Japanese Blockbuster Movie Summer Wars Director Mamoru Hosoda will be at Anime Festival Asia 2009

(Singapore, 16th November, 2009) The organizers of Anime Festival Asia 09 are excited to announce that Mamoru Hosoda will make a guest appearance at Anime Festival Asia on Saturday morning, 21st November at 11.00am. He will talk about his new movie ‘Summer Wars’ as well as answers questions from fans.

‘Summer Wars’ is a 2009 anime film about Kenji, a 17 year-old math genius who has been falsely implicated in the hacking of a virtual world, with the aid of his classmate's extensive family, must prevent the real and computer-simulated worlds from colliding.

The story illustrates how one big family cope when they are abruptly challenged by a global crisis of the future. Family bonds are the strongest of networks, no matters how advanced the high tech networks of the internet are. Produced by Japanese animation studio Madhouse, the film is distributed by Encore Films and Cathay-Keris Films and will open in cinemas across Singapore on 25 February 2010.

Hosoda shot to fame as the director of the critically acclaimed ‘The Girl who Leapt Through Time’, his previous works include ‘Ashita no Nadja’, the Digimon series as well as the Digimon movie. Hosoda was awarded the Tokyo Anime Award for Best Director in 2007, the equivalent of Hollywood’s Academy Awards for directing “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’.

AFA09 will be held at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Halls 403 and 404 from 10.00 am to 9.00pm. For adults, tickets are priced at $15 for the one day pass while the weekend pass is priced at $25. For students, one day tickets are available for $12 and weekend passes are available at $20. The festival targets children, youth, adults and industry visitors both locally and from around the region and having had a turnout of 46,000 visitors in 2008, organizers expect an even bigger number of visitors in excess of 50,000 to this year’s festival.

There are more than 28,000 fans currently registered on the AFA facebook page and more than 1,000 cosplayers have pre-registered to turn up at AFA09.

Hosoda will also be participating in Animation Asia Conference (AAC09) which is held in conjunction with Anime Festival Asia on 20th of November. The one-day business conference aims to nurture a regional IP ecosystem by tapping on the expertise of the renowned speakers and talents from Japan and the region. Tickets are priced at $480 and $180 for students, with special group discounts available.

Anime Festival Asia 2009 is sponsored by Bandai and SANYO where Animax is the festival’s official regional media partner. For more information and the full line-up of activities including AAC09, music concerts and “live” anime events, please visit www.afa09.com

About Sanyo

SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO) is a global leader in providing solutions for the environment, energy and for lifestyle applications based on its Brand Vision ‘Think GAIA’. SANYO Energy (S) Corporation is a part of SANYO’s component group. SANYO Energy (S) Corp. is based in Singapore and markets high quality battery products in the regions of ASEAN, Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa. For more information, please visit http://www.sanyo.com

About Bandai

Bandai is the third largest producer of toys in the world. Originally called "Bandai-ya", Bandai was founded by Mr Naoharu Yamashina in 1950. The origin of the word "bandai" comes from an old Chinese expression: "bandai fueki", meaning 'everlasting' or 'eternal'. Bandai’s founder, Mr. Yamashina, felt that these words expressed his wish that Bandai be a company which, in his words, "makes products that please people of all generations, irrespective of the times - a firm that will develop and grow forever and ever". Today, Bandai has gone on to become firmly established as Japan's leading general toy manufacturer, and the company continues to blaze new trials in various fields of entertainment.

About I-PROMO

-PROMO is a multidimensional marketing agency specializing in strategic and signature events. I-PROMO conceptualizes, develops, manages, and implements corporate and lifestyle events. The company’s primary expertise lies in creating own branded, title events with local and regional sponsors and partners. With years of experience managing conventions, exhibitions, festivals, and gala events, I-PROMO produces events worthy of being called phenomenal rather than merely experiential.
As a subsidiary of Kingsmen Creative Limited, I-PROMO teams comprises of professionals with diverse talents such as conceptualization, marketing, sales, design, and construction. With streamlined operations and collaborative resources, I-PROMO consistently deliver results beyond the expectations of our clients.


I-PROMO’s pool of talent are able to execute opportune, current, relevant, competitive, and profitable events that are critically aligned to clients’ objectives. Over the years, the company have created events for the government and the arts, as well as the giants of retail, IT, finance, and petroleum industries.

About SOZO

SOZO represents a cutting edge entertainment and youth-marketing driven company. Made up of a diverse talented pool of industry professionals, SOZO is focused towards developing animation and entertainment content and service platforms geared at engaging young adults at both regional and global levels. SOZO’s main mission is focused on delivering highly entertaining pop culture experiences, contents and products that will constantly engage, thrill and excite this young and restless market.

About Dentsu Singapore

A wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Dentsu Inc. and an ‘Asian-born’ agency, Dentsu Singapore is a fully integrated communications agency, providing total communications solutions to both regional and local clients. The Dentsu network dates back to 1901 and has at its disposal powerful network support and resources. According to Ad Age Global, it is now the world’s number one agency brand and the biggest among all major networks in Asia. Dentsu for many years has also ventured into many successful anime franchises and has a dedicated entertainment and contents division overseeing its operations.

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Florence Ang
Red Dawn Communications
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Email: florence@reddawnpr.com

Shaun Wang
Red Dawn Communications
Phone: (65) 6222 4704
Mobile: (65) 9273 6285
Email: shaun@reddawnpr.com