Anime Cinema Club · Screening No. 1
Perfect
Blue
Satoshi Kon's 1997 psychological thriller, on the big screen for one night only in Japantown. Come as you are. Leave a little less sure who you are.
One night only
Satoshi Kon's 1997 psychological thriller, on the big screen for one night only in Japantown. Come as you are. Leave a little less sure who you are.
Rising pop star Mima has quit singing to pursue a career as an actress and model, but her fans aren't ready to see her go. Encouraged by her managers, Mima takes on a recurring role on a popular TV show, when suddenly her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered.
Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia. As her stalker closes in, in person and online, the threat he poses is more real than even Mima knows, in this iconic psychological thriller that has frequently been hailed as one of the most important animated films of all time.
Official trailer courtesy of GKIDS. Open on YouTube
"Dark, disturbing and insanely beautiful. The Stanley Kubrick of anime."
Vice"One of the best animated movies ever made."
Time Out · USA Today · Complex"Masterpiece."
Dazed
Two tiers, one price you can actually afford. Every paid ticket helps us book the next film.
Rated R, 17+. Ticket fees are added at checkout. Full refund if the event is canceled; no refunds for no-shows. Seats not claimed by 6:25 PM may be released. Questions? See Know Before You Go.
Anime Cinema Club is a San Francisco screening series for people who think anime should be watched big, loud, and together. We license real prints from real distributors, book real theaters, and turn each film into a night worth leaving the house for.
Most of us first saw these films on a laptop at 2 AM. That's fine. But a film like Perfect Blue was drawn frame by frame for a dark room and a hundred strangers gasping at the same moment. We're here to give it that room. Perfect Blue is Screening No. 1. If you show up, there will be a No. 2.
Films chosen for the way they play in a theater. Classics, cult favorites, and new work from the studios that shaped the medium.
We screen at New People Cinema and keep the night in the neighborhood: dinner before, drinks after, local businesses in the credits.
Every screening is booked directly with the distributor. The filmmakers and studios get paid. That's the whole point.
$10 tickets. Anyone who loves the film should be able to get in the door.
Perfect Blue is rated R and this event is 17+. The film includes stalking, sexual violence, graphic violence, and a psychological break. If you need to step out at any point, the lobby is staffed and you're welcome back in.
New People Cinema
1746 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
Basement level of the NEW PEOPLE building in Japantown.
The theater has wheelchair-accessible seating. Please email us ahead of time so we can hold a space for you and meet you at the door. Subtitles are English; the film is presented in Japanese with English subtitles.
The lobby and any after-party will be photographed for our recap and for our partners. If you'd rather not be in photos, tell us at check-in and we'll give you a no-photo sticker.
Full refund if we cancel. No refunds for no-shows, but you can transfer your ticket to a friend. Buying a ticket doesn't add you to our list; we'll ask separately, and we never sell it.
1963 – 2010
Celebrated as one of anime's greatest directors, Satoshi Kon got his start as a manga assistant to Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and as an animator on Roujin Z and Mamoru Oshii's Patlabor 2 before making his directorial debut in 1997 with Perfect Blue.
He spent the rest of his career re-examining the line between reality and performance: Millennium Actress, the comedy-drama Tokyo Godfathers, the television series Paranoia Agent, and his final feature, Paprika. Kon died in August 2010 at 46. His planned fifth film, Dreaming Machine, remains unfinished.
Perfect Blue is where it all started: a debut that took the stage with a spotlight as bright as anything that came after, and a critique of the idol industry that has only gotten sharper with time.
One theater, 143 seats, and a film that's been waiting 29 years to mess with you in person.
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