FanCons.co.uk Press Releases


August 6, 2009

News for New York Anime Festival 2009:

Aniplex's Cencoroll to premiere at New York Anime Festival

US Premiere Of Film Drawn By One Man

Norwalk, CT, August 6, 2009: The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) today announced it will host the US Premiere of Aniplex's Cencoroll animated motion picture. The 2009 New York Anime Festival, an anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture convention from the creators of New York Comic Con, will take place September 25-27, 2009 at the Jacob K. Javits Center and features Yoshiyuki Tomino -- the Director of Mobile Suit Gundam -- and Yui Makino -- the voice of Sakura in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle -- as Guests of Honor.

Cencoroll is a 30-minute movie created entirely by one man, award-winning artist Atsuya Uki. Uki originally created a Cencoroll short in 2007 and distributed the animation via the internet. Overwhelmed by the praise and support of fans of this original short, Uki decided to single-handedly create a full film which will debut later this month in theaters in Japan -- and debut in the USA at NYAF this September. Cencoroll is the story of a provincial Japanese town under attack by a mysterious monster, and the young girl -- Yuki -- and boy -- Tetsu -- who hold the secret to fighting back: a strange and even-more-mysterious pet called Cenco. For more information and footage of Cencoroll, please visit the film's official site (www.cencoroll.com).

"The New York Anime Festival is honored to premiere Cencoroll in the USA," NYAF Show Manager Lance Fensterman said. "NYAF screened the original Cencoroll short at our first show in 2007, and we count ourselves as very fortunate to now revisit this world and present the American premiere of the full film."

Cencoroll's USA Premiere will take place on Friday, September 25 at 9 PM EST in the ANA Theater inside the New York Anime Festival. To learn more about Cencoroll and Aniplex's other upcoming titles, fans are encouraged to attend Aniplex's panel at 6:30 PM on September 25 in Panel Room 4 at NYAF.

For more information on NYAF or to purchase tickets, please visit the show's official site (www.nyanimefestival.com). For the latest announcements, please visit NYAF's official blog (www.mediumatlarge.net) or follow NYAF on Twitter (www.twitter.com/NY_Anime_Fest).

ABOUT ANIPLEX INC.:
ANIPLEX Inc. (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan) is a leading provider of anime content and music production and distribution in Japan. Established as Sony Pictures Entertainment Visual Works Inc. in 1995, as a joint-venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., it became ANIPLEX, Inc. in 2003 after the company became a subsidiary completely owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. ANIPLEX Inc. has introduced a variety of properties including such hits as Gurren Lagann, Fullmetal Alchemist, Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X), R.O.D –THE TV-, and Blood+, all of which are licensed and distributed worldwide. The company launched ANIPLEX of AMERICA in Los Angeles, CA in 2004 to handle licensing and co-production business in North and Latin America. In 2005, the company established A-1 Pictures, currently the largest and most technically advanced animation studio in Japan.

ABOUT THE NEW YORK ANIME FESTIVAL:
The New York Anime Festival takes place September 25-27, 2009 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan and is organized by Reed Exhibitions, the creators of New York Comic Con. The New York Anime Festival showcases the best of anime pop culture, including the latest anime, manga, Japanese cinema, music, and games, and anime-influenced comics, animation, and films from around the world. The festival features exclusive and extensive screenings, a gala cosplay masquerade, sessions with the some of the biggest names in anime from Japan, Asia, and America, and explores the Japanese cultural experience with displays of both traditional and cutting-edge Japanese life. Further information can be found at newyorkanimefestival.com.

ABOUT REED EXHIBITIONS POP CULTURE GROUP:
The Pop Culture Group at Reed Exhibitions owns and operates the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), and the New York Anime Festival (NYAF). New York Comic Con was launched in 2006 and quickly became a dominant presence in the pop culture world of public events. In 2009, 452 companies exhibited at NYCC for a total of 84,000 square feet of paid exhibit space, and it has been ranked by Crain's New York Business as the second-largest annual event in NYC. C2E2, which will debut April 16 – 18 at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center, is modeled after NYCC and will provide fans the opportunity to meet and greet their favorite writers, creators, and artists, as well as to see, hear and learn about the latest and greatest in comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television. The Pop Culture Group also operates the recently-launched UFC Fan Expo in partnership with the UFC – the world's leading professional mixed martial arts organization – and it formed a strategic partnership with Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in 2008 and will work closely with PAX on the launch of PAX East in Boston in 2010.

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