Before Japanese film director Mamoru Oshii made his international hit 1995 animated cyberpunk thriller “Ghost in the Shell,” he made “Angel’s Egg,” a mysterious original video animation (OVA) which perplexed audiences upon its original release. Now considered a masterpiece, New York City’s Japan Society is screening it in their anime classics series this Friday (October 14) at 7 p.m. Go here for tickets and location.

The 71-minute film tells a simple story but with highly charged symbolism. A little girl hides a large egg under her clothes while roaming a desolate neo-gothic cityscape in an unknown world. She meets a boy carrying a cross-shaped device and they travel together for awhile. He tells her the biblical story of “Noah’s Ark,” altering one important part of the tale. There is very little dialogue in this visually haunting trek in a landscape where other humans seem to be oblivious to them. In one of the most beautiful sequences of the film, hundreds of men throw spears at huge shadows of fish swimming through a city.

Mamoru Oshii collaborated with artist Yoshitaka Amano on the film to create a bleak but stunning world. Some have speculated that the film is inspired by Oshii’s loss of faith in Christianity but the director has claimed that he doesn’t know what the film means.

“Angel’s Egg” will screen at NYC’s Japan Society on Friday 14 October at 7pm.