Notícias

Oh how we have waited with bated breath for the return of Japanese director Hiroyuki Nakano to return with another film. I am a mighty fan of both Samurai Fiction and Stereo Future. I gave Red Shadow a miss and I haven’t been able to see any of the short film work he has done in recent years so his record is pretty much unblemished in my opinion. And it has been long enough since he last did a feature film perhaps all this short film work in the meantime has put him back on track to deliver us another gem. We hope Tajomaru is that film, Nakano’s adaptation of the short story “In a Grove” by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. I’m a bit mixed about the new trailer, some parts seem a bit silly and Jpop gets me every time, but final judgment is reserved for when I...

[The first teaser for this one just arrived via the official website! Find it below the break!]

2009 is poised to be an excellent year for once-prominent, long absent Japanese directors returning to the big screen. We wrote about the imminent return of Blue Spring‘s Toshiaki Toyoda last week and now it seems that Samurai Fiction helmer Hiroyuki Nakano is ready to return as well. Nakano won fans the world over with Samurai Fiction - a film that honors the traditions of samurai film while simultaneously updating them - a film that would eventually be ‘borrowed’ from quite liberally by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill but he has been quiet for quite some time. Samurai Fiction launched his Sf Project series that also yielded feature film Stereo Future - also excellent - a short film collection titled simply Short Films and a photo book titled Sweet Female. At the peak of this run it seemed Nakano could do no wrong but then he did, his ninja film...

The Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in Bucheon, South Korea is one of the premiere genre festivals of the year. And other than providing a venue for some of the top genre films of the year they also have a program in place that will help other Asian genre filmmakers get their projects off the ground, wrapped up or distributed. The project is called ‘It Project’ and it is a competition of 17 feature films and 2 animated features from 10 countries. These films come in many different styles including thriller, horror, action, black comedy and so on. During the festival, It Project, which runs from July 19 to 23, will provide one-on-one business meeting opportunities with Asian/international film producers and key investors as well as jury deliberation with cash awards and post-production supports to advance filmmakers’ projects.

Of particular note for Twitch readers is one of the finalists is Hiroyuki Nakano who made Samurai Fiction and Stereo Future.