“Do you like spirits, mommy? Even fuzzy ones?”

Outdoor cinema returns to Birmingham Botanical Gardens this August Bank Holiday, and we’re welcoming all manner of spirits for our Sunday night screening of My Neighbour Totoro.

Hayao Miyazaki’s classic anime follows two young sisters as they befriend magical creatures residing in a nearby forest. Come along and watch this gorgeous film under the stars, surrounded by nature – keeping your eyes peeled for sprites of course.

Cosplay of your favourite Studio Ghibli character is welcome (but not compulsory) with a beautiful bonsai tree available for our favourite on the night.

Stirchley’s Birmingham Brewing Company will be running a pop-up bar featuring their range of brilliant Brummie beers on the night, we’ll have street food, and one or two other surprises in store. So, what are you waiting for? All aboard the catbus!

Keep scrolling for all the event info in our FAQs below, and please note seating is not provided so do bring a blanket or chair.

Coming to UK movie screens for the first time:

From the minds of vision creator Shoji Kawamori and co-director Shinichiro Watanabe, and featuring renowned composer Yoko Kanno, MACROSS PLUS MOVIE EDITION is an action-packed animated masterpiece made for the big screen!

In the year 2040, on the distant planet Eden, former childhood friends Isamu Dyson and Guld Bowman find themselves pitted against each other as test pilots of rival teams in a competition to decide the next generation of variable mecha fighters. The two must also deal with their own unresolved history with mutual love interest, Myung Fang Lone, who has returned as the manager of Sharon Apple, the AI pop star (virturoid) and the galaxy’s biggest singing sensation. When Sharon’s advanced artificial intelligence gains consciousness, Isamu, Myung, and Guld must face their turbulent past and come together as Sharon Apple becomes self-aware and takes control of the Macross battlefortress itself!

Attendees will receive an exclusive Ayanami Rei / Shikinami Asuka Langley reversible mini-poster. Subject to availability.

It all comes to an end… A special advance screening.

From legendary director Hideaki Anno, EVANGELION:3.0+1.01 THRICE UPON A TIME is the fourth and final installment of the REBUILD OF EVANGELION films, bringing an epic conclusion to the story of Shinji and his fellow Eva pilots, with the stunning visuals and thought-provoking storytelling that has made EVANGELION a global pop culture phenomenon.

In 1996, an enormous tower is constructed on the southern shore of Hokkaido, it’s purpose – unknown.

Curious, three school children make a vow to discover the mysterious tower’s secrets. Will this promise have to be left unfulfilled when one of the three falls into a coma?

5 Centimers Per Second | Rated U

Takaki and Akari became best friends after transferring into the same elementary school. However, the two are separated following their elementary school graduation. As they place their feelings for each other behind them, time simply passes by. Then one snowy day, Takaki is about to be reunited with Akari. As he sits on the train from Tokyo, his meeting time with Akari drawing ever closer, memories of the past rush through Takaki’s head.

Join Takaki on a journey into three interconnected tales of love and lost innocence that span the minutes and months of their lives.

Garden of Words | Rated 12

When Takao, a young high school student who dreams of becoming a shoe designer, decides to skip school one day in favour of sketching in a rainy garden, he has no idea how much his life will change when he encounters Yukino. Older but perhaps not as much wiser, she seems adrift in the world. Despite the difference in their ages, they strike up an unusual relationship that unexpectedly continues and evolves, with random meetings in the same garden on each rainy day.

But the rainy season is coming to a close, and there are so many things still left unsaid and undone between them. Will there be time left for Takao to put his feelings into actions and words? Between the raindrops, between the calms in the storm, what will blossom?

Mitsuha and Taki are total strangers living completely different lives. But when Mitsuha makes a wish to leave her mountain town for the bustling city of Tokyo, they become connected in a bizarre way. She dreams she is a boy living in Tokyo while Taki dreams he is a girl from a rural town he’s never visited.

What does their newfound connection mean? And how will it bring them together? Find out in this highly acclaimed film by auteur director Makoto Shinkai.

A modern action adventure road story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from the outer side that are releasing disasters all over in Japan.

High school freshman Hodaka Morishima leaves his home on an isolated island and moves to Tokyo, but he quickly finds himself in financial trouble. Living his days in isolation, he eventually lands a job as a writer for a shady occult magazine.

Then one day in an alley, Hodaka meets a young girl named Hina Amano, bright and strong-­willed, who possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.

From the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki comes “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, the beloved coming-of-age story of a resourceful young witch who uses her broom to create a delivery service, only to lose her gift of flight in a moment of self-doubt. It is tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and set out into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her life journey with her chatty black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a sea-side village, where a bakery owner hires her to make deliveries.

A beautifully realized tale of civilization versus nature, PRINCESS MONONOKE is a true epic by Japan’s master animator Hayao Miyazaki.

