Ghibli co-produced film The Red Turtle also screening at festival

The BFI London Film Festival has announced that Makoto Shinkai's new film Your Name will be screening in competition. While the festival has screened numerous anime films in the past, Your Name is the first Japanese animation to be featured in the competition section. In addition, director Makoto Shinkai will be in attendance at the festival. The UK distribution is being handled by Anime Limited.

The film will be screened on Friday October 14 at 6 p.m. at the Embankment Garden Cinema; Saturday October 15 at 12 noon at the same venue; and Sunday October 16 at 6.15 p.m. at the Ritzy cinema. Tickets for all three screenings will go on sale on September 15 at 10 a.m.

In addition, the animation The Red Turtle, which was co-produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by the Dutch director/animator Michael Dudok de Wit, will be screened in the Festival's "Journey" section on Wednesday October 5 (6.40 p.m) at the BFI Southbank, and Thursday October 6 (2.15 p.m.) at the Odeon Leicester Square; details here.

The Kimi no Na wa. film's "story of miracles and love" revolves around Mitsuha and Taki. Mitsuha is a female high school student who lives in a rural town nestled deep in the mountains. Her father is the mayor and isn't at home much, and she lives with her elementary school-aged little sister and her grandmother. Mitsuha has an honest personality, but she doesn't like the customs of her family's Shinto shrine, nor does she like her father participating in an election campaign. She laments that she lives in a confined rural town, and yearns for the wonderful lifestyle of living in Tokyo. Taki is a male high school student who lives in central Tokyo. He spends time with his friends, works part-time at an Italian restaurant, and is interested in architecture and fine arts. One day, Mitsuha has a dream where she is a young man. Taki also has a dream where he is a female high school student in a town in the mountains that he has never been to. What is the secret to their dreams of personal experience?

Shinkai wrote the script for the film. Masashi Ando (Spirited Away, When Marnie Was There, Paprika) served as the animation director and Masayoshi Tanaka (anohana, The Anthem of the Heart, Toradora) designed the characters. CoMix Wave Inc. animated the film.