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Exclusive: Organisers at Frontières Co-Production Market have received a record 180-plus project submissions for the upcoming 2025 edition in Montreal (July 23-26) that runs in conjunction with Fantasia International Film Festival (July 16-August 3).

The four-day event brings new projects from around the world led by a healthy Canadian contingent that includes Karl Lemieux’s supernatural horror Le Majestic from Metafilms, whose Peak Everything premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight last month; Anouk Whissell’s psychological horror Holi Womb, about a spa with a horrifying past; and Austin Birtch’s creature feature Mystery Of The Mothman,centred on a Vietnam veteran caught up in a conspiracy.

On the occasion of his retrospective taking place in Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival, Katsuhito Ishii talks to Panos Kotzathanasis about The Taste of Tea, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl and Norioka Workshop, his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, Tadanobu Asano and Tatsuya Gashuin, his work in animation, the current state of the Japanese movie industry and his future projects.

You can find reviews of his films on the following links:

Hello! Jun'ichi

Norioka Workshop

Promise of August

Party 7

Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl

Funky Forest: The First Contact

The Taste of Tea...

Katsuhito Ishii has been present on the Japanese film scene for 25 years, but he has not really made it. He was closest to the success some 15-20 years ago when he made a winning streak with “The Taste of Tea” (2004) and “Funky Forest” (2005) in both of which he “mixed-and-matched” bits and pieces of genre and art house approach. Since then, he made a few films which met different levels of attention form the critics and the audience, and he practically went missing for almost a decade now. While we are waiting for the announced feature expansion of his 50th anniversary Gamera short (2015), if we still are waiting in fact, why would not we take a glance at his last feature, “Hello! Jun'ichi” (2014), which is a part of a Third Window box set dedicated to him.

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Terracotta Streaming – Nobuhiko Obayashi focus

Terracotta is now streaming the Obayashi Anti-War trilogy of films. Casting Blossoms to the Sky, Seven Weeks and Hanagatami offer three different stories from the celebrated director of Hausu.

For fans of Japanese cinema, Terracotta also has a collection of films from Sion Sono, Shinya Tsukamoto and Toshiaki Toyoda.

Check out the growing selection of titles on the Terracotta streaming site; new titles are added regularly.

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Terracotta Blu-ray & DVD Store

Eureka have announced three new kung fu titles on Blu-ray, with a limited first run slipcase edition. The first up is Odd Couple starring Sammo Hung.

Knockabout and the much anticipated release of Dreadnaught starring Yuen Biao and directed by Yuen Woo Ping, are both out in April. All three are available to pre-order from the Terracotta store.

Check out the titles in the Lunar New Year promotion – titles start from...