When university student Hana falls in love with a mysterious young man, she discovers he is the last of his kind: a wolf who can shift between human and animal form. Their joyful life is cut short, leaving Hana to raise their two wolf children on her own. Yuki is strong-willed and curious, while Ame is more reserved. But both are torn between the call of the wild and humankind. From small city apartments to Japan’s majestic countryside, Hana’s unwavering devotion to the happiness of her kids will make your eyes water.

In the distant future, everyone dreams of the Sea of Stars. Humanity freely traverses space and has found a way to achieve immortality by transferring their consciousness into mechanized bodies. Through the endless flow of stars and planets, runs a singular train: the Galaxy Express 999. On its infinite tracks, the train carries the hopes, ambitions, and youth for all humankind. Orphaned by the violent death of his mother, young Tetsuro lives in the slums of Megalopolis City on Earth. He dreams of hitching a ride aboard the Galaxy Express and claiming a cyborg body at its final stop, so he can finally avenge his mother.

Welcome to town, Treasure Town. A city that has a certain je ne sais quoi; a never-never land if you will. Part gritty urban fable, part kaleidoscopic fever dream, Tekkonkinkreet follows Black and White – two orphaned boys who prowl the streets of Treasure Town, a surreal asphalt jungle and pan-Asian hybrid stitched together from Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bombay, and beyond. Black is sharp, dangerous, and never backs down. Street royalty in the making. White is a wandering innocent, unscathed by this armpit of a city. Together, they call themselves “The Cats”, an inseparable force ruling over back alleys and rooftops. That is… until yakuza schemes, corporate vultures, and their own inner demons threaten to tear both their bond and the city apart. As the seasons pass by, violence escalates, chaos reigns, and Black descends into madness. Is Treasure Town ripe to devour itself?

Vampires have sunk their teeth in film history. From the OG Dracula himself and fang-tanstic turns by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt to an overpowered, sparkly Robert Pattinson who made pale the new chic; on-screen vampires are the stuff of collective (wet) dreams. Yet, the coldest (half-)vampire of all is D, a cooler-than-Clint Eastwood dhampir and lone bounty hunter who roams a far-future Earth that has somehow become the most gothic of wastelands. D has been summoned to track down Charlotte Elbourne, a young woman who has been abducted by vampire nobleman Meier Link. At war with himself, feared by all, tortured and alone, D is set on securing his bounty.

If you could see your own colour, what kind of colour would it be? For Totsuko, a vivid and religious high school student, this question lingers in her mind as she navigates life at her Catholic boarding school. Gifted with the ability to see the ‘colours’ of others, she is captivated by Kimi, a classmate whose blue colour is unparalleled. But when Kimi drops out of school, a chance encounter at a secondhand bookstore leads the two girls to form an inpromptu band with Rui, a reserved dreamer and theremin player whose mother expects him to become a doctor. As the trio practices in an old, abandoned church, their shared musical and emotional journey lets them find freedom, joy, and love.

In this symbolic and thoughtful film Giovanni and Campanella, the first a blue-colored cat, the second a pink-colored one, board steam train that takes them across the galaxy. At each increasingly surrealist stop, then boys meet more outlandish characters, including an obsessed archeologist and a bird catcher who turns his catch into candy. Yet with every stop the train journey’s destination also grows more ominous.

Satoshi Kon only directed four feature films, before passing away in 2010, and Millennium Actress (2001) is his most subtle one. Loosely based on the life of actresses Setsuko Hara (1920-2015) and Hideko Takamine (1924-2010), the film features a documentary film crew interviewing retired acting legend Chiyoko Fujiwara. As Chiyoko tells her life story, personal life, history and cinema get intertwined, resulting in a unique filmic experience.