The 2000 cult classic film Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル) has been added to the nine other films that currently comprise the upcoming Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival.
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary “Battle Royale” act.
Battle Royale became a cultural phenomenon, and has been highly influential in global popular culture. Since the film’s release, the term “battle royale” has been used to refer to a fictional narrative genre and/or mode of entertainment inspired by the film, where a select group of people are instructed to kill each off until there is a triumphant survivor. It has inspired numerous media, including films, manga, anime, comics, visual novels, and video games; the battle royale game genre (including Fortnight), for example, is named after the film.
Tickets will go on sale on March 5 at 10:40 am.
Nine other films have been announced so far: Animated films Mirai (未来のミライ), Okko's Inn (若おかみは小学生), The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (夜は短し歩けよ乙女), and Modest Heroes (ちいさな英雄－カニとタマゴと透明人間－); the acclaimed 2018 film Shoplifters (万引き家族); the zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead (カメラを止めるな!); classics Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫) and Tokyo Story (東京物語); documentaries Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (終わらない人 宮崎駿) and Day of the Western Sunrise.