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Interesting piece on the Guardian today about the loosening of their film quota – but will it really make a difference?

» View the story on the Guardian

Yep. This time quoted in a press ad (our first, I think!) for Jang Hoon’s impressive The Front Line.

(Hmmm, oh yes, now I come to think of it we did say ‘Dazzling’! )

The Front Line is available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Cine-Asia.

Just back from a very successful and fun interview with Satoshi Miki and Fuse Eri! I might have missed seeing this at Hyper Japan, but Eri was kind enough to give me her patented ‘triple-take’, play style, when discussing the differences between acting on TV and film!

More from Satoshi and Fuse, including the transcript of that interview soon… I promise!

Adrift In Tokyo is released today on UK DVD by Third Window Films.

Reality TV E J-yong style, with six of Korea’s biggest actresses – clever, intelligent and very funny… (more…)

Director Satoshi Miki reunites with In The Pool star Joe Odagiri for a comically brilliant meandering across Tokyo… (more…)

The longest cutscene in the history of videogames? (more…)

Following the example of Ong Bak 2: The Beginning, this once again thrusts Muay Thai boxing into a period setting. Shame it’s kinda dull then…? (more…)

On March 11th, 2012, exactly a year after the earthquake which caused so much damage to Japan, Third Window Films will be hosting a charity screening of Yûya Ishii’s Mitsuko Delivers at the ICA, London, to raise awareness for the people of Fukushima.

Adam Torel, managing director of Third Window Films, said in the press release for the event: “A year on and Japan still lies in a state of destruction and confusion. In Fukushima, with the ‘unseen’ damage of the nuclear situation, the emotional scars of the people still living there are unimaginable. There is a certain stigma arising about both Fukushima and its people with the topic itself becoming ‘off-limits’. People are feeling isolated and this can’t be made to happen. Japan is one nation and to recover from this awful tragedy we need to help give voice to the people of Fukushima and keep them strong.”

“It is my personal feeling, that staying strong mentally will keep the body strong, and a state of happiness and good spirits can overcome almost anything. Despite the heavy occasion, I want to show a light-hearted film so that people can be cheerful and that these spirits can be passed along to the people of Fukushima who in turn can be happy in the face of adversity.”

Third Window films, together with Pictures Dept., Bitters End, Dongyu, Rapid Eye Films and Joint Entertainment, produced celebrated directors Sion Sono’s Land of Hope, a film modelled on the situation in Fukushima, at the end of last year.

100% of Third Window Films’ profits of the screening of Mitsuko Delivers will go to a Fukushima-based charity. Third Window Films will also be selling DVDs at the event, with 100% of their sales also going to charity.

» Buy tickets from the ICA’s site.

Alongside the Fukushima charity, Third Window Films are also giving away 100% of ticket sales of all Japanese films playing in their East Winds Film Festival to the Japan Society Earthquake Relief Fund.

Continuing the North and South themes that divide the country, Secret Reunion director Jang Hoon returns with a drama set during the end of the Korean War itself… (more…)

New logo, new dates, same great festival!… (more…)

Returning for a fourth year, the Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival is dedicated to celebrating and promoting the best in new Asian cinema, from the Persian Gulf to the Pacific, covering the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia.

Once again there’s a solid line-up of films being screened from 8 to 18 March, including: 11 Flowers, from Beijing Bicycle director Wang Xiao-Shuai; Lee Yoon-Ki’s Berlinale 2011 Golden Bear Nominated Come Rain, Come Shine; Tom Lin’s Starry, Starry Night; a world premiere for Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s One More, followed by a Q&A; and Naomi Kawase’s project 3.11 A Sense of Home, a response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the Tohoku region of Japan on 11 March 2011.

What really caught my eye was another chance to see Sonthar Gyal’s impressive The Sun-beaten Path again, last screened as part of the London Film Festival.

» Screenings will take place at Asia House, Prince Charles Cinema and Ciné Lumiere. Find out more about Pan Asia Film Festival 2012 and book tickets.

Video artist David Blandy unravels his obsession with Chinese and Japanese pop culture in conversation with Japanese manga artist Inko on Thursday evening at Asia House, London, at 6:45pm.

From philosophical conversations concerning Bruce Lee to the quandary caused by loving Anime and being the grandson of a veteran of the Japanese concentration camps, Blandy will discuss the misrecognitions, mistranslations and revelations in Kung-Fu flicks, Manga and computer games. Asia House will be screening the London premiere Anjin 1600 (2012), ‘Japanese Space Opera’ and Child of the Atom (2010).

Blandy uses video, performance and comics to address how identity is constructed, investigating our relationship to the mass media and cultural heritage. Blandy won the Times/South Bank Show Breakthrough Award in 2010.

Inko was born in Kyoto, Japan, and has been working as a Manga artist, and as a culture and language ambassador with SOAS.

» Book tickets from Asia House.

We revisit Lee Myung-se’s classic police thriller, for many of us the first Korean film we saw… (more…)

Hardly a revolution, but stars Zhao Jun and (particularly) Vivid Wang shine in this likable comedy about a Chinese sex shop… (more…)

An inventively twisted tale from directors Johnnie To and Wong Ka-fai (Fulltime Killer, Running On Karma, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts). Finally the Hong Kong thriller is back on form – Korea watch out!… (more…)

An inventively twisted tale from directors Johnnie To and Wong Ka-fai (Fulltime Killer, Running On Karma, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts). Finally the Hong Kong thriller is back on form – Korea watch out!… (more…)