Leeds International Film Festival 2017 line-up revealed

With the Scotland Loves Anime (SLA) film festival just coming to a close, there is no better time to look ahead to just when and where anime can next be seen on the big screen! November not only brings us screenings of Fireworks and Perfect Blue across the country, but also a series of anime and anime/manga-related feature film screenings as part of the 31^st Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF).

Once again the festival’s Animation Day, now rebranded as Animation Sunday, brings a series of animated feature films to Leeds Town Hall’s Victoria Hall on Sunday, 5th November 2017. Anime films showcased includes the SLA judges’ choice Lu Over the Wall, the aforementioned Perfect Blue, and the Studio 4°C and Ankama Animations co-production Mutafukaz. Also present is the Chinese production Big Fish & Begonia, and The Breadwinner by the Canadian-Irish-Luxembourgian team who made Song of the Sea.

Animation Sunday - Sunday, 5th November 2017

11:00 Lu Over the Wall
13:30 Big Fish & Begonia
16:00 The Breadwinner
18:15 Mutafukaz
20:30 Perfect Blue

Another “Fanathon” event running as part of the “Fanomenon” films is the Manga Movie Marathon day, with four Japanese live-action adaptations of popular manga brought to Leeds Town Hall’s Victoria Hall a week later on Sunday, 12th November 2017.

Manga Movie Marathon - Sunday, 12th November 2017

11:00 The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio
13:45 Tokyo Ghoul
16:30 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable - Chapter 1
19:30 Blade of the Immortal

Tickets are available for each film at the links above at a cost of £9 each (£7.50 for concession, £3 for under 16s), and passes for the entire Animation Sunday or entire Manga Movie Marathon can be purchased for £27 per pass (£22 for concessions). The films are also free with a LIFF 2017 pass, or can be purchased as part of the “see 6 films for the price of 5” deal under certain conditions.

Beyond this, many of these films screen at a later date:

Monday, 6th November - Leeds Town Hall’s Victoria Hall

18:00 - The Breadwinner

Tuesday, 7th November - Leeds Town Hall’s Victoria Hall

12:30 - Big Fish & Begonia

Wednesday, 8th November - Leeds Town Hall’s Victoria Hall

13:15 - Perfect Blue
18:00 - Mutafukaz

Saturday, 11th November - Hyde Park Picture House

12:00 - Lu Over the Wall

Wednesday, 15th November - Leeds Town Hall’s Victoria Hall

15:00 - Blade of the Immortal

Check out the full line-up of films at the Leeds International Film Festival web site, with a pdf of the programme available here. Detailed information about the various tickets, passes and offers can be seen here.

Note that the festival website is now hosted at the leedsfilmcity.com, “a new website celebrating Leeds film culture and the new online home for Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF), Leeds Young Film Festival (LYFF) and Independent Directions (the INDIs)”.