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NY Int'l Children's Film Fest to Screen Poppy Hill, Wolf Children

The New York International Children's Film Festival (NYICFF) will screen Studio Ghibli and Goro Miyazaki's From Up On Poppy Hill, Mamoru Hosoda's Wolf Children, and Koji Masunari's Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW films. Tickets for the March festival went on sale Friday.

From Up On Poppy Hill is a Studio Ghibli film based on a 1960's shōjo manga of the same name by Tetsurō Sayama and Chizuru Takahashi. The film follows Umi (Sarah Bolger) and Shun (Anton Yelchin) in a budding romance as they come together to save their school's clubhouse from destruction in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Hayao Miyazaki wrote the screenplay adaptation and the film was directed by Goro Miyazaki. GKIDS will release the film in theaters and on home video. The festival will screen the English-dubbed version of the film on March 16 and 17.

Wolf Children is the newest film directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who gained international fame with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars. Funimation licensed Wolf Children and plans to release it this year in theaters and on home video. The film's story covers 13 years and begins with a 19-year-old college student named Hana who encounters and falls in "fairy tale-like" love with a "wolf man." After marrying the wolf man, Hana gives birth and raises two wolf children — an older sister named Yuki ("snow") who was born on a snowy day, and a younger brother named Ame ("rain") who was born on a rainy day. When the wolf man suddenly dies, Hana decides to move to a rural town far removed from the city. The festival will screen the film with English subtitles on March 9 and 24.

Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW returns to the NYICFF on March 3 and 16. The festival will host the U.S. premiere the English dub of the film, which was recorded by NYAV Post and features Cassandra Lee, Marc Diraison, Matthew Jacob Wayne, Michael Sinterniklaas, Michaela Dean, and Stephanie Sheh. Directed by Koji Masunari (Read or Die) and animated by A-1 Pictures, Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW is a science-fiction adventure in which four children from rural Japan are stranded in space after meeting an alien dog at summer camp.