Screening as part of “Animation August“!

These are not your childhood cartoons. Celebrate some of the boldest and most visionary works in modern animation during Animation August at Enzian!

Launching the program is 2-time Academy Award® nominee Don Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow Trilogy (2016–2020), a profound and darkly funny meditation on memory, technology, and the fragility of the human experience. From Japan, Masaaki Yuasa’s Mind Game (2004) explodes onto the screen with fever-dream energy and unrestrained psychedelic imagination, pushing animation’s limits in both form and philosophy. Rounding out the lineup is Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (2024). 20 years in the making, this haunting new dreamscape from the Brothers Quay—masters of stop-motion surrealism—is a gothic, ghostly descent into the subconscious. Join us for a collection of films that promise to challenge, mesmerize, and linger long after the credits roll. Please note, this animation program is not intended for children and contains adult themes and content.

Unleash your inner “Ani-Maniac” and see all three films with a discounted series pass!

Mind Game:

Loser Nishi, too wimpy to try to save his childhood sweetheart from gangsters, is shot by a soccer-playing psychopath and projected into the afterlife. In this limbo, God – shown as a series of rapidly changing characters – tells him to walk toward the light. But Nishi runs like hell in the other direction and returns to Earth a changed man, driven to live each moment to the fullest. An exhilarating and wildly entertaining ride, this mind-bending and unconstrained cult classic is the feature film debut from director Masaaki Yuasa (NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL and DEVILMAN CRYBABY).

About Masaaki Yuasa: Widely regarded as one of the most imaginative and influential filmmakers working in animation, celebrated Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa is one of contemporary anime’s most prolific auteurs. His energetic and boundary-pushing style has lent his humor and dynamism to genres as diverse as psychedelic thrillers, transcendent rock-operas and sweetly subversive teen romances. Since his groundbreaking debut with Mind Game in 2004, he has consistently pushed the artistic potential of animation. His previous studio Science Saru, which he co-founded in 2013, produced hits such as “Devilman Crybaby,” “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” and Netflix’s “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.” Yuasa has gone on to direct episodes of Adventure Time, the Annecy Award-winning Lu Over the Wall (2017), and the Golden Globe-nominated Inu-Oh (2021).