Free screening of New England premiere of Hosoda's latest film

Director Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, The Girl who Leapt Through Time) will appear at the New England premiere of Wolf Children, which will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge on Thursday, March 14 at 7:00 p.m. Hosoda will be available for questions after the screening.

Wolf Children'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.

Funimation has licensed the film and plans to release it this year in select theaters and on home video. The film originally opened in Japan last July.

The screening event, which is free and open to the public, is part of MIT's Cool Japan project, which promotes examination and discussion of Japanese media and popular culture. On the same day as the film screening, MIT Professor Ian Condry will also speak at 4:00 p.m. about his new book The Soul of Anime .

Hosoda is also appearing at the New York International Children's Film Festival on March 9 for the film's United States continental premiere.

Update: Condry's talk will begin at 4:00 p.m., not 4:30 p.m. Thanks, minakichan.

[Via Mike Toole]