DANGAN RUNNER
World’s first dual-format release!
Japanese director SABU, director of such films as Happiness, Mr Long and Miss Zombie made his start with DANGAN RUNNER (aka Non-Stop), the story of three losers brought together by fate with disastrous results. A would-be bank robber (Tomorowo Taguchi from Tetsuo) forgets his mask on his first big heist, and then botches an attempt to shoplift a replacement mask from a nearby convenience store. The store’s clerk (Diamond Yukai from Lost in Translation), a washed-up rock star, chases the thief and literally runs into a Yakuza (Shinichi Tsutsumi from Our Little Sister) to whom he owes money. Thus begins an all-night, three-way pursuit through the streets of Tokyo.
Out as a DUAL FORMAT DVD & BLURAY
November 12, 2018
Special Features:
Dual format DVD & BLURAY
First 1000 copies come with collectible slipcase
Interview with director Sabu / VCinema: A Video Essay by Tom Mes
Audio Commentary by Jasper Sharp / Original Theatrical Trailer
Pre-order now to secure your limited edition!
https://amzn.to/2QsWCwU
LEGEND OF THE STARDUST BROTHERS
NEW DISCOVERY!
As much as it’s great seeing films you’ve heard or know about, what we pride ourselves in and take the most joy from is showing you great titles you’ve never heard about.
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers is exactly that.
We’ve spent the past year working on getting this totally unknown 1980s Japanese musical remastered and packaged to be shown to the world, and now it’s ready!
In 1985, Macoto Tezka (son of the great manga artist Osamu Tezuka) met musician and TV personality Haruo Chicada who had made a soundtrack to a movie which didn’t actually exist: The Legend of the Stardust Brothers. At the time Macoto was just 22 years old, a film-student with many short experimental films under his belt, but yet to make a feature-debut and of course had the pressure of the TEZUKA name. With Chicada as producer, Tezka then adapted this “fake sountrack” into the real movie story of “The Stardust Brothers”.
With inspiration from “Phantom of the Paradise” and “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Tezuka assembled a cast of some of Japan’s most famous musicians of the time, including such greats as Kiyohiko Ozaki, ISSAY, Sunplaza Nakano and Hiroshi Takano, alongside many famous names in Manga and Anime such as Monkey Punch (Lupin the 3rd), Shinji Nagashima (Hanaichi Monme), Yosuke Takahashi (Mugen Shinsi), Genki Yoshimura (Sailor Moon) and even many upcoming film directors of the time such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata) and Daihachi Yoshida (The Kirishima Thing). The resulting film “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” is the exact definition of a cult film. Despite the huge array of talent on board with a large budget, the film is totally unknown even to this day in both Japan and worldwide. More than 30 years since its release, The Stardust Brothers will finally make itself known worldwide with a new master and a brand new Director’s Cut!
WORLD PREMIERE of the new master (and first time the film in any format has ever played outside Japan) on October 5th at the SITGES Film Festival. Director Macoto Tezka will be in attendance too!
https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/eng/film?id=10005291
For those of you who can’t make it to SITGES, don’t worry as the film will tour worldwide festivals before being released as a special edition bluray/dvd/soundtrack cd set in 2019!
Check out a clip from the film at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVc4YevwX2A
One Cut of the Dead
More UK Screenings
For those of you who missed ONE CUT OF THE DEAD at Frightfest, there are more UK screenings on the way:
Nottingham – Mayhem Film Festival – Oct 11-14
Hull – Dead of Night Film Festival – Oct 28
Derby – Satori Screen– Nov 9
Wales – Abertoir Film Festival – Nov 13-18
Some more Uk and Irish festivals have also been confirmed, yet not announced, so look out for more screenings on the way too!
For an updated UK and International film festival screening schedule, check out
https://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/one-cut-of-the-dead/
ANIMERAMA: 1001 Nights / Cleopatra
Special Screening!
Osamu Tezuka, the “Godfather of Manga” made a series of erotic animations in the late 60s/early 70s called ANIMERAMA. The 2 official films of that series 1001 NIGHTS and CLEOPATRA were released as a limited edition set earlier this year by Third Window.
Though, the best way to catch these animated beauties is on the BIG SCREEN, and on October 19th you have the chance to catch both with a special talk event for just £3!!!
For those of you in or around Newcastle, check out the event at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/653496401654998/
SUFFERING OF NINKO
Now out!
Young monk Ninko leads an ascetic existence in the Enmeiji temple, but his dedication to a life of simplicity and sexual abstinence is made impossible by the curse that seems to afflict him: he is irresistible to every woman (and some of the men) he meets. Pursued by a posse of half-naked, crazed women and a mysterious, faceless nymph, he flees high into the mountains, where he can finally discover his true nature.
