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Free London Screenings of Patema Inverted and Thermae Romae

The Japan Foundation has annnounced four free screenings of Japanese films in London in April, including:

- The 2013 science-fiction film Patema Inverted, showing on Friday April 20 at 6.40 p.m. at the Courthouse Cinema at 19-21 Great Marlborough Street (off Regent Street). Before the screening, there will be a twenty-minute talk by Helen McCarthy, co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia. (The 6.40 time is the start of the talk.)

The film is described as follows: 'Patema has lived her whole life underground. Her community forced into the darkness, she roams the tunnels she calls home by torchlight. Age is a misfit who lives in the world of Aiga, controlled by the tyrant Izamura family for generations. The city at the centre of the kingdom is dominated by a massive control tower with a vast wasteland lurking in the horizon. Together the pair are about to be experience something big enough to turn their worlds upside down.'

- The 2012 live-action version of the time-travel comedy manga Thermae Romae, showing at Saturday April 21 at 5 p.m. at the The Soho Hotel, 4 Richmond Mews (near Shaftesbury Avenue).

The film is described as follows: 'Lucius (Abe), an architect of spa baths for the Roman Empire, inadvertently travels through time and finds himself in a modern Japanese bathhouse. He takes elements of Japanese culture that he learns back to ancient Rome and is commanded by the Emperor to build a giant spa.

- There will also be free screenings of two other Japanese films, Mameshiba and Twenty-Four Eyes.

The films will be shown in Japanese with English subtitles, and must be booked at Google Forms here. According to The Japan Foundation, 'This event is free to attend but booking is essential. You are able to book a maximum of two tickets for only one screening. If you would like to book for more than one film, please e-mail us at [email protected] detailing which film you would like to attend and we will add you to a waitlist.'