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Eva 2.0, Musashi, First Squad to Premiere in Waterloo (Updated)

posted on by Egan Loo
Canadian festival holds N. American premieres for Evangelion 2.0, First Squad this month

The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema announced its lineup for the November 19-22 event in the Canadian province of Ontario. The film slate includes the North American premieres of Hideaki Anno and Khara's Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Ha) on November 21, Mizuho Nishikubo and Production I.G's Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai on November 22, and Yoshiharu Ashino and Studio 4°C's First Squad - The Moment Of Truth on November 20.

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance is the second film in the theatrical film remake of Anno and Gainax's Neon Genesis Evangelion television anime series. It opened in Japan on June 27 and then ran in Sitges in Spain. The film continues the story of a group of 14-year-olds entrusted with giant biomechanical units to protect Earth from mysterious Angels. Funimation is releasing the first film in the remake, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Jo), in North America this year in theaters and on home video.

Award-winning creator Mamoru Oshii (Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers) wrote Musashi for Nishikubo to direct. According to the Production I.G studio, the film takes an "anime documentary" approach to portraying "the fact and fiction about the Niten Ichi-ryū of Musashi Miyamoto, the seeker of the way of the invincible sword." Miyamoto is a legendary swordsmen who pioneered the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū style of two-sword fighting and wrote The Book of Five Rings, a book that has been compared to Sun Tzu's The Art of War for its insight on tactics and strategy. ANN is hosting a trailer with English subtitles. The film already played at Puchon in South Korea, at Locarno in Switzerland, and at Sitges.

First Squad is set during the opening days of World War II on the Eastern Front. A group of Soviet teenagers with extraordinary abilities has been drafted into a special unit to fight the invading German army. A Schutzstaffel (SS) officer attempts to raise from the dead an army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross and enlist them in the Nazi cause. Russian artists Misha Sprits and Aljosha Klimov created First Squad, and Ashino (Tweeny Witches) directed the project in Japan. The film premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival in June and won the Kommersant newspaper's prize. It also played at Locarno, at Cannes in France, and at Sitges.

Images © Khara, Gainax
© 2009 Production I.G/Miyamoto Musashi Production Committee
© 2008 Molot Entertainment

Update: Production I.G has notified ANN that Musashi's North American premiere was actually at Festival du Nouveau Cinema in October. The American premiere will be at the 4th San Francisco International Animation Festival on November 14.


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