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With Mitsuko Delivers hitting UK screens this Friday, seems like a good time to rundown some of the very exciting releases Third Window Films have coming up…

There’s hardly moments rest with the DVD release of Keralino Sandrovich’s Crime or Punishment?!? on DVD Monday 14 May. Sandrovich worked with Miki Satoshi (