Author/artist Masashi Kishimoto was born in 1974 in rural Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Like many kids, he was first inspired to become a manga artist in elementary school when he read Dragon Ball. After spending time in art college, he won the Hop Step Award for new manga artists with his story Karakuri. After considering various genres for his next project, Kishimoto decided on a story steeped in traditional Japanese culture.
His first version of Naruto, drawn in 1997, was a one-shot story about fox spirits; his final version, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, quickly became the most popular ninja manga in the world. The series would also spawn multiple anime series, movies, novels, video games and more.
Having concluded the series in late 2014, Masashi Kishimoto kept himself busy penning continuing adventures in the Naruto world, including the manga Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring and the story for Boruto: Naruto the Movie, both of which focus on the title character’s son, Boruto.
His first version of Naruto, drawn in 1997, was a one-shot story about fox spirits; his final version, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, quickly became the most popular ninja manga in the world. The series would also spawn multiple anime series, movies, novels, video games and more.
Having concluded the series in late 2014, Masashi Kishimoto kept himself busy penning continuing adventures in the Naruto world, including the manga Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring and the story for Boruto: Naruto the Movie, both of which focus on the title character’s son, Boruto.
The Wicker Man: The Final Cut
If you're looking for anime movies to binge, then you've come to the right place. Ranker Video. Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow.
Robin Hardy / 1973, UK
94min / digital
After receiving an anonymous letter about a missing 12-year-old girl, devoutly Christian Police Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) travels by seaplane to a remote Scottish island to investigate. But the islanders welcome neither his badge nor religious devotion, for Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) and his devoted followers worship only the pagan gods of old - and those gods demand a sacrifice. Howie fears for the missing girl's life and follows every possible lead to find her - despite the islanders' interference - before she becomes a human sacrificial lamb.
'Remains as bizarre and bewitching a fable as when it firest appeared... once seen, never forgotten!' Hollywood Reporter
Threads
Mick Jackson / 1984, UK
112min / digital
35TH ANNIVERSARY! Upon its 1984 premiere at the height of global nuclear tension, THREADS shocked the entirety of the BBC's viewership. Months later, it became the most-watched cable program in American history. Exactingly directed by Mick Jackson (VOLCANO) from a screenplay by Barry Hines (Ken Loach's KES), this graphic docudrama depicts the unraveling of society after the working-class city of Sheffield, UK undergoes nuclear attack. With talk of nuclear conflict back in the news, the time is now for audiences with fortitude to experience and absorb this shattering vision on the big screen.
“The most terrifying and honest portrayal of nuclear war ever filmed.” The Guardian
“Unsettlingly powerful.” New York Times
“Realistic, terrifying and brilliantly conceived, THREADS is guaranteed to give you nightmares.” New York Daily News
Godzilla
Ishiro Honda / 1954, Japan
96min / digital
New restoration! 65TH ANNIVERSARY! Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels. Note: we are preseting the original Japanese version. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Showtimes:
Fri: 9pm
Sat: 6pm
Sun: 6pm
Mon: 9pm
Thur: 7pm
Fri: 9pm
Sat: 6pm
Sun: 6pm
Mon: 9pm
Thur: 7pm
The Long Weekend
Colin Eggleston / 1979, Australia
97min / digital
40TH ANNIVERSARY! LONG WEEKEND has notes of POSSESSION's marital anarchy, with a healthy amount of Hitchcockian flair and the stark hellscapes of THE SEVENTH SEAL transposed onto the unforgiving Outback. Essential viewing. Attempting to resurrect their failing marriage, Peter and Marcia trample through the deserted countryside, hoping a long weekend will patch up their differences. As they inadvertently destroy everything in their tracks, scattering garbage and shooting anything that moves, their callous disregard becomes apparent to them when the animals seek vengeance!
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Yoshimitsu Banno / 1971, Japan
85min / digital
New restoration! Intended to address the crisis levels of pollution in postwar Japan, Godzilla vs. Hedorah finds the King of the Monsters fighting an alien life form that arrives on Earth and steadily grows by feeding on industrial waste. Director Yoshimitsu Banno infuses the film with equal parts ecological horror, humorous monster antics, and sixties psychedelia straight out of San Francisco, making for a truly unique—and divisive—entry in the series. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Dick Miller Halloween Double Bill
Roger Corman / 1959 & 1960, USA
140min / 16mm
A Bucket of Blood and The Little Shop of Horrors on 16mm film. Presented by the Sprocket Society.
The legendary character actor Dick Miller passed away this year, having appeared in over 150 movies and TV shows, including Gremlins, The Terminator, The Howling, Rock 'n' Roll High School, After Hours, and many others. For Halloween, the Sprocket Society honors Miller with a special double bill of cult classics that helped launch his career -- all on 16mm film!
A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959 - 60th anniversary!) features Miller in his iconic lead role as Walter Paisley, the dim-witted waiter at a beatnik coffeehouse who becomes a star 'artist' with a bloody secret. In the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960), he turned down the lead but shines as Burson Fouch, the gourmet with a taste for flowers from a florist whose newest creation also has peculiar (and ravenous) appetites.
