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3 Genius Party Directors to Attend U.S. Premiere

Directors Shinichiro Watanabe, Kōji Morimoto, and Mahiro Maeda will attend the February 15 American premiere of the Genius Party anthology and February 16 world premiere of the Genius Party Beyond anthology at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Watanabe directed Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus and The Animatrix's "Detective Story" and "Kid's Story" shorts before creating the "Baby Blue" short for the first Genius Party anthology. Mahiro Maeda (Blue Submarine No. 6, The Animatrix's "Second Renaissance," Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo) and Kōji Morimoto (Memories' "Magnetic Rose," "Noiseman Sound Insect," The Animatrix's "Beyond") oversaw the "Gala" and "Dimension Bomb" shorts, respectively.

The three directors will join Eiko Tanaka, the head of Studio 4°C and the executive producer of both Genius Party anthologies, at the premieres. Tanaka and her directors will speak during the introductions before the films. The Kennedy Center will also hold the North American premiere of The Piano Forest, Masayuki Kojima's anime film adaptation of Makoto Isshiki's manga, on February 17. The East Coast premieres of 5 Centimeters Per Second and Appleseed: Ex Machina will be held on that same day. All of the anime premieres are part of the Center's Japan! culture + hyperculture festival which takes place from February 5 to 17. Viz Media will be providing books for a Manga Café and Reading Lounge.