After spending two years in a coma caused by a traffic accident, Shiki Ryougi awakens with amnesia. Inexplicably, she finds, in turn, that she has also obtained “Mystic Eyes of Death Perception” in which she can see the invisible lines of mortality that hold every living and non-living thing together. Working for a small independent agency, Shiki attempts to unravel the baffling mystery behind a series of abnormal, horrifying incidents, but are they a foreshadowing that leads to something even more tragic and ominous? Things are not what they appear to be on the surface, but what dark revelations lie underneath? This is a modern occult-action thriller where Shiki must tackle supernatural incidents with her special abilities while searching for a reason to live.

PREMIERE EVENT:
Producers of the Garden of sinners to participate in discussion panel… Aniplex of America Inc. will host the Garden of sinners Premiere Screening Event at VIZ Cinema on Saturday, February 5th, to be followed by a discussion panel with key members of the movie’s production staff. This one-day-only event will kick off the anticipated release of the Garden of sinners – Blu-ray Disc Box which streets in North America on February 8th, 2011 (just a week after Japan’s release)… READ MORE ABOUT THE EVENT >>>

Tickets are $15 for the entire event. Seating is limited.

About the Garden of sinners:
“the Garden of sinners” is a series of hit cult novels written by KINOKO NASU of TYPE-MOON (“Tsukihime -Lunar Legend-”, “Fate/stay night”) and published in KODANSHA BOX series. The best-selling novel series has since been adapted into seven fully animated theatrical films, of which each corresponding movie directly covers one of the original seven chapters. In Japan, the series of movies was released in theaters, starting December 2007. Each successive release became a box office smash with record numbers of attendees, while skyrocketing DVD sales of each movie outperformed many other series and movies.

A housewife (Park Ji-ah) in a troubled marriage finds herself captivated by news coverage of a death row inmate (Chen) who has attempted suicide. Obsession leads her to not only visit the prisoner, but to devote herself to his happiness by decorating his cell and serenading him with songs of the changing seasons, leading to a relationship that confounds every outside observer.

Join the reception hosted by Red Lantern after the show!

The Red Lantern: Bay Area Asian Cinephiles (insert link: www.meetup.com/sf-asian-film), VIZ Cinema at NEW PEOPLE (insert link: www.newpeopleworld.com/film) and the VCinema podcast and Webcast (insert link: www.vcinemashow.com) team up to bring you The Red Lantern Series, San Francisco’s first and only year-round showcase dedicated to Asian cinema.

For our third installment we present “Breath,” the 14th film by South Korea’s Kim Ki-duk, who won Best Director honors at the Venice Film Festival for “3-Iron” and at the Berlin International Film Festival for “Samaritan Girl.” “Breath,” which stars Chang Chen of “2046″ and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” played in competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

*A raffle giveaway will precede the screening, and a reception will follow. See you there!

Tickets are $12

GANTZ fans – now enjoy the freshly premiered movie in Japanese with English subtitles – for ONE NIGHT ONLY at VIZ Cinema!
Ticket holders all receive a GANTZ Poster!

College student Kei Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) witnesses his childhood friend Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama) attempting to help a drunk who has fallen onto the subway train tracks and jumps in to help him. However, both are run down by the oncoming train. In the next instant, they are transported to a strange room in an apartment where there are others who should be dead as well. In the center of the living room is an enigmatic black orb known as ‘GANTZ’. GANTZ forces each of them to take part in a mission to hunt down and kill aliens, providing them with equipment and weaponry. Is this world, which tests their will to survive, a game or reality?

AOD FANS:
Show your AOD badge at the Cinema Café (on 2/19 & 2/20) and get 10% off your snacks and drinks!

The 7:15pm Show Sold Out! WE JUST ADDED a 9:45pm Show!
At the Cinema, we will have a RUSH LINE for overflow, so you may still get in!!

Tickets are $12

Spin Presents: Look at What the Light Did Now
(A documentary film about Feist and her collaborators)
77 minutes

2/24(Thu) @ 7pm

Look at What the Light Did Now documents the journey of Feist’s Grammy nominated album The Reminder. This poetic film pulls back the curtain to reveal intimate partnerships with the people Feist calls her ‘amplifiers’: The photographer who helped her hide within the frame, shadow puppeteers in hockey arenas, an artist who built a thread-radiating mural, the video director who conducted fireworks, the pianist who guided the recording of the album, and other musical and visual collaborators. The film follows Feist and her supporting cast through an impressionistic array of flickering scenery, echoing stadiums, puppet workshops, the red carpet, a crumbling French mansion, definitive concert performances and uncommonly candid interviews. Itself a part of the creative mosaic it portrays, Look at What The Light Did Now illuminates the synergy of collaboration, art as magnifying glass, and the power of trust.

Tickets $10 at Noise Pop’s site

Check out official site >>

The Family Jams
81 minutes

2/24(Thu) @ 9pm

In 2004, director Kevin Barker joined his friends Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and the band Vetiver on tour, documenting their travels as they perform their genre-defining music, dubbed “freak folk” by the press. This intimate document of three San Francisco based musical acts chronicles the tour from the inside, focusing on the tight-knit family of friends formed on the road. Told without the use of interviews and with minimal voice-over, the film shows a group of musicians, each on the cusp of success, traveling together as a family, singing together on stage and off, supporting each other through the difficult situations that arise, and meeting colorful characters, forgotten musical heroes, and folk luminaries as they travel across the country.

Tickets $10 at Noise Pop’s site