Animation lovers, mark your calendars! This fall, JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles is teaming up once again with the Animation Is Film Festival in Hollywood, October 17 – 19, 2025. Produced by GKIDS with the Annecy International Film Festival and Variety, the festival celebrates the creativity of animation worldwide—showcasing everything from hand-drawn artistry to cutting-edge digital techniques. Screenings take place at the iconic TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Ovation Hollywood.
As a community partner, JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles is thrilled to shine a spotlight on Japanese animation and anime in this year’s lineup. Festival-goers can enjoy 25% off tickets with the code JAPANHOUSE-25, and catch an incredible range of Japanese films, including west coast premieres and special filmmaker talks.
Spotlight Event: Don’t miss Hirokazu Kojima, Character Designer / Supervising Animation Director of ChaO, as he takes the stage for an inside look at the animation industry and a live drawing session at JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles—an exclusive opportunity to experience an anime director’s creative process in real time!
Screenings
Scarlet
West Coast Premiere / Director Mamoru Hosoda Q&A
Date
Fri. Oct. 17, 2025
Time
7:00 PM – 9:15 PM
Location
TCL Chinese 6 Theatres
– SOLD OUT –
Encore Screening / Director Mamoru Hosoda Q&A
Date
Sun. Oct. 19, 2025
Time
8:00 PM – 10:15 PM
Location
TCL Chinese 6 Theatres
From visionary Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda (MIRAI) comes a powerful, time-bending animated adventure about SCARLET, a medieval-era, sword-fighting princess on a dangerous quest to avenge the death of her father. After failing at her mission and finding herself gravely injured in an “Otherworld,” she encounters an idealistic young man from our present day who not only helps her to heal but shows her the possibility of a future free of bitterness and rage. When confronted again by her father’s killer, Scarlet faces her most daunting battle: can she break the cycle of hatred and find meaning in life beyond revenge?
Japan · 2025 · Mamoru Hosoda · 111 min · Japanese with English subtitles
ChaO
Date
Sat. Oct. 18, 2025
Time
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Location
TCL Chinese 6 Theatres
The acclaimed Studio 4°C, known for their inventive designs and avant-garde storytelling, has spent 7 years working on ChaO, a film about love persevering despite a prevalent divide.
In a world where sea people live in tandem with humans, tensions are high due to boat propeller incidents. Ambitious ship worker Stephan becomes entangled in a political marriage with the princess of the fish people, Chao. Chao’s love for Stephan is immediate and true though cultural differences threaten his ability to return her feelings.
Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki with character designs from Hirokazu Kojima, ChaO is a film that asks “What can love overcome?” Finding the answer will take you on a heartwarming and delightful journey.
Japan · 2025 · 90 min · Japanese with English subtitles
Special In-Person Program
Live Talk & Drawing with Animation Director Hirokazu Kojima
Date
Sat. Oct. 18, 2025
Time
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location
JAPAN HOUSE Salon, Level 5
Seating is subject to availability and will be claimed on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that admission isn’t guaranteed with a RSVP.
Experience the magic of anime live! From Japan’s acclaimed Studio 4°C (Mind Game, Children of the Sea) comes ChaO, a bold new hand-drawn romantic comedy where humans and mermaids collide in a futuristic love story. With over 100,000 frame-by-frame drawings, this breathtaking film follows Stephan, a mild-mannered office worker, whose life turns upside down when Chao—a spirited mermaid princess—proposes to him, sparking a hilarious and heartfelt romance.
At the heart of this visual masterpiece is Hirokazu Kojima, the supervising animation director and character designer behind ChaO. Known for his bold break from traditional anime styles, Kojima brings a unique energy and expressive flair to every scene. In this exclusive Talk & Live Drawing event, audiences will enjoy a rare behind-the-scenes look at his creative process, hear stories from the making of ChaO, and watch him sketch characters live on stage. Whether you’re an anime fan, art lover, or culture seeker, this is your chance to see how world-class Japanese animation is created—right before your eyes.
About Hirokazu Kojima
Hirokazu Kojima
Character Designer / Supervising Animation Director
Since the 2000s, he has drawn attention as a rising animator with works such as Futakoi Alternative (2005) and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007). In recent years, under the name kojipero, he worked as Animation Director on Gridman Universe (2023), and under the name kojikoji, he handled sub-character design and served as Animation Director on Lazarus (2025).
Read More.
For STUDIO4℃ productions, he contributed as a key animator to Yasuhiro Aoki’s short film Honey Tokyo (2010), the animated parts of the game Asura’s Wrath (2012), and the feature film Children of the Sea (2019). ChaO marks his first time serving concurrently as both Character Designer and Supervising Animation Director.
All You Need is Kill
West Coast Premiere
Date
Sat. Oct. 18, 2025
Time
4:15 PM – 5:30 PM
Location
TCL Chinese 6 Theatres
After contact with alien organisms places her in a time loop, introverted 18-year-old Rita is forced to relive the same day over and over as she battles the extra-terrestrial invaders. Think Groundhog Day, but with giant carnivorous plants. Despairing at first, Rita gains confidence after meeting a young man stuck in the same loop, and develops a newfound sense of purpose through their shared fate.
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If you too are getting a sense of déjà vu, it may be because a version of the same story was told in the Tom Cruise-starring Edge of Tomorrow (both films are based on Hiroshi Sakurazakaʼs well-received novel All You Need Is Kill). This new adaptation is vividly animated by the legendary STUDIO4°C (Tekkonkinkreet, Children of the Sea) and directed by Kenichiro Akimoto, who has worked on some of the studio’s most beloved films. In his hands, Rita’s bleak predicament becomes a searing sci-fi tour de force which unfolds with propulsive energy. As it moves from one imaginatively staged action sequence to the next, the film never loses sight of its central question: how do we find meaning in a chaotic world?
Japan · 2025 · Kenichiro Akimoto · 82 min · Japanese with English subtitles
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
US Premiere / Filmmaker Q&A
Date
Sun. Oct. 19, 2025
Time
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location
TCL Chinese 6 Theatres
Precocious, open-hearted, and knowing everything and nothing all at once, nearly three-year-old Amélie recounts her beginnings in post-war Japan, seeing the world with wide, emerald-eyed wonder. Caught between cultures, she is devoted to her beloved housekeeper Nishio-san, while her Belgian family does their best to keep pace with her insatiable desire to understand everything around her. As she pieces together her strange little universe, Amélie begins to seek deeper truths about who she is and what it means to love, to lose, and to belong—big questions for someone so small.
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Adapting Amélie Nothomb’s bestselling autobiographical novel, accomplished animators and first-time directors Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han invite us into Amélie’s dreamlike world, delicately balancing the spark of kid-curiosity with life’s greater complexities. Through shifting seasonal hues, their emotive, impressionistic artistry mirrors the uniqueness of Amélie’s inner life.
Charming audiences at Cannes, winner of the Audience Award at Annecy, and selected for San Sebastian, BFI London, and TIFF, this is a stirring and poignant portrayal of innocence and deep knowing. Exquisite in both form and feeling, Little Amélie invites us to rediscover the world—as if we, too, were nearly three years old.
France · 2025 · Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han · 77 min · English
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