Bandai Ent. has announced a limited theatrical engagement for Yoshiyuki Tominos MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM F91. The film will begin its run in theaters on Oct. 1, 2004 in New York with a screening at the Festival of Anime to follow soon after on Oct. 10.
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM F91 was originally released theatrically in Japan in 1991 where it helped to re-launch the GUNDAM franchise as a separate feature without ties to the original series characters or story continuity. The theatrical feature will be presented in its original Japanese language with English subtitles. Key creative members from previous GUNDAM projects have also lent a hand in the theatrical creative production including Kunio Okawara for mecha designs and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko for character designs.
The GUNDAM franchise is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in Japan and along with a new GUNDAM series [GUNDAM SEED] on TV, the highly anticipated ZETA GUNDAM release on DVD, and now the theatrical/DVD release of GUNDAM F91 here in North America, this is definitely turning out to be a great year for old and new GUNDAM fans alike, said Jerry Chu, marketing manager, Bandai Ent.
The film takes place many years after the devastating One Year War. The Earth Federation has begun constructing new space colonies to replace the former Side 4 cluster. This new Frontier Side now consists of four colonies, among them the Frontier IV colony where young Seabook Arno lives with his father and his sister Reese. Their peaceful lives are disrupted when the colony is attacked by the Crossbone Vanguard, an elite fighting force seeking to reestablish the aristocratic ideals of the Ronah family. Fleeing from the attacks, Seabrook is forced to pilot the F91 Gundam in defense of the Space Ark training facility in a journey to escape a new and destructive war.
The New York theatrical screening will take place at The Imaginasian theater located within midtown Manhattan at 239 East 59th Street. Visit www.theimaginasian.com for more information.
The San Francisco theatrical screening will be presented at the LOWES theater at the Metreon located at 101 Fourth in downtown San Francisco on Oct. during the Metreon Festival of Anime. GUNDAM F91 producer Nobuo Masuda and well-known GUNDAM enthusiast Mark Simmons will be on hand for a panel discussion on the film and its production prior to the screening. Passes to Metreon Festival of Anime are $15 and are available at www.acteva.com/go/metreon.
Visit www.gundamofficial.com or www.bandai-ent.com as future screening dates and locations are announced.
Bandai Ent. Inc. is the premier distributor of Japanese animation on DVD home video in North America. All U.S. operations are headquartered in Cypress, California. Bandai Co., Ltd is the third largest toy company in the world comprising 53 subsidiaries in 18 countries. In addition to toys and children's entertainment, Bandai Co.'s global interests include videogame software, multimedia, music and full-length feature films, vending machines, trading cards, candies and licensed apparel. For further information, visit www.bandai-ent.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
