Anime Night at the Drive-In with Lu Over The Wall (夜明け告げるルーのうた) and Promare (プロメア), November 8 at Carrie Furnace.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center and Screenshot Asia will present Anime Night at the Drive-In with two Japanese films, Lu Over The Wall (夜明け告げるルーのうた) and Promare (プロメア), November 8 at Carrie Furnace. Space is limited and advance registration is required. The evening also features a costume and car decorating contest.

Did you miss cosplaying at Tekko this year? Want to show off your spookiest Halloween costume one more time? Celebrate the evening by dressing up as your favorite characters or by decorating your vehicle! Post your photos on social media with the event hashtag (#AnimeNightPGH2020) for a chance to be featured on the big screen and to win some fun prizes! Prizes for costume contest include two badges to Tekko 2021. Prizes for car-decoration contest include a basket of swag from Screenshot:Asia & Tekko, and two badges to Tekko 2021.

The event starts at 5:00 pm and registration is required. The Carrie Blast Furnaces are located in Rankin, a few miles southeast of Pittsburgh (map).

New Alice Gu documentary The Donut King opens online at Tull Family Theater today.

The documentary The Donut King opens online via Sewickley's Tull Family Thater on October 30. From the official site:

Ted’s story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. It’s the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls.

Tickets are available purchase online via the Tull Family Theater, with 50% of proceeds going there.

K-Pop/FRESA Virtual Showcase, November 5 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center and Fresh Entertainment by Student Artists (FRESA) will present K-Pop/FRESA Virtual Showcase on November 5, part of the university's International Week. Registration is required.

"Craft Beer Connection: Pennsylvania, Japan and the Business of Beer," November 19.

via @bairdbrewing

The Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia and the Pittsburgh-based Japan America Society of Pennsylvania will present "Craft Beer Connection: Pennsylvania, Japan and the Business of Beer" online on November 19.

Over the past decade, craft brewers in the US have exploded onto the beer market. Japan’s craft boom is just starting, but both have become big business. This event will explore the impact and opportunities created by this exciting industry all while sampling their products. Grab a drink and network virtually with us after the panel discussion! The Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia in partnership with the Japan America Society of Pennsylvania will present this program in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with support from Pennsylvania Commerce Department and media partner Philadelphia Business Journal.

Tickets are $15 and available online.

"Heroes and Toilers: Work and Life in Postwar North Korea, 1953-1961," November 5 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present Cheehyung Harrison Kim and his talk "Heroes and Toilers: Work and Life in Postwar North Korea, 1953-1961" on November 5.

DR. CHEEHYUNG HARRISON KIM offers an analysis of postwar North Korea that avoids the pitfalls of exoticism and exceptionalism to offer a new answer to the fundamental question of North Korea’s historical development.
In search of national unity and bureaucratic order in the decade following the Korean War, the North Korean state turned to labor. Even more than coercion or violence, work was crucial to state control. Industrial labor was both mode of production and mode of governance, characterized by repetitive work, mass mobilization, labor heroes, and the insistence on convergence between living and working. At the same time, workers challenged and reconfigured state power to accommodate their circumstances—coming late to work, switching jobs, and fighting with bosses, as well as following approved paths to secure their livelihood, resolve conflict, and find happiness.

The online event starts at 5:00 pm on Zoom and is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

2018 film Shoplifters (万引き家族)) with Pitt's Asian Studies Center, November 4.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present the 2018 Japanese film Shoplifters (万引き家族)) on November 4 as the final installment of its three-part Hirokazu Koreeda series.

After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold.

At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces.

Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them..

It will be accompanied by a lecture from Dr. Linda Ehrlich, author of The Films of Koreeda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema. Registration for the free 7:00 pm event is required.

Taiwan's Ministry of Education signs Memorandum of Understanding with Pitt's Asian Studies Center to promote Taiwan studies.

Writes Focus Taiwan:

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the University of Pittsburgh to carry out a research project on modern Taiwanese history, according to a Wednesday press release from the MOE.

Selections from China, Japan, Korea part of 2020 Film Pittsburgh Fall Festival, November 11 through 22.

Selections from China, Japan, and Korea will help compriise the 2020 Film Pittsburgh Fall Festival, which runs online from November 11 through 22.

"Aida," a 10-minute film from the US and Japan.

A young mother is stuck between development and decay.

"Angel's Mirror," a 14-minute Chinese short film.

A group of young boys are fascinated by a girl who spends her days looking out the window.

Beethoven in Beijing, a 2020 documentary.

The often-tense relationship between the U.S. and China is seen through a different lens in Beethoven in Beijing. Targeted for elimination during the Communist Revolution, Western classical music had all but disappeared from China. But in 1973, Chinese interest in classical music was rekindled when President Nixon dispatched the Philadelphia Orchestra to help open the bamboo curtain. Co-directed by Duquesne University alumna and former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter, Jennifer Lin, the film gives a compelling, up-close look at how music can change hearts and minds–and history.

"Beyond Noh," a four-minute short from the US and Japan.

Masks from all over the world take us on a cultural journey through ritual, utility, deviance, and politics.

"Pangu," a six-minute short from the US and China.

A modern tale about parenthood and the differences between generations.

"Son of Memory," a 19-minute film from Japan.

What if you could bring back your loved one for 49 days?

"Tiger and Ox," a nine-minute short from South Korea.

What does divorce mean to women in a patriarchal Korean society?

Tickets are available for purchase for full-length films on their own, or for short films as part of blocks.

Kung Fu Hustle (功夫) online with Pitt's Office of International Services, November 4.

The University of Pittsburgh's Office of International Services will present the 2004 Chinese movie Kung Fu Hustle (功夫) online on November 4, part of OIS's Watch Party Wednesday series. From the distributor:

Stephen Chow (director and star of Shaolin Soccer) is at it again with his newest action-packed and comedic martial-arts adventure, KUNG FU HUSTLE. From wildly imaginative kung fu showdowns to dance sequences featuring tuxedoed mobsters, you've never seen action this outrageous and characters this zany! With jaw-dropping fight sequences by Yuen Wo Ping (famed action choreographer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix), KUNG FU HUSTLE will blow you away! In a town ruled by the Axe Gang, Sing (Stephen Chow) desperately wants to become a member. He stumbles into a slum ruled by eccentric landlords who turn out to be kung fu masters in disguise. Sing's actions eventually cause the Axe Gang and the slumlords to engage in an explosive kung fu battle. Only one side will win and only one hero will emerge as the greatest kung fu master of all.

It is free and open to the Pitt community and plays online from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Registration is required.

More theaters announced for Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] 1 & 2 (劇場版「Fate/stay night [Heaven's Feel]) in Pittsburgh, November 14.

The Japanese animated movies Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] 1 & 2 (劇場版「Fate/stay night [Heaven's Feel]) will play in Pittsburgh as a double feature on November 14. From the distributor:

Join fans across the country for an exclusive one-night double feature event featuring parts 1 and part 2 of the Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] trilogy. Don’t miss “I. presage flower” and “II. lost butterfly” as the films returns to the big screen before the final installment, “III. spring song,” arrives in theaters later in the month.

It is scheduled to play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and Cinemark theaters in Monaca, Monroeville, and North Hills; tickets are available online.