Two of the most iconic and beloved Roger Corman films ever made, these riotously farcical horror comedies are no-budget miracles: both shot in only a few days using second-hand sets, the same core cast, and the same (stoned) screenwriter. Don't miss this rare chance to see them together on the big screen!
PLUS! Special guest Dead Allen Ginsberg reads poetry! Spooky shorts and cartoons, also on 16mm! Door prizes and surprises!
Holiday Hell
Jeff Ferrell, Jeremy Berg, Jeff Vigil, David Burns
2019, USA / 100min / digital
On Christmas Eve, a woman enters a curiosity shop looking for a last-minute gift. There, she meets a mysterious shopkeeper who tells her the horrific stories behind four objects in the shop. As he weaves tales of killer dolls, witches and psycho Santas, the woman senses she might be in danger. She has until midnight to choose her gift, but will she choose wisely? Starring horror icon Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator), Joel Murray (Hatchet), Jeff Bryan Davis (Killer Pad), Lisa Coronado (“Twin Peaks”), and Meagan Karimi-Naser (Dead West), the frighteningly-festive horror anthology features segments directed by Jeff Ferrell (Ghostlight), Jeremy Berg (The Invoking), Jeff Vigil and David Burns.
Showtimes:
Fri: 7pm
Sat & Sun: 8pm
Mon: 7pm
Tues: 9pm
Wed: 7pm
Thur: 9pm
Fri: 7pm
Sat & Sun: 8pm
Mon: 7pm
Tues: 9pm
Wed: 7pm
Thur: 9pm
Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace
April Wright / 2019, USA
94min / digital
GOING ATTRACTIONS celebrates the splendor and grandeur of the great cinemas of the United States, built when movies were the acme of entertainment and the stories were larger than life, as were the venues designed to show them: Thousands of seats, giant screens, exotic and ornate interiors with balconies and lounges, in-house organs and orchestras, amazing marquees, and air conditioning back when houses had none. The film also tracks the eventual decline of the palaces, through to today’s current preservation efforts. A tribute to America’s great art form and the great monuments created for audiences to enjoy them in.
Showtimes:
Fri: 9pm
Sat & Sun: 4pm & 6pm
Mon: 9pm
Tues: 7pm
Wed: 9pm
Thur: 7pm
Fri: 9pm
Sat & Sun: 4pm & 6pm
Mon: 9pm
Tues: 7pm
Wed: 9pm
Thur: 7pm
Midnight Traveler
Hassan Fazili / 2019, Qatar-UK-Canada-USA
90min / digital
When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee the country with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing the family’s journey firsthand, Fazili documents their harrowing trek across numerous borders revealing the danger and uncertainty facing refugees seeking asylum juxtaposed with the unbreakable love shared amongst the family on the run. In Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Bulgarian with English subtitles.
WINNER: No Borders - World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award, Sundance Film Festival
'It is the gift of 'Midnight Traveler' to allow us to feel this family's fate in the pit of our stomachs. If the plight of refugees has ever seemed abstract, this film makes sure you know how real it is.' Kenneth Turan, LA Times
'What largely distinguishes 'Midnight Traveler' is its anxious intimacy, a sense of uneasy closeness that pulls you into a family circle that at times gets very small, creating a sense of appropriate claustrophobia.' Mahnola Dargis, NY Times
'A remarkable achievement.' Wendy Ide, Screen International
Making Waves: the art of cinematic sounds
Midge Costin / 2019, USA
94min / digital
Directed by veteran Hollywood sound editor Midge Costin, the film reveals the hidden power of sound in cinema, introduces us to the unsung heroes who create it, and features insights from legendary directors with whom they collaborate. Featuring the insights and stories of iconic directors such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, Barbra Streisand, Ang Lee, Sofia Coppola and Ryan Coogler, working with sound design pioneers–Walter Murch, Ben Burtt and Gary Rydstrom–and the many women and men who followed in their footsteps.
“An inspiring, enterating, epic journey that reminds you why you love cinema.” Serena, Seghedoni, Loud & Clear Reviews
Scandalous
Mark Landsman / 2019, USA
90min / digital
Sex! Gossip! Scandal! For over 60 years, the National Enquirer has pumped out salacious, shocking stories, stretching the limits of journalism and blurring the lines between truth and fiction. SCANDALOUS is the sensational true story of the most infamous tabloid in US history, a wild, probing look at how one newspaper's prescient grasp of its' readers darkest curiosities led it to massive profits and influence. From its coverage of Elvis's death, to Monica Lewinsky and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the National Enquirer rattled the foundations of American culture and politics, sometimes allegedly using payoffs and blackmail to get its scoops. With rare archival footage and revelations as wild as National Enquirer headlines themselves, SCANDALOUS examines our obsession with the rich, famous and powerful, and the tabloid that has fed those obsessions for generations of Americans.
A Satoshi Kon retrospective co-presented with NWFF! It's A Wonderful Life in 35mm Dec 11-Jan 2!