August 6, 2015

Keiichi Hara new animated feature film, Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai was greeted with the Satoshi Kon Award for best animated feature film, the Gold Audience Award for best animated feature film, and the Prix Séquences for best Asian feature film at the 19th Fantasia International Film Festival (Fantasia 2015), held in Montréal, Canada from July 14 to August 5, 2015. Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai was invited as the festival's opening film, and the screening in Montréal marked the film's North American premiere. Director Keiichi Hara hosted a Q&A session at the end of the July 14 screening.

In receiving the news from Montréal, director Keiichi Hara commented as follows:
"When I was in Montreal for the screening of Miss Hokusai as opening film, I was overwhelmed by the heat wave generated by the crowd of passionate moviegoers that was sitting in front of me.
It felt like being at a rock concert.
So it was a great joy for all of us when we heard that eventually our film was so kindly considered by that wonderful audience. Thank you!"

With nearly 130,000 attendees in its 2014 edition, Fantasia Film Festival is North America's premiere and largest genre film festival, taking place in the city of Montreal, and was the first member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation outside of Europe. It has been described by Quentin Tarantino as "The most important and prestigious genre film festival on this continent."

Screening schedule:
Date: July 14, 2015 (Tue)
Time: 18:30
Place: Concordia Hall Theatre
Introduced by director Keiichi Hara, Q&A following after screening

Date: July 25, 2015 (Sat)
Time: 12:00
Place: Concordia Hall Theatre

Fantasia 2015 official website:
http://fantasiafestival.com/2015/en

© 2014-2015 Hinako Sugiura•MS.HS / Sarusuberi Film Partners