Millennium Actress

AFS Cinema is bringing Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress back to the big screen this summer, with three screenings running from Saturday, July 25, through Wednesday, July 29. It's a Japanese animated feature from 2001, 87 minutes long, presented as a DCP in Japanese with English subtitles.

If you haven't seen it, the story follows a documentarian whose investigation into the life of a retired actress sends him on an adventure through time and straight into the heart of cinema. The actress herself is loosely based on Setsuko Hara, a muse for director Yasujirō Ozu who starred in 101 films. As the documentary unfolds, the line between her real life and the roles she played begins to blur, and the film turns into a love poem to cinema itself. Critics have noted that outside of Kon's own filmography, there's nothing quite like it, and he uses the malleability of animation to find beauty in the way memories and movie scenes bleed into one another.

Kon is also known for Perfect Blue and Paprika, and he brings that same elliptical style here, where the narrative jumps and folds back on itself. Millennium Actress is part of the AFS Cinema July/August 2026 program, so it's one of several titles they're cycling through these couple of months.

There are three showtimes to choose from: Saturday, July 25, at 7 PM; Sunday, July 26, at 12:30 PM; and Wednesday, July 29, at 6:15 PM. Tickets are $14 for evening shows and $11.50 for matinees, which are available Monday through Friday for screenings before 5 PM. AFS MAKE & WATCH members get $4 off, and LOVE & Impact Circle members see it for free. There are also discounts for AISD educators and local high school and college students at the box office with a valid school ID. You can find it at AFS Cinema, 6406 N I-35 Suite 3100, Austin, TX 78752.