An accident has occurred on Tokyo Bay’s Aqua Line, an underwater expressway. As horrific footage of the disaster bounces around social media, the Japanese government tries desperately to keep the public calm and determine what has caused this destruction. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Rando Yaguchi, one of the few who initially believes a living creature might be behind it, is put at the head of a task force researching the creature in cooperation with US experts. As the creature breaks through lines of defense and mutates to astonishing size and power, it is given a terrible name: Godzilla.

The film that revived the franchise, now available in the US in 4K for the first time! Shin Godzilla (shin meaning new, true or, in a clever bit of wordplay, God) is a different take on the original story of a destructive monster born of nuclear tests and political arrogance. Directors Hideki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Shinji Higuchi (Shin Ultraman, storyboard artist and writer for Evangelion and one of Anno’s closest collaborators) turn a classic examination of post-WW2 trauma and existential fear into a biting, edge-of-your-seat action-satire confronting the state of contemporary politics, climate anxiety and bureaucratic stagnation. When there is a disaster, at what point do our institutions stop helping and start getting in the way? And what happens when those disasters come more frequently than ever?

In Japanese with English subtitles.

This screening is held in the Historic Duncan Auditorium. This space utilizes open seating for this event, seat selection is not required.