Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985)

Together with Kaboom Animation Festival we bring the best anime to the big screen!

Let’s watch an absolute classic of Japanese family entertainment: Night on the Galactic Railroad was adapted from the classic fantasy novel with the same name from 1934 by Kenji Miyazawa, read by generations of Japanese school children. In this symbolic and thoughtful film Giovanni and Campanella, the first a blue-colored cat, the second a pink-colored one, board steam train that takes them across the galaxy. At each increasingly surrealist stop, then boys meet more outlandish characters, including an obsessed archeologist and a bird catcher who turns his catch into candy. Yet with every stop the train journey’s destination also grows more ominous.

The film shows a great interest in European culture, from the character names to the interest in Christian themes and the use of the constructed language Esperanto, which Kenji Miyazawa was deeply interested in. Lovingly animated and directed by an industry veteran, Night on the Galactic Railroad is a little-seen gem that deserves to be watched on the big screen.

Melkweg often hosts different types of programmes at the same time, such as concerts, club nights and films. Please note that there may occasionally be some noise pollution from other programmes during the screening.