Aimee Giron

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Directed by Garry Marshall, Beaches is a story about two 11-year-old girls who meet on the beach in Atlantic City and continue to keep in touch and weather the challenges of adult life throughout the years. The film is best remembered for its ability to turn on your waterworks, but the best thing about it is that it doesn't sugarcoat what really happens in a friendship, like the one between CC Bloom (Bette Midler) and her best friend, Hillary Whitney, (Barbara Hershey). Beaches is a moving story, filled with camaraderie, jealousy, glory, pain, and forgiveness.

Tune in to afternoon TV, and you're bound to run into a slew of children's programming. You may notice a tremendous presence of shows that look very similar to those native to Japan. Anime sagas such as Cowboy Bebop and Sailor Moon, as well as films by anime gurus such as Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds), have been around for several decades in the East; however, the genre is still relatively new to the American audience. There is no doubt that the influence of Japanese anime is on the rise. We had the opportunity to speak to one of the most innovative Japanese filmmakers, Satoshi Kon, a man known for his extraordinary vision and ability to take his audience by surprise.

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