SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our APRIL ANIMATION Series, Sunday, April 30, 2023
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
2pm COWBOY BEBOP: THE MOVIE (2001, dir. Shinichirō Watanabe, Sony, Japan, 115mns, 35mm)
4:30pm GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995, dir. Mamoru Oshii, Lionsgate, Japan, 82mns, Digital)
Tonight, we return to our occasional look at Japanese anime with two leviathan entries in the genre.
First up is Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (on 35mm!), the 2001 feature film based on the cult hit TV show that falls roughly between episodes 22 and 23 of the original series.
As such, it works as a kind of stand-alone mega-episode that follows our Beatnik bounty hunters-Spike, Jet, Faye, Eid, and Ein-as they go to Mars to track down a mysterious Bounty Hunter intent on waging some kind of germ warfare on the red planet.
Both entries tonight are firmly in the speculative science fiction wing of Japanese anime and both focus on strange near dystopia futures where humanity has become more and more detached from the heart and soul of what makes the species loving and human.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie also features a very intense sympathetic bad guy who is a monster, in many ways, created by the ostensible heroes.
We follow this up with an even bigger banger: the original 1995 anime of Ghost in the Shell. A fascinating, unsettling stew of science fiction, political conspiracy, female body politics, and what constitutes the human soul, Ghost in the Shell follows near complete cyborg Major Kusanagi as she investigates a cybernetics and shell manufacturer who may hold the secrets of her own past and identity.
A movie that gets more and more existential as it goes, Ghost in the Shell is one of the towering achievements of 1980’s Japanese anime.
Join us for two anime bangers on the big screen.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.