Hoylake Community Cinema: Spirited Away

Available online at www.hoylakevillage.org.uk (click “What’s On”);
Or at Urbane, Market Street; The Parade, Hoylake Community Centre, Hoyle Road; Aubergine Café, West Kirby; or on the door on the night

Hoylake Community Cinema changes genre again this month with the screening of the highly acclaimed Japanese fantasy-adventure film Spirited Away on Friday 25 May. The film, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by the renowned Studio Ghibli, tells the story of a sullen 10-year-old girl, Chihiro Ogino, who becomes trapped in an alternative reality inhabited by spirits and monsters. Chihiro takes a job in a bathhouse while she works out a way to free herself and return to the human world. The film, which is sometimes known as “Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece”, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002 and became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing $274 million at the box office worldwide. Jonathan Ross, on Film 2007, said “Without doubt one of the greatest animated films I’ve ever seen.”

Tickets for Spirited Away cost £5 and are available from gift shop Urbane, Hoylake; The Parade, Hoylake Community Centre; Aubergine Café, West Kirby; on the door on the night; and online at www.hoylakevillage.org.uk. Doors open at 6.30 pm; the film starts at 7.30 pm sharp. There is a licensed bar selling homemade snacks, and a quiz after the film, with prizes for the winner and runner-up. Hoylake Community Centre has full disabled access and is induction loop enabled for the hard of hearing. Demand for tickets will be high, so early booking is advised.