Jeremy Graves & Andrew Partridge – Scotland Loves Anime panel

Was there ever any doubt that Scotland loves anime? After the Scotland Loves Anime festival panel at Scotland Comic Con, there certainly isn’t! Scotland Loves Anime festival director Andrew Partridge and All the Anime social media giant Jeremy Graves were in attendance to reveal news about the festival and answer questions from an enthusiastic audience. Ironically, however, the biggest news from the panel wasn’t about Scotland, but London – a world premiere, in fact. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

First of all they promoted their screening of Empire Of Corpses which will be shown in Glasgow a mere eight days after its initial release in Japanese cinemas – so those attending the festival will be amongst the first people to see the film outside of Japan.

Another one of the giant films headlining the festival is the UK premiere of Miss Hokusai. From the studio that brought us Giovanni’s Island, Miss Hokusai depicts the story of the famous artist Katsushika Hokusai and his daughter. The film will be screened at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Saturday 10 October, and the festival is celebrating this prestigious occasion with by bringing the film’s director, Keiichi Hara, to Glasgow to introduce the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A.

The team was also delighted to announce a theatrical programme for the Japan Anima(tor)’s Exhibition from Studio Khara, the talent behind Evangelion 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0! The exhibition pulls together a series of shorts focusing on original projects, music PV, VJ films, etc. The programme will be screened at the Filmhouse Edinburgh on Friday 16 October and it is recommended for over 18s only.

Andrew Partridge pointed out an interesting note regarding the screenings of Dragon Ball Z – Resurrection ‘F’. If you would prefer to see this shown in Japanese with English subtitles you will need to attend the Glasgow screening on Saturday 10 October at the Glasgow Film Theatre. If you like to watch your anime in dubbed English you can attend the screening at the Filmhouse Edinburgh  on Sunday 18 October.

Gundam the Origin Episode I

For those attending MCM London Comic Con in October listen up! You lot are getting a little taste of Scotland Loves Anime. The festival organisers are planning to run a small festival of films alongside Comic Con over the weekend at a nearby theatre.

They revealed that they will be having theatrical screenings of Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin Episode I and Episode II – the latter of which will be a world premiere no less. This event will be ticketed separately from MCM London Comic Con and more information will be revealed in the coming weeks.

All convention photography on this page by Michael Guthrie

During the following Q&A panel attendees asked what were the chances of Scotland Loves Anime screening some classic anime films at their festival? Andrew answered that while there isn’t any on this year’s programme, it doesn’t mean that they won’t show some in the future, highlighting that they’ve successfully sold out two screenings of Cowboy Bebop in previous years. Typically they would do screenings when it’s surrounding DVD/Blu-Ray releases of the chosen film.

When asked what their top picks were for the festivals Partridge chose Empire Of Corpses, Miss Houksai and Boruto: The Naturo Movie. Jeremy Graves gushed revealing his chosen pick to be Dragon Ball Z – Resurrection ‘F’ stating that, “I’m a giant by trade, but a Dragon Ball fan by heart”.

Andrew and Jeremy explained the inner workings of organising the festival when asked how much work goes into collecting these titles. Andrew talked how the work was more than just requiring the rights to these titles, it’s also about respecting the reputation of the work. They admitted that the end result in delivering these films to this audience and bringing Japanese guests across to Scotland makes it all worthwhile. With each guest they introduce they feel they are also creating a bigger reputation in Japan when the artist then spreads the word about how well they were received in Scotland.

One attendee asked if they had to choose between the Glasgow and Edinburgh screenings which would they choose? They laughed explaining it’s as if they’ve been asked to choose between which child they love more. Jeremy recommended Glasgow if you want the whole festival encapsulated in a weekend and he suggested Edinburgh would be best if you were spending the week in the city and you could take the festival in daily.

Scotland Loves Anime will be in the GFT, Glasgow from 9-11 October and at the Filmhouse Edinburgh from 12-18 October. They will also be showing a select set of films at the Belmont Cinema, Aberdeen on 23-24 October. For further information visit LovesAnimation.com or follow the festival on Facebook & Twitter.