GKIDS, the Academy Award-winning producer and distributor of acclaimed and artist-driven animation from around the world, announced it will bring Mamoru Oshii’s rarely screened early masterpiece ANGEL’S EGG to cinemas starting November 19. Forty years after the film’s original Japanese release, GKIDS is proud to present the all-new 4K restoration, which was supervised by director Oshii, in North American cinemas nationwide for the first time.

First released directly to home video in 1985, the film was produced by Tokuma Shoten and is a creative collaboration between internationally acclaimed director Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL), who wrote and directed the feature, and revered artist Yoshitaka Amano (FINAL FANTASY, VAMPIRE HUNTER D). The film beautifully intertwines Oshii’s thematic reflections on philosophy and theology, with Amano’s distinctive ink painting style, culminating in an arrestingly beautiful hand-drawn allegorical fantasy. The 4K restoration has held an extensive festival debut prior to its theatrical rollout, having debuted at Cannes International Film Festival, with subsequent premieres at Fantasia Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and New York Film Festival upcoming.

The release marks the next collaboration between GKIDS and director Oshii, following GKIDS’ 2024 release of the new 4K restoration of Oshii’s classic GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE.

Synopsis:

In an underwater city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms – a treasure that she believes is an angel’s egg. A boy with a gun arrives in search of a bird he saw in his dream. At first it seems as if feelings of sympathy are developing between the two. Then, one night, the boy crushes her precious egg.

View the trailer HERE.

Photo courtesy of GKIDS. ©Mamoru Oshii/Yoshitaka Amano/Tokuma Shoten, Tokuma Japan Communications All Rights Reserved

About GKIDS

GKIDS is the Academy Award-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation from around the world. After an astounding 13 Best Animated Feature nominations, the company took home the Oscar in 2024 for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed feature, THE BOY AND THE HERON. The company’s previous nominations include THE SECRET OF KELLS in 2010, A CAT IN PARIS and CHICO & RITA in 2012, ERNEST & CELESTINE in 2014, THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA and SONG OF THE SEA in 2015, BOY AND THE WORLD and WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE in 2016, MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI in 2017, THE BREADWINNER in 2018, MIRAI in 2019, WOLFWALKERS in 2021, and THE BOY AND THE HERON in 2024.

For more than a decade, GKIDS’ influence on cinema has redefined the perception of animation as an artistic medium on par with live-action film through its stewardship of the Studio Ghibli catalog and by introducing American audiences to the critically-acclaimed films of other master filmmakers from around the world such as Makoto Shinkai (WEATHERING WITH YOU), Mamoru Hosoda (BELLE), Masaaki Yuasa (INU-OH), Tomm Moore (WOLFWALKERS), Hideaki Anno (NEON GENESIS EVANGELION), Nora Twomey (THE BREADWINNER), Satoshi Kon (PERFECT BLUE) and Hiroyuki Imaishi (Promare), among countless others. GKIDS is also the founder and host of ANIMATION IS FILM, the annual LA-based film festival which embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form, and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of the medium to its fullest range of artistic expressions.