Tekkonkinkreet is an award-winning anime feature film directed by Michael Arias. Adapted from Black and White, a three-volume seinen manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto, Tekkonkinkreet centers on a pair of orphaned street kids—the tough, canny Kuro (Black) and the childish but mysteriously intuitive Shiro (White)—as they deal with Yakuza attempting to take over Takara Machi (Treasure Town). Tekkonkinkreet is a pun on “tekkin concrete,” the Japanese term for reinforced concrete; it suggests the opposition of the concrete city against the strength of imagination.

A groundbreaking American/Japanese collaboration, Tekkonkinkreet won the 2008 Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year, the Grand Prix award at the Anima 2008 festival, the prestigious Best Film Award at the 2006 Mainichi Film Awards, and was named the number one film of 2006 in the annual “Best of” roundup by the New York Museum of Modern Art’s Artforum magazine.





Each film in the series is preceded by a short introduction highlighting important things to look for and keep in mind when viewing the film; each screening is then followed by a panel discussion.

Anime Masterpieces screening events are completely scaleable to an institution's budget and programming needs, with options including:

Screenings with DVDs and Study Guides provided to the institution for “do-it-yourself” style presentation featuring local scholars/authorities in a panel/talkback.

Screenings accompanied by panels and talkbacks featuring leading scholars of cinema, history, and popular culture; and, budget permitting, anime creators from Japan.

Screening of both Grave of the Fireflies and Tekkonkinkreet as a “double-feature” on a single day or over a weekend, with panels and seminars featuring illustrious anime talent and notable academics.

February 11, 2009:
Grave of the Fireflies screening and panel
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Panelists: John W. Dower, Susan J. Napier, and Roland Kelts


Past events:

December 6, 2008:
Grave of the Fireflies screening and panel
The Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art
Panelists: John W. Dower, Susan J. Napier, and Frederik L. Schodt

November 14, 2008:
Grave of the Fireflies screening and panel
Waterloo Festival of Animated Cinema, Waterloo, Ontario
Panelists: Frederik L. Schodt, John O'Donnell, and Brian Ruh

September 27, 2008:
Premiere Grave of the Fireflies screening and panel
UC Berkeley, Pacific Film Archive
Panelists: Roland Kelts, Susan J. Napier, Frederik L. Schodt,
and Ian Condry