard, animation renderings, and final film materials – and traverse his growth as an animation artist and storyteller, particularly following the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, which profoundly affected his approach to his work. An accompanying film retrospective in the Academy Museum’s Ted Mann Theater will allow Crunchyroll’s guests to delve deeper into the world he creates.
About the installation: Makoto Shinkai is one of Japan’s leading animators and has been writing, animating and directing films for over 20 years. His recent full-length animated films, Your Name. (2016) and Weathering with You (2019) and this year’s Suzume (2023), have been attracting huge audiences and gaining critical acclaim around the world. Combining imaginative storytelling with exquisitely textured animation, Shinkai explores themes like loneliness, distance, loss and longing, and our complex relationship with the natural world. His masterfully conceived real and science fiction worlds are filled with characters whose journeys and emotions resonate within us all.
The pop-up will run from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 19. RSVPs will open at 10 a.m. PT on Monday, November 6: more information will be available here.
The film retrospective will feature three screenings:
- 10:30 a.m. (Public) Weathering with You (2019)
- 1:30 p.m. (Private) Suzume (2023)
- 5:15 p.m. (Public) Your Name. (2016)
