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Boston Int'l Children's Film Fest to Screen Wolf Children, A Letter to Momo
posted on by Karen Ressler
The Boston International Children's Film Festival will be screening Mamoru Hosoda's Wolf Children film on April 16 at 12:45 p.m. and on April 17 at 3:00 p.m. The festival will also screen A Letter to Momo and Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW on April 21 at 3:30 p.m. and 12:45 p.m. respectively. Tickets for all three films are currently on sale for US$10 each. The Wolf Children and A Letter to Momo screenings will be in Japanese with English subtitles, and the Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW screening will be in English.
Wolf Children is the newest film directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who gained international fame with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars. Funimation licensed Wolf Children and plans to release it this year in theaters and on home video. The film's story covers 13 years and begins with a 19-year-old college student named Hana who encounters and falls in "fairy tale-like" love with a "wolf man." After marrying the wolf man, Hana gives birth and raises two wolf children — an older sister named Yuki ("snow") who was born on a snowy day, and a younger brother named Ame ("rain") who was born on a rainy day. When the wolf man suddenly dies, Hana decides to move to a rural town far removed from the city.
Wolf Children premiered in the U.S. at the New York International Children's Film Festival (NYICFF) last month and won an Audience Award.
As previously reported, the film will also screen this month in Dallas as part of the Dallas International Film Festival (NYICFF) on April 8 and April 13, in San Diego as part of the San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase on April 20 and 21, in Costa Mesa a part of the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 27, and in Santa Monica's Aero Theatre on April 27.
A Letter to Momo follows a girl named Momo who struggles with her father's sudden passing and her move to the countryside. Momo finds an otherworldly surprise at her new home. Hiroyuki Okiura spent seven years planning, writing, storyboarding, and directing the film; it is his first return to the proverbial director's chair since Jin-Roh in 2000. The film held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011.
The film won last year's Grand Prize award at the NYICFF, and will also screen at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica on April 26.
Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW is a science-fiction adventure in which four children from rural Japan are stranded in space after meeting an alien dog at summer camp. Released in 2010, the film returned to the NYICFF this year with an English dub recorded by NYAV Post.
