6th annual Matsuri at CMU, March 25.

The Japanese Student Association at Carnegie Mellon University will present its 6th annual Matsuri on Friday, March 25. The spring matsuri (meaning festival in Japanese) benefits Minato Middle School in Ishinomaki city, which was destroyed by the March 11, 2011 tsunami. More information, from the Facebook event page:

Japanese Student Association is proud to announce its biggest event of the year: Matsuri. Join us in celebrating aspects of Japanese food, culture and society. We will be hosting the event at Merson Courtyard outside of the University Center on Friday March 25th, from 3:30 to 8 PM. While you enjoy these acts, traditional Japanese decorations and festival games, feel free to eat a variety of foods from our Food Booths such as Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Okonomiyaki, Dango and a variety of other Japanese foods! Small carnival games will be available, and J@CMU's origami and cooking groups will also be in attendance to further promote Japanese culture at CMU.

All profits go to recovery efforts for the Minato Middle School in Japan which is still suffering from the earthquake and tsunami on March 11th, 2011. Your contribution is valuable and we hope to send a sizable amount of supplies this year, as we did last year. For more information regarding donations please go to this site: http://matsuri.cmu-jsa.com/cause.html

Admission is free and the event is open to the public at the rear of the Cohon University Center (map). Additional information is available at the Japanese Student Association's website.

Psycho-Pass: The Movie (劇場版 PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス) in Pittsburgh, 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 and Southside Works Cinema on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 15 and 16. The Hollywood 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, and tickets for the 7:00 pm show each night are now available via the theater's website.

The Assassination (암살) at Pitt's Spring Korean Film Festival, March 16.

The Assassination (암살), the first of two movies showing at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures' annual Spring Korean Film Festival, will play on March 16. The Assassination's official site summarizes the movie starring Jun Ji-Hyun, Lee Jung-jae, and Ha Jung-woo:

Snipers. Marksmen. Hired Guns. Double Agents. A group of exiled rebels are planning a hit on an Army Commander in Japanese-occupied Korea, but the only killer for the job is in prison. Now, the Resistance must devise a jailbreak, escape a hitman...and discover which of them is a traitor.

An August 2015 New York Times review praises the cinematography but notes:

Brimming with characters — many in near-identical military garb — and bristling with double crosses, this unnecessarily lengthy homage to resistance chooses breadth over depth at every turn.

The movie will play in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) from 4:00 to 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Chinese Spring Quartet concert, March 12 in Oakland.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Chinese String Quartet will hold its 2016 Spring Concert on Saturday, March 12. The quartet features performers Hongguang Jia, Zhan Shu, Meng Wang, and Adam Liu.

The concert begins at 2:30 and will be held at the Pittsburgh Chinese Church Oakland at 134 N. Dithridge St. (map). Tickets are $30 for Tier A (including a limited number of autographed CDs), $18 for Tier B, and $15 for student tickets, and may be purchased at the door by cash or check.

MBC announcer Kim Sun-shin (김선신) chats with Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Kang Jung-ho before an exhibition game between Pittsburgh and Minnesota. Kim is in Florida reporting on Korean Major League players during Spring Training; there are more photos on her Instagram page (@sunshinann).

Chinese education consulting office Forward Pathway (续航教育) opening in Greenfield.

Signage recently went up in Greenfield for Forward Pathway (续航教育), a Chinese education consulting and placement firm. The offices are located at 4073 Beechwood Blvd. (map), in a vacant building that was most recently a car repair. Signage is also up for Salt&Pepper Studio (椒鹽工作室), a production company run by members of Forward Pathway.

Taiwanese movie Rebels of the Neon God (青少年哪吒) at Carnegie Library in Oakland, April 3.

The 1992 Taiwanese movie Rebels of the Neon God (青少年哪吒) will play at the Carnegie Library in Oakland on April 3, next month's installment of International Cinema Sunday.

The Assassination (암살), The Pirates (해적: 바다로 간 산적) at Spring Korean Film Festival at Pitt in March.

March brings the annual Spring Korean Film Festival to Pitt's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures, and this year's selections are 2015's The Assassination (암살) and 2014's The Pirates (해적: 바다로 간 산적).

The Assassination's official site summarizes the movie starring Jun Ji-Hyun, Lee Jung-jae, and Ha Jung-woo:

Snipers. Marksmen. Hired Guns. Double Agents. A group of exiled rebels are planning a hit on an Army Commander in Japanese-occupied Korea, but the only killer for the job is in prison. Now, the Resistance must devise a jailbreak, escape a hitman...and discover which of them is a traitor.

And the distributor summarizes the latter:

At the onset of Joseon’s founding, envoys bringing the Emperor’s Seal of State to Joseon lose it to a big whale at sea. A bandit JANG Sa-jung goes out to sea to catch the whale with a big reward on its head. But he soon clashes with Yeo-wol, a female captain of the pirates, and unexpected adventure unfolds.

The Assassination plays on March 16, and The Pirates on March 24. Both movies show in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) from 4:00 to 7:00 pm and are free and open to the public.

Chinese film Mountains May Depart (山河故人) in Pittsburgh, March 18 - 24.

The 2015 Chinese film Mountains May Depart (山河故人) will play at the Harris Theater from March 18 through March 24. A February 11 New York Times review provides a summary:

Three times in “Mountains May Depart,” the latest from the transformative Chinese director Jia Zhangke, people stand near a river that weaves through the landscape like a snake. In the first instance, three friends light fireworks that send out modest sparks. In the second, only two return to the river, where they ignite a bundle of dynamite. By the third trip, only one of the original three remains, everyone’s life having changed as profoundly as China, a cataclysm that’s expressed by a series of rapid explosions in the river, suggesting a drowning world.

Few filmmakers working today look as deeply at the changing world as Mr. Jia does, or make the human stakes as vivid. The three sending out those sparks are Tao (Zhao Tao), and her two close male friends, Zhang Jinsheng (Zhang Yi) and Liangzi (Liang Jin Dong). An affable, easygoing drifter with an expansive smile, Tao works in a small store in the city of Fenyang (Mr. Jia’s birthplace). Mr. Jia likes a slow reveal and it isn’t initially obvious that Tao is the movie’s emotional organizing principle whose feelings run, surge and erupt. The story tracks Tao and her relations with both Liangzi, who works at a coal mine, and Jinsheng, a budding entrepreneur.

The movie premiered in Pittsburgh last fall as one of two Asian movies in the 2015 3 Rivers Film Fest. Showtimes for this month's run have not yet been announced. The Harris Theater is located at 809 Liberty Ave. in the downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District (map).

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).