Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠) appeared at the last "New York Anime Festival" (within the New York Comic Con) in 2011 for a screening of his new movie "Children Who Chase Lost Voices" (星を追う子ども), as well as an interview and Q&A. Here is the directed portion of the interview conducted by NYAF/NYCC. Translation not directed at the audience was cut. As an interesting side note, we (GeekNights) had not intended to video this event. While press, we assumed that plenty of other people would have their equipment on-hand. Upon arrival, however, we discovered that there was almost no press presence. I couldn't let this wonderful interview exist solely in the form of fan cameras from the audience, so I turned up maximum image stabilization and stood for the full event at the side of the room holding the camera as steady as possible. The room was noisy, and there was a great deal of background noise from outside the room. I removed as much as possible. The moral? If you're a journalist at a convention, carry your tripod and shotgun mic even if you expect any video to be redundant. ;^) Thanks to Rym DeCoster for setting his camera up to record this.

Before the Concerts began the omegathons had to raise their shame shields as they performed on stage. Who has the funkiest moves to advance to the next round of the Omegathon. Special thanks to TaradinoC for recording this back in the day.

Before the concerts took place, our Omegathons have to play a game of giant Jenga. Who will be able to move the block to the top and who will be stared down into oblivion as the audience looms on their every move. Special thanks top Chris Collins for recording this back in the day.

See 7bit Hero take the stage at PAX AUS 2014.