Following the screening, producer Nozomu Takahashi will join a representative from Pixar and cultural critic Kaori Shoji in a panel discussion moderated by Professor Russell Merritt. The panel will provide insiders' views of creation and marketing, and consider cross-cultural influences and differences in U.S. and Japanese reception.

(Neko no ongaeshi). The Cat Returns is the much-anticipated new film from Studio Ghibli, presented in an exclusive Northern California screening. Teenage Haru lives with her single mom, but isn't having much teenage fun; she's always late, always clumsy, and always ignored by boys. Preventing a “most unusual cat” from getting run over opens up a world beyond gym class and buttered toast for Haru, as a grateful cat king-complete with secret service entourage-comes to whisk her away to a Cat Kingdom. But not for too long, otherwise Haru might find herself with a cat-husband, or with very, very long whiskers. A suitably dashing cat-baron offers Haru some advice: “Learn to be yourself, and you'll have nothing to fear.” Filled with medieval cat–town squares, castle cat-swordfights, and romantic court cat-waltzes, The Cat Returns is pure magic, using its fantastical Errol Flynn–like tale and watercolor-style impressionist animation to illuminate children's desires to find-and be-themselves.