|
|
|
When people talk about UK anime events they often don't look much further than the conventions and expos. However, if you look a bit harder there quite a lot of other events that are well worth attending. One of the best in
our opinion has always been the Anime Allnighter. The
event is part of the Sci-Fi London Film Festival, a now
bi-annual celebration of science fiction films and TV held in
central London. The Allnighter is a traditional fixture
of the Saturday night of the festival and is held in the Apollo West
End cinema, which is just a stone's throw from London's Piccadilly
Circus. |
|
The Anime Allnighter is exactly what it says on the tin, an all-night anime marathon which gives you the chance to see some excellent and random anime films on the big screen. Starting at midnight and running till approximately 8.30am, the Anime Allnighter is definitely one for the insomniacs amongst you, but with previous screenings including Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Appleseed: Ex Machina and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballah, there's plenty of reasons to stay awake. The night usually features around five films with breaks in between each one, during which free Red Bull, coffee and ice-cream is available in the cinema |
foyer. It's not the only freebie either - competitions are run in between screenings and every attendee is given a goodie bag containing books, DVDs, leaflets, badges and other promotional items. The artistic amongst the attendees can also use the pens provided to leave their mark on the paper covered 'Manga Wall' outside the cinema's toilets, a couple of examples are shown above. It's all pretty impressive when you consider that tickets for the event cost £30, which may be up from about £25 last year, but is still a bargain for what you get.
This year the Allnighter once again took place on the
Saturday of the first May bank holiday weekend in the Apollo West
End cinema. It's continued success meant that it once again
occupied two of the cinema's six screens, and the organisers
impressively succeeded in running several other Allnighters
alongside it, including the regular Mystery Science Theatre 3000
one and a Star Trek movie marathon. Unlike some other
anime events there is a really chilled out atmosphere at the
Anime Allnighter, something that is facilitated by excellent
organisation from both the cinema and the Sci-Fi London staff and
committee. The event was run better than ever too, this time
there were few delays in the screenings and none of the technical
issues which caused last year's event to overrun. Previous
Anime Allnighters have seen a selection of films drawn from the
catalogues of all of the major anime companies, and ADV Films'
Hugh David was a regular guest host. However, with ADV
making no new licenses, MVM without any films to showcase and
Beez strangely absent, the Allnighter's programme
featured just Manga Entertainment titles. |
This was a bit surprising, especially following Beez's high definition releases of Gunbuster and Freedom. We were hoping that their forthcoming samurai actioner Sword of the Stranger would make the bill, but it was not to be. However, Manga certainly had an eclectic selection of titles to show, and with a decent range of styles and genres covered there wasn't really anything to complain about. Top billing was given to Ghost in the Shell 2.0 and Afro Samurai Resurrection, with the organisers bringing in special high-definition projectors specifically for these screenings. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is a modern overhaul of Mamoru Oshii's classic cyber thriller, and with a |
|