While protecting his village from a rampaging boar-god, the young warrior Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a deadly curse. To find the cure that will save his life, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest Spirit’s realm where he meets San (Princess Mononoke), a girl raised by wolves. It’s not long before Ashitaka is caught in the middle of a battle between iron-ore prospecting humans and the forest dwellers. He must summon the spirit-powers and all his courage to stop man and nature from destroying
each other.

One of the most celebrated movies of the 21st Century, Spirited Away best animated feature in the second year of the category’s existence — and, to this day, it is the only (majority) hand-drawn feature to win the honor, and overtaking Titanic to become Japan’s highest-grossing film for 19 years.

It tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a moody 10-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighbourhood, enters the world of Kami (spirits) of Japanese Shinto folklore.

After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba’s bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.

A beloved Ghibi Classic, and rumoured to be Hayao Miyazaki’s personal favourite…

Howl’s moving Castle enchants us with the tale of Sophie, a young milliner and eldest of three sisters, encounters a wizard named Howl on her way to visit her sister Lettie. Upon returning home, she meets the Witch of the Waste, who transforms her into a 90-year-old woman. Seeking to break the curse, Sophie leaves home and sets off through the countryside.

It tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a moody 10-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighbourhood, enters the world of Kami (spirits) of Japanese Shinto folklo

After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba’s bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world

Thirty years have passed since the appearance of Burnish, a race of flame-wielding mutant beings, who destroyed half of the world with fire. When a new group of aggressive mutants calling themselves “Mad Burnish” appears, the epic battle between Galo Thymos, a new member of the anti-Burnish rescue team “Burning Rescue” and their leader, Lio Fotia, begins.

After transferring into a new school, a deaf girl, Shouko Nishimiya, is bullied by the popular Shouya Ishida. As Shouya continues to bully Shouko, the class turns its back on him. Shouko transfers and Shouya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed, the regretful Shouya finds Shouko to make amends.

Join us for a double bill of a true anime masterpiece from the late 1990s – Hideaki Anno’s Death(True)2 and The End Of Evangelion, two theatrically released follow-ups to the epic animated television series. Anno brings his watershed epic to its devastating conclusion in these final dazzling instalments.

EVANGELION: DEATH (TRUE)² | Rated 15

Fifteen years after the Second Impact, apathetic teen Shinji joins his father’s group NERV to fight the Angels. But the truth may destroy them all.

The End of Evangelion | Rated 15

Seele orders an all-out attack on NERV, aiming to destroy the Evas before Gendo can trigger Third Impact and Instrumentality under his control.

Leaving the world of J-pop behind her, Mima Kirigoe begins life as an actress on a crime drama show called Double Blind. When offered a lead role in the show as a rape victim, Mima accepts the roledespite reservations from her manager. However, the backlash from fans over her career change anda strange website called ‘Mima’s Room’ written by a fake Mima begin to worry her.

When a stalker appears and people involved in Double Blind begin turning up dead and all the evidence pointing toher, Mima is thrown into a state of confusion, madness and paranoia.

Directed by the late Satoshi Kon and critically acclaimed as one of the finest examples of an animated thriller, Perfect Blue will leave you shocked and more than a little spooked

In its groundbreaking 50th year a special screening of Belladonna of Sadness.

Made by Mushi Productions, the makers of Astroboy, their final film was a last throw of the dice for the studio – and the huge reduction in budget resulted in a gorgeous, sensual watercolour style. It’s a riff on the story of Joan of Arc and Satanism and witchcraft in the middle ages, focusing on a peasant girl who makes a pact with the devil after a violent assault. Definitely not one for the easily offended, it features an amazing Japanese psych rock soundtrack that, along with the far out animation, is sure to blow your mind.

One of the great masterpieces of Japanese anime, Belladonna of Sadness is a psychedelic, erotic experiment that has been hailed as one of the most innovative and imaginative animated films of all time.

The iconic “gentleman thief” Lupin III returns in an action-packed, continent-spanning adventure, as Lupin III and his colourful underworld companions race to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Bresson Diary, before it falls into the hands of a dark cabal that will stop at nothing to resurrect the Third Reich.

The gang undertakes trap-filled tombs, aerial escapades and daring prison escapes with the trademark wit and visual finesse that have made LUPIN THE 3RD one of the most storied animation franchises in the world, in a thrilling new caper that is sure to delight fans old and new.

Dedicated to the memory of Monkey Punch, the creator of Lupin III, who died on April 11, 2019, before the movie was released. When Monkey Punch saw the preliminary results of the movie he stated, “I’ve been looking forward to a 3DCG Lupin III for a long time. I’ve taken a look at the characters and story: it looks like this Lupin will come packed with new sensations, and I’m getting excited just thinking about how the film will turn out”.

