Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata‘s poignant animated drama GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES is a devastating meditation on the human cost of war, a tale of survival as heartbreaking as it is true to life. Set in the port city of Kobe in the waning days of World War II, this emotional film follows the story of young Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi), a teenager charged with the care of his younger sister, Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi), after an American firebombing separates the two children from their parents. Against all odds, the orphaned siblings must rely completely on each other and struggle to stay together and alive.

“GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES is an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation… This film proves, if it needs proving, that animation produces emotional effects not by reproducing reality, but by heightening and simplifying it, so that many of the sequences are about ideas, not experiences. It belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made.” (Roger Ebert)

Saturday, August 12
Doors 2:00 pm | Movie 2:30 pm

Advance tickets $10 HERE | $12 at the door

*Minors welcome in the balcony! Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
*Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES “Hotaru no Haka” (Isao Takahata, 1988 / 90 mins / PG / In Japanese with English subs) In the latter part of World War II, a boy and his sister, orphaned when their mother is killed in the firebombing of Tokyo, are left to survive on their own in what remains of civilian life in Japan. The plot follows this boy and his sister as they do their best to survive in the Japanese countryside, battling hunger, prejudice, and pride in their own quiet, personal battle.