Brooklyn SciFi is hosting a Kaiju Monster panel and online screening of the documentary The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga ss part of our celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Godzilla.

The Godzilla Kaiju monster panel is a moderated discussion on the impact that Godzilla and Kaiju has had on modern cinema (specifically SciFi), pop culture, and how it has influenced participants on the panel.  

Participants:

James Crawford, Moderator

Daniel Kraus, Author

Jonathan Bellés, Documentary Filmmaker, The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga

Marc Guggenheim, Author / Producer

Mike Pacitto, Filmmaker / Screen Writer of Dinonauts, an animated feature film selection from this year’s festival

Jim Crawford is a life-long giant monster and film history enthusiast. He is the co-founder of Strangeco, a legendary Art Toy company from the 2000s that produced many kaiju-influenced limited edition designer toys. He is the author of Toys: New Designs from the Art Toy Revolution and has written for various art and design publications, including Juxtapoz, Hi Fructose, Gestalten and Abrams Press. Jim has a master’s degree in film studies and lives on the outskirts of San Francisco with his wife and stepson.

Jonathan Bellés is known for Ishiro Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director, The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga (2019) and No es cosa de risa (2016).  He is currently completing production on his new documentary about intitled Ishiro Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director.

Marc is an American screenwriter, television producer, comic book writer, and novelist. He is best known as the creator of the television series Eli Stone (2008–2009), Arrow (2012–2020), and Legends of Tomorrow (2016–2022), executive producer of the animated series Tales of Arcadia (2016–2021), as well as the writer of the feature films Green Lantern (2011) and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013).

Daniel is a New York Times bestselling American author known for his collaborations with George A. Romero and Guillermo del Toro.  He is best known for his books The Monster Variations (2010), Rotters (2011), Scowler (2014), Trollhunters (2015) co-authored with Guillermo del Toro, the novelization of The Shape of Water  also with Guillermo del Toro, and recent works Whalefall (2023) and Pay the Piper collaboration with George A. Romero (2024).

Michele Pacitto is known for Monster Force Zero (2019), The Jurassic Dead (2017) and Generation X-tinct (1997) and most recent film Dinonauts (2024), an animated feature film and official selection of the Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival.