2015 Japanese animated movie The Boy and the Beast (バケモノの子) in Pittsburgh from March 4.

The 2015 Japanese animated movie The Boy and the Beast (バケモノの子) will have a limited release in the US from March 4, and will open in Pittsburgh at the Southside Works Cinema. The Toronto International Film Festival page has a summary of the second-highest grossing domestic film in Japan of 2015:

A young boy in modern-day Tokyo stumbles into an alternate dimension and becomes the apprentice to a bearlike warrior, in this stunning animated fantasy from writer-director Mamoru Hosoda.

. . .

Stunningly animated and brimming with sensational martial arts and sword-fighting scenes, writer-director Mamoru Hosoda's newest fantasy takes us on a memorable and life-affirming journey, in which the tender and funny moments remind us about the importance of family, loyalty, love, and sacrifice.

Tickets are available online for the four showings on March 4: the 1:05 pm showing is dubbed in English, while the 4:05, 7:05, and 10:05 pm shows are subtitled. Southside Works Cinema is located at 425 Cinema Drive in the Southside, one block from the Hot Metal Bridge (map).

Psycho-Pass: The Movie (劇場版 PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス) at Hollywood Theater, March 15 and 16.

The 2015 Japanese animated movie Psycho-Pass: The Movie (劇場版 PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス) will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont on March 15 and 16. The theater provides a summary:

One of the most popular sci-fi anime series in the past five years is making its way to the big screen. Possessing an animation and production budget only possible with a feature film, Psycho-Pass: The Movie will blow away movie-goers with its explosive action sequences and thought-provoking storytelling. This film is a must-see for fans of the TV series and fans of sci-fi action films like Akira, Blade Runner, and Minority Report.

In this culmination of the two-season Psycho-Pass TV series, Inspector Tsunemori is sent to a neighboring war-torn nation, where the Sibyl System is being introduced as an experiment, to find Shinya Kogami, her former enforcer who went rogue three years ago.

The movie will play at the Hollywood Theater both nights at 7:30 pm, and tickets are available online. Southside Works Cinema will also be one of the 100+ theaters showing the film during its North American premiere on the 15th and 16th, though ticket information has not yet been announced.

“Who is Not Afraid of Contaminated Pleasure?: Anna May Wong’s Thrilling Tear” at Pitt, March 1.

The University of Pittsburgh Film Studies Department is hosting a talk by Dr. Yiman Wang of the University of California Santa Cruz titled "Who is Not Afraid of Contaminated Pleasure? Anna May Wong’s Thrilling Tear". Not much information exists about the talk, other than it starts at 6:00 pm in 407 Cathedral of Learning (map). Wang has written a good deal about Anna Mae Wong, a pioneering Chinese-American actress who rose to prominence in the 1920s.

Japanese psychedelic-rock group Acid Mothers Temple in Pittsburgh, March 31.

The Japanese psychedelic-rock group Acid Mothers Temple will play at Club Cafe on March 31.

Cheongju delegation visits Pittsburgh to learn winter weather response.

We had a great meeting with delegates from Cheongju, S. Korea comparing notes on snow removal. @CityPGH @billpeduto pic.twitter.com/3ZzfpHjCoy

— PGH Public Works (@PGHDPW) February 26, 2016

Following a visit to Paterson, NJ on the 24th, The Record writes that Pittsburgh was an upcoming destination for a group of visiting Cheongju public servants. Cheongju is a South Korean city of about 843,000, located at roughly the same longitude as Virginia Beach.

"As the winter weather response and safety issue has become direr to the needs of our residents," Po Young Yi, the natural-disaster director for [Cheongju], wrote the county in a Jan. 29 letter requesting a visit [to Patterson], "we have formed a delegation to send to the USA to learn the best practices of winter weather response."

. . .

For the rest of their trip, they planned to visit public works departments in Montgomery County, Md., and Pittsburgh.

The delegation met with the Pittsburgh Department of Public Works on Friday the 26th.

The Propaganda Game, Coffin in the Mountain (心迷宫) at CMU International Film Festival in March.

The CMU International Film Festival recently announced the schedule for its 2016 iteration, with two movies of special interest to this site: 2014's The Propaganda Game and the 2015 Chinese film Coffin in the Mountain (心迷宫).

"The Voice of a New China: Democratic Behavior in Chinese Reality Shows Super Girl and Happy Girls" at Pitt, February 26.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will host MA in East Asian Studies candidate Wan Chun Huang and her colloquium "The Voice of a New China: Democratic Behavior in Chinese Reality Shows Super Girl and Happy Girls" on Friday, February 26.

1978 movie Shaolin Challenges Ninja (中華丈夫) at Hollywood Theater, February 27.

The movie Shaolin Challenges Ninja (中華丈夫) will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont on February 27.

"Strange Beauty: Radiography from Fukushima" at University Art Gallery, March 15 - 18.

The University of Pittsburgh's University Art Gallery will host photographer Takashi Morizumi and his exhibit "Strange Beauty: Radiography from Fukushima" from March 15 through 18.

East Asian Library Update at Pitt, February 24.

The University of Pittsburgh's East Asian Library will host an information session on its new resources on Wednesday, February 24, in 4130 Posvar Hall (map).

2016 movie Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu (傷物語Ⅰ 鉄血篇) at Hollywood Theater, from February 27.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show the 2016 Japanese animated movie Kizumonogatari Part 1: Tekketsu (傷物語Ⅰ 鉄血篇) from February 27.

Mayor Peduto hosts delegation from Sister City Da Nang.

Today Mayor @billpeduto hosted Vice Chairman Phung Tang Viet & guest from Pittsburgh's Sister City Da Nang Vietnam. pic.twitter.com/kq0rR4VeaX

— The Next Pittsburgh (@TheNextPGH) February 19, 2016

Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto hosted a delegation from Sister City Da Nang today. The Sister City relationship was established in 2008.

Artist Talk: Zhong Biao, February 22 at Pitt.

Chinese artist Zhong Biao will give a talk at the Frick Fine Arts Center on Monday, February 22. From the University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center:

In his earlier paintings from the 1990s and 21st century, Zhong intimately portrayed Chinese urban residents from acute angles or distanced perspectives, often collaging them with religious, traditional, historical, and commercial imagery. Later works tend more toward abstraction, incorporating fantastic and celestial elements. In so doing, he has imaginatively and insightfully captured the lived experience of Chinese urbanization and globalization, with a particular emphasis on the ways urban space and global time influence individual states of being and local contexts.

The talk runs from 6:00 to 7:30 pm in 204 Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map), and is free and open to the public.

Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Workshops to continue at Pitt this semester, from February 26.

The University of Pittsburgh's School of Education will host more Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language [CFL] Workshops this semester, with the first scheduled for February 26.

The workshop on CFL Assessment will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in 5401 Posvar Hall (map).

Year of the Monkey Lunar New Year Parade, February 21.

Pittsburgh's first Lunar New Year Parade through Squirrel Hill on Sunday, February 21.

Colloquium "Transcreation: Intersections of Culture and Commerce in Japanese Translation and Localization" at Pitt, February 19.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will host M.A. candidate Dylan Reilly and his colloquium "Transcreation: Intersections of Culture and Commerce in Japanese Translation and Localization" on Friday, February 19. The abstract:

New Stephen Chow movie The Mermaid (美人鱼) in Pittsburgh from February 19.

The 2016 movie The Mermaid (美人鱼) will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront from February 19. The South China Morning Post provides a summary in a review of the Stephen Chow directed movie:

Mermaid is a solid dramedy with heart and, more importantly, a message. This Chinese production tells the story of Liu Xuan (Deng Chao) a young business mogul attempting to clear a recently acquired bay of its marine life for property development. Unbeknownst to him (and the rest of the world), the waters are home to a clan of mythical half-human, half-fish creatures, who send one of their own to kill Liu. Posing as a human, the mermaid (newcomer Jelly Lin Yun) ends up falling in love with Liu.

With real documentary footage of water pollution, dying sea life and the destruction of natural resources spliced into the film’s opening montage, it’s clear from the start what Chow is trying to say. Credit to the 53-year-old star, then, for crafting a morality play that features the CGI-heavy visual effects that Chinese audiences love so much. There are laughs too, so it’s hit and miss: an early scene, of the mermaid clan’s failed attempt to take Liu’s life despite deploying a vast armoury of weapons, successfully evokes the manic shenanigans of older Chow films; other gags, like an overweight male actor dressing up as a mermaid, fall flat. Stephen Chow-style mo lei tau gags only work when Chow is involved.

The movie was released in China on February 8, 2016, and recorded the largest opening day ever for a Chinese movie in China.

The movie will play in Mandarin with English subtitles, and will have both 2D and 3D showings. Tickets and showtimes are available at the AMC Loews Waterfront website. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

Gabriella Lukacs lecture "Career Porn: Blogging and the Good Life" at Pitt, February 18.

University of Pittsburgh Associate Professor of Anthropology Gabriella Lukacs will give a lecture "Career Porn: Blogging and the Good Life" at Pitt on Friday, February 18. "The talk", says the university's Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies Program hosting the event, "is taken from Prof. Lukacs's book manuscript titled: 'Diva Entrepreneurs: Gender and Labor in the Digital Economy.'"

Throat Singing Workshop with Ensemble Alash at Pitt, February 22.

via Alash Ensemble official website.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Music and the Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies will host a throat singing workshop with Ensemble Alash, from the Republic of Tuva, on Monday, February 22.

Take part in a throat-singing workshop taught by throat-singers from the Republic of Tuva.
Contact Robbie Beahrs for more info: robeahrs@pitt.edu

The event runs from 2:15 to 4:15 in 132 Music Building (map), and is free and open to the public. More information about Alash Ensemble is available on their website.

"Talking About Asia: Chinese Migration in Cuba, Mexico, and Peru: From 19th Century Coolie Labor to 20th Century Nationalist Sinophobia" at Pitt, February 19.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Elliott Young---a professor of history at Lewis & Clark College and his talk "Talking About Asia: Chinese Migration in Cuba, Mexico, and Peru: From 19th Century Coolie Labor to 20th Century Nationalist Sinophobia" on February 19.

Many people are looking to travel to Cuba now that it has opened relations with the US, but did you know Chinese migrants have already been there since the 19th century? Come learn about the effects that Chinese migration has had on views of the Chinese in the western hemisphere for centuries.

The talk will begin at 3:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map), and is free and open to the public.

Lunar New Year Teen Time at Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill, February 16.

Via Uncover Squirrel Hill.

The next installment of the Squirrel Hill Carnegie Library's bi-weekly Teen Time is focused on the Lunar New Year, as part of Squirrel Hill's first Lunar New Year Celebration.

If you're into cool art projects, epic games, music, movies and just chilling out, come kick it at Teen Time! For teens in grades 6-12.

The event runs from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, and is free and open to the public. The library is located at 5801 Forbes Ave. (map) and is accessible by buses 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 64, and 74.