“The Suffering of Ninko is a wild, jaw-dropping fever dream of a film that must be seen to be believed.” Indiewire
“For lovers of the truly bizarre, this is a must-see.” Cinapse
“Suffering Of Ninko is a home run. A cult in the making” High on Films
“Undeniably outlandish. A bold and striking debut.” Eastern Kicks
Dual Format DVD & BLURAY set now out!
Order here!
Watch the trailer here
Japanese Avant-Garde Film Festival
September 21-23
This edition of the Japanese Avant-Garde Experimental Film Festival, in partnership with The Japan Foundation, riffs off the Oxford Dictionaries word of 2017: ‘Youthquake’- defined as ‘a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people.’
From ‘sun tribe’ delinquents in Bad Boys, psychedelic drag queens in Funeral Parade of Roses, and heat-of-the-battle political documentary, to films from the influential Art Theatre Guild (ATG) film studio, the festival will showcase classic avant-garde films from the 1960s and 1970s that examine youth counterculture, the student movements, and general currents of dissatisfaction and rebellion.
Showing alongside these films are short experimental works from contemporary filmmakers and video artists that engage with life in present-day Japan.
21 – 23 September 2018
Barbican Cinema, Close Up Film Centre, King’s College London
For more information and to book tickets please click here
Korean Film Festival Teaser Screenings
A Tiger in Winter
The London Korean Film Festival 2018 presents the UK Premiere of Lee Kwang-kuk’s A Tiger in Winter at Regent Street Cinema, Monday 17th September.
This final Teaser Screening will include the LKFF 2018 Programme Launch.
Lee Kwang-kuk returns with his third title, A Tiger in Winter, a compassionate look at the perils and frustrations of creative inertia, as two writers seek to plough through their creative block.
With the release of his third feature film, director Lee Kwang-kuk is fast becoming an LKFF favourite for his inventive narratives and intimately realised characters. The themes of creative people at a standstill is familiar territory for the director, but the linear story is a fresh break from the time shifting narratives of his previous works, Romance Joe (2012) and A Matter of Interpretation (2015). Premiered at Busan International Film Festival and selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam, A Tiger in Winter is a melancholic and humorous drama driven by the outstanding performances of its leads and the thrill that a very large, striped cat could strike at any time.
Tickets: http://ow.ly/CRf830lCcI3
Terracotta / Sharp Teeth Films
Its coming up to the three year anniversary of Terracotta‘s sister label Sharp Teeth films, launched back in 2015 as an outlet for edgy non-Asian content – ‘films with bite!’. In the intervening time they’ve released seven diverse films, from Bronx street gang and hip-hop origin story RUBBLE KINGS, through the b-movie exploitation of SEPTIC MAN, to the theatrical and DVD release of poetic Lebanese post-war drama TRAMONTANE.
To celebrate our third birthday, they’re making the whole Sharp Teeth catalogue our Featured Releases of September and are offering 33% off all Sharp Teeth titles. Simply visit the Terracotta shop and enter discount code SHARPT3 at check out to claim the discount.
Arrow Films
Latest releases
Orgies of Edo– out on Blu-ray November 19th
https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/orgies-of-edo-blu-ray/FCD1822
Legendary Toei director Teruo Ishii tells three stories of moral sickness set during Japan’s prosperous Genroku era in this bloody follow-up to his sexploitation classic Shogun’s Joy of Torture, and the fourth entry in Toei’s ‘abnormal love’ film series. Ishii’s politically incorrect moral lessons paint a trio of tales of tragic heroines caught up in violence, sadomasochism, incest and torture.
Horrors of Malformed Men- out on Blu-ray September 17th
https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/horrors-of-malformed-men-blu-ray/FCD1788
Cult director Teruo Ishii (Shogun’s Joy of Torture, Blind Woman’s Curse) presents a nightmarish, hallucinogenic tale drawn from the fevered imagination of Japan’s celebrated pioneer ofero-guro (“erotic grotesque”) literature, Edogawa Rampo.
Father, Son, Sword: The Lone Wolf and Cub Saga- Paperback out on September 28th
https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/father–son–sword–the-lone-wolf-and-cub-saga–arrow-books-/AB009
The gripping saga of former shogunate executioner Itto Ogami and his son Daigoro, better known as Lone Wolf and Cub. Betrayed and exiled by the treacherous Yagyu clan, they wander feudal Japan as assassins on the road to hell.
Written by Japanese film expert Tom Mes, Father, Son, Sword is the full story behind the films, the manga, and the phenomenon Lone Wolf and Cub.
