East Coast Premiere! All screenings will feature an exclusive, pre-recorded introduction by THE IMAGINARY director Yoshiyuki Momose.

Based on the beloved manga by Haruki Etsumi, Chie is a boisterous young girl getting by in a working-class neighborhood in Osaka. Chie runs the family restaurant along with her grandparents, supporting her no-good gambling father Tetsu, and dealing with an assortment of lively and drunken customers. No-nonsense and street tough beyond her years, Chie still brings joy to her surroundings no matter the context. Meanwhile, the family cat has taken on an escalating battle with a rival cat owned by a local yakuza member for control of the neighborhood, with outrageous results. Chie the Brat: Downtown Story (also known as Jarinko Chie) is a rarely screened animated classic from early in the career of Academy Award-nominated director Isao Takahata, who would go on to co-found the legendary Studio Ghibli. With the director’s trademark empathy for his characters and a sharp, observational sense of humor, the film’s episodic structure is equal parts tender and bawdy, celebrating the true breadth of the human experience. In Japanese with English subtitles.