Newsletter for Nov 2019

We've had a lot of problems in 2019 with our physical manufacturing/distribution setup, plus the major uncertainty of Brexit still causing issues, so sadly we were not able to release many titles in 2019. Next month, along with our partners ARROW, we will move warehouse (sale below!) and hopefully that will help fix some of the distribution issues of late. Brexit getting resolved (in one way or another) should help in being able to focus more on acquiring titles for 2020 (we already have a lot of great films earmarked!).
With that said, we're happy to have scheduled in our next 2 releases in the beginning of 2020, and hope Brexit and other issues can resolve to move things on from there!


THE LEGEND OF THE STARDUST BROTHERS
Coming in February!

One of our favourite ever discoveries at Third Window Films!
We love this film so much that we worked with its director to remaster it and bring it to worldwide film festivals for cinema audiences to see it on the big screen. Soon it'll be ready for you all to watch (and dance to!) at home!

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.

Taking 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 such as Monkey Punch (Lupin the 3rd), Shinji Nagashima (Hanaichi Monme), Yosuke Takahashi (Mugen Shinsi) and even many upcoming film directors of the time such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata) and Daihachi Yoshida (The Kirishima Thing). Together they made a pop-musical featuring crazy animation, zombies, political satire and everything in between!

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 has been totally unknown to this day in both Japan and worldwide. More than 30 years since its release, The Stardust Brothers is finally making itself known worldwide with a new digital master and a brand new Director’s Cut! 

Check out a CLIP from the film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVc4YevwX2A
 
ALL REGION
DUAL-FORMAT DVD/BLURAY plus SOUNDTRACK CD
featuring great extras such as 
Making of from the film's original release
New interview with director Macoto Tezka
Soundtrack CD
Limited to 1000 units

out Feb 17, 2020

Available to Pre-order from the Arrow Films Store
https://www.arrowfilms.com/product-detail/the-legend-of-the-stardust-brothers-dual-format-with-cd-soundtrack/TWFBD046
Or from AMAZON
https://amzn.to/2XRSrPu
 

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Pink Films Vol 1 & 2
Inflatable Sex Doll of the wasteland / Gushing Prayer

Part of a series of newly remastered 60s and 70s Japanese pink films!
Check out the Pink 1-5 series trailer: https://youtu.be/UNuZfo3uoEM

INFLATABLE SEX DOLL OF THE WASTELANDS
Meeting in a blasted, barren wilderness, the hitman Shô is engaged by wealthy real estate agent Naka to track down his kidnapped lover, Sae. Naka shows him a poor quality film of the girl being beaten and assailed by a gang of four yakuza, which sets Shô out on a trail that brings him back into contact with the gang leader, Ko, who was responsible for the murder of his own girlfriend five years before. As he embarks on his quest through the dreamlike cityscapes of 
the late-60s Tokyo underworld for a fateful 3pm barroom rendezvous with his nemesis, Sho becomes increasingly unsure as to whether the girl really existed in the first place.

Yamatoya's wrote INFLATABLE SEX DOLL OF THE WASTELANDS concurrently with his anonymous contribution to the script for Suzuki Seijun's legendary BRANDED TO KILL, released four months earlier. Similarly shot in stunning monochrome scope, it is as hallucinatory, fragmentary and surreal as its companion piece, and stands as a testament to just how flexible the pink film formula could be in its first decade.

GUSHING PRAYER
High-school students Yasuko, Yôichi, Kôichi and Bill want to escape from their overwhelming sense of alienation from the world around them and indulge in group sex to explore whether they can forge their own path liberated from a corrupt adult society. Yasuko is driven by the goading encouragement of her peers to feel what it is like to be a prostitute, with sex reduced to a mere economic transaction. She sets out an odyssey of self-exploration in search 
of complete satiation.

The most cryptic and formally radical pink film from the most politically radical director ever to work in the field: GUSHING PRAYER deploys actual suicide notes and a haunting guitar refrain by folk musician Minami Masato to express the spiritual and political left vacuum in the wake of the failed student movements of the 1960s. The cinematography by Itô Hideo, who also shot Ôshima Nagisha's IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976), captures an intriguing melding of the documentary with the cinematic.
 
ALL REGION
DUAL-FORMAT DVD/BLURAY 
NEWLY REMASTERED!

out March 16th, 2020

Available to Pre-order from the Arrow Films Store
https://www.arrowfilms.com/product-detail/pink-films-vol-1—2-dual-format/TWFBD047
or from Amazon
https://amzn.to/2qRudZE
 

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Warehouse Moving Sale!
Complete your collection!

As mentioned above, due to many problems in 2019 with physical distribution sales declining across the market, we've also needed to change up our distribution setup, and along with our partners Arrow Films we will be moving warehouse in December. 
To reduce costs on certain moving charges, we are having a bit of a clearout on certain stock, especially many back-catalogue DVDs. Most of them will not be replenished when stock runs out, so if you've any holes in your catalogue or want to keep copies of many films which have not made it to streaming or bluray, then make sure to pick them up!
Starting from just £4!

CHECK THE SALE OUT HERE
 

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One Cut of the Dead T-Shirts
Stock running low!


For you fans of ONE CUT OF THE DEAD – Do not miss out on grabbing one of the last remaining promo T-shirts made! Very limited numbers were made and they are quickly running out! Will NOT be replenished when sold out!

Available worldwide
£20 plus postage.
Order at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264509635603
 

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Terracotta Distribution
New releases

Our friends at Terracotta distribution have been working with various other Asian film distributors and added a few additional titles from the legendary Takeshi Miike and Shaw Brothers collections for you to enjoy! 
These include:High school rival battles, CROWS ZERO I & IIGrindhouse flick, THE OILY MANIACAssassin action, THE FLYING GUILLOTINEClassic wuxia, ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN

Asian cinema fans, make sure to check out the Terracotta online shop!
https://terracotta-distribution.myshopify.com/
 

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On-Gaku: Our Sound
European Premiere in London

For you London based Japanese and anime fans, we super recommend going to this. One of our favourite films of late:
European premiere of amazing anime 'On-Gaku:Our Sound' directed by Kenji Iwaisawa. Three outsider high-school students who haven't touched an instrument in their lives form a band to express their teenage angst and impress girls.
Screens at the Rio Cinema, Dalston on Thursday 5 December as part of the London International Animation Festival
Info at: http://www.liaf.org.uk/2019/10/liaf-2019-on-gaku-our-sound-feature-15/
Trailer link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf9zTOqWwXE