From genius director Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Paprika), take a journey through cinema history via his unique, world-bending perspective.

With the renowned Ginei Studios shutting down and their buildings about to be demolished, film-maker Genya Tachibana sets out to commemorate this historical moment by interviewing the studio’s former superstar – the now-reclusive Chiyoko Fujiwara.

Thirty years on from her disappearance from the limelight, one question lingers – why did she end her career and vanish at the peak of her acting powers? The truth lies within a key found by Genya many years prior… a key that is far more than just a memento, and instead serves as an emblem of her entire raison d’être.

As Chiyoko recounts her story, so Genya and his cameraman are pulled into a wide-ranging journey through the lens of her films. Interviews and recollections, acting and reality, all blur into the single rich tapestry of a remarkable life.

The birth of a sibling is a joyous time for many, but not for Kun. Four years old and spoilt rotten, he sees the arrival of baby sister Mirai as competition for his parents’ love.

That is, until magical encounters with an older Mirai and family past, present and future send the siblings on an intimate journey through time and space, to confront Kun’s uncertain feelings and prepare him to become the big brother he needs to be.

It is the year 2808. Three convicts are recruited as members of the Cyber Police to keep major criminal activity in Oedo (formerly Tokyo) in check. In return, their life sentences will be reduced by a few years for every mission accomplished.

However, to ensure that these convicts are doing their job, the police have secured special collars around their necks. If they attempt to remove their collars or fail to meet the time limit of their mission, the collars will self-destruct.

In the aftermath of a brutal war, former soldier Van toils in a mine controlled by the ruling empire. One day, his solitary existence is upended when a pack of wild dogs carrying a deadly and incurable disease attack, leaving only Van and a young girl named Yuna as survivors. Finally free, the pair seek out a simple existence in the countryside but are pursued by nefarious forces. Intent on protecting Yuna at all costs, Van must uncover the true cause of the plague ravaging the kingdom—and its possible cure.

The Deer King is a sweeping fantasy epic that marks the directing debut of Masashi Ando, whose work on such landmark films as Spirited Away, Paprika, and Your Name helped shape the world of modern animation.

Ryota Miyagi and basketball have always been one thing. His love for this sport was transmitted to him by his older brother Sota, who died in an accident at sea when Ryota was still very young. He is the point guard of Shohoku, a team from the Kanagawa prefecture which gained a spot at Inter-High despite being unknown.

Ryota is ready, together with his teammates, to face the “unbeatable” Sannoh, the champion team of the local tournament.

This is the story of a new Saiyan. Earth is peaceful following the Tournament of Power. Realising that the universes still hold many more strong people yet to see, Goku spends all his days training to reach even greater heights. Then one day, Goku and Vegeta are faced by a Saiyan called ‘Broly’ who they’ve never seen before.

The Saiyans were supposed to have been almost completely wiped out in the destruction of Planet Vegeta, so what’s this one doing on Earth? This encounter between the three Saiyans who have followed completely different destinies turns into a stupendous battle, with even Freiza (back from Hell) getting caught up in the mix.

Follow the strawhats as they get invited to the large event known as pirate expo! All star pirates are gathered in the pirate expo, the marines decide to interfere, what conspires in this event?

Uta — the most beloved singer in the world. Renowned for concealing her own identity when performing, her voice has come to be described as “otherworldly.”

Now, for the first time ever, Uta will reveal herself to the world at a live concert. As the venue fills with all kinds of Uta fans — excited pirates, the Navy watching closely, and the Straw Hats led by Luffy who simply came to enjoy her sonorous performance — the voice that the whole world has been waiting for is about to resound.

From the visionary mind of director Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Adventure Time’s “Food Chain”) comes The Night is Short, Walk On Girl, a comedy about one epic night in Kyoto. As a group of teens go out for a night on the town, a sophomore known only as “The Girl with Black Hair” experiences a series of surreal encounters with the local nightlife… all the while unaware of the romantic longings of Senpai, a fellow student who has been creating increasingly fantastic and contrived reasons to run into her, in an effort to win her heart.

From legendary director Satoshi Kon (Millennium Actress, Paprika), an unconvential Christmas story. One Christmas Eve, three homeless people—a middle-aged alcoholic named Gin with a gambling addiction, a trans woman named Hana hoopping for her own christmas miracle, and a dependent teenage runaway named Miyuki with anger aissues—discover an abandoned newborn on Christmas Eve.

On the baby is a note asking the finder to take good care of her and a key, leading to a bag with clues to the parents’ identity. The trio sets out to find the parents. Hana names the baby Kiyoko, based on the Japanese translation of “Silent Night”. On the way they meet multiple characters of Tokyo life and their pasts. A wondorous blend of comedy, pathos and melodrama crossed with hard-boiled action, and enormous coincidence.