Ghost in the Shell

Selected by Martine Gutierrez

2029: A female cybernetic government agent, Major Motoko Kusanagi, and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are hot on the trail of “The Puppet Master,” a mysterious and threatening computer virus capable of infiltrating human hosts. Together with her fellow agents from Section 9, Kusanagi embarks on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity.

Director Mamoru Oshii’s award-winning cyber-tech thriller, based on the comic book by Shirow Masamune, is lauded as one of the leading Japanese animation films of all time. A paranoid cyberpunk thriller, and a later influence on the Wachowskis’ Matrix trilogy, Ghost in the Shell crystallizes the obsessions and fears of the turn of the millennium. Oshii achieved international cult status with its meditative musings on consciousness and revealed the possibilities of animation for generations to come.

Part of the Fraenkel Film Festival