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Liz and the Blue Bird Screenings at Leeds Film Festival

The Leeds International Film Festival in November has announced that it will include two screenings of Kyoto Animation's film Liz and the Blue Bird at City Varieties Music Hall. The first screening will be on Saturday November 7 at 10 a.m., and the second will be on Sunday November 8 at 1:45 p.m.

The screening page does not specify if these screenings will be subtitled or dubbed. However, the trailer embedded in the screening page is in Japanese with subtitles.

The film festival site describes the film as follows:

"Liz and the Blue Bird continues this exploration of youth, through the story of two best friends who face their final year of high school knowing that they'll have to go their separate ways soon, a situation reflected in the musical piece they're rehearsing with the school's brass band. From Kyoto Animation, Naoko Yamada's fourth feature anime captivates with its watercolour-style animation and nuanced characters."

The film was spun off from the Sound! Euphonium franchise, based on Ayano Takeda's Sound! Euphonium novel series. Liz and the Blue Bird is based on the Sound! Euphonium ーKitauji Kōkō Suisōgakubu, Hanran no Dai Ni Gakushō: Kōhen (Sound! Euphonium - The Kitauji High School Concert Band's Turbulent Second Movement: Part 2) novel.

The film focuses on flutist Nozomi Kasaki and oboist Mizore Yoroizuka, the characters who were also the focus of the Sound! Euphonium 2 anime's first half. In the film, both Nozomi and Mizore are in their final year of high school, and Nozomi has rejoined the band. The band's new competition piece, "Liz and the Blue Bird," has a flute and oboe duet, which requires both Nozomi and Mizore to be coordinated. But while both have been together since middle school, Mizore is uneasy at the thought of being separated from Nozomi once more at the end of the year, which begins to affect not just their music, but also their relationship.

Naoko Yamada (K-ON!, A Silent Voice) directed the film off scripts by Reiko Yoshida (K-ON!, Yowamushi Pedal). Futoshi Nishiya (A Silent Voice, Free!, episode animation director for both television anime seasons) returned to design the characters. Mutsuo Shinohara (A Silent Voice, Clannad) returned as art director. kensuke ushio (A Silent Voice, Space Dandy) composed the music.

The Leeds Film Festival site also lists a music video for the song "The Message" by Onoe Caponoe. The three-minute music video was animated by Tochka, a creative duo in Japan. The video will be shown online as part of the Leeds Music Video Competition, but screening details are still to be confirmed as of writing.

The festival also lists a short film called "Beyond Noh," a U.S.–Japanese co-production. It will be screened as part of the festival's World Animation Competition programmes, but it is not confirmed which of the three programmes it will be in.

Thanks to Jordan Scott for the heads-up.