PRINCESS MONONOKE Special Presentations

Directed by Japan’s leading animator, the renowned Hayao Miyazaki, PRINCESS MONONOKE is mature in theme, operatic in scope and mystical in style. Set in ancient Japan and based loosely on Japanese folklore, the film takes place in a time of upheaval, of samurai warriors and isolated villages miles apart.

In a remote mountain village in Northern Japan, young Ashitaka, the last warrior of the dying Emishi clan, is forced to kill a monster to protect his village. To his dismay, he discovers he has killed a protector-god of the forest, which brings a curse upon himself. Ashitaka undertakes a journey to uncover the mystery of the curse before it takes his life. Along the way, he becomes involved in the bitter fight between two warring factions of humans and a race of forest-gods trapped in the middle. During one battle, Ashitaka sees the Princess Mononoke, a young woman raised by wolves who is prepared to die to defeat the humans. Against his will, Ashitaka is drawn into the struggle between man and nature.