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London BFI IMAX Cinema Screening of Mamoru Hosoda's Belle on March 14

There will be a subtitled screening of Mamoru Hosoda's 2021 film BELLE at the BFI London IMAX near Waterloo station on Saturday March 14 (11.30 a.m.) with tickets available here. The screening will be introduced by the hosts of the Ghibliotheque podcast, Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham.

BELLE had its world premiere at the Cannes film festival in July 2021. The BFI IMAX website describes the story:

"Mamoru Hosoda is one of contemporary cinema's great chroniclers of the digital age. From Digimon to Summer Wars, he dramatised the growing presence of the internet in our daily lives and explored themes of isolation, connection and the division between our online avatars and our real selves. BELLE forms the third part of this informal ‘online’ trilogy, and looks at the impact of social media on young people today: the spectacular online world of “U” is a space for freedom and expression, but one that can soon turn toxic and troubling.

"Suzu is a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. One day, she enters “U”, a virtual world of 5 billion members on the internet. There, she is not Suzu anymore but BELLE, a world-famous singer. She soon meets with a mysterious creature. Together, they embark on a journey of adventures, challenges and love, in their quest of becoming who they truly are.

"This special screening will be introduced by Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham, co-hosts of the podcast Ghibliotheque and co-authors of The Ghibliotheque Anime Movie Guide and the Animation Atlas. Following the screening, Jake and Michael will be selling and signing copies of their books in the cinema foyer."

Singer-songwriter Kaho Nakamura played the protagonist Suzu/Belle. Nakamura also sings in the film.

Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars,The Boy and The Beast, Mirai) directed and scripted the film, and is also credited for the original work. The film marks Studio Chizu's 10th anniversary. Taisei Iwasaki (Blood Blockade Battlefront, Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan, The Naked Director) was the film's music director and composer.

Eric Wong, a London-based architect and designer, created the concept artwork for the film's online world of U. According to Chizu, "Hosoda personally found and commissioned Eric to come up with this universal and international "internet space" from both an architectural and design perspective."

Jin Kim (Frozen, Tangled, Big Hero 6, Moana) designed the titular protagonist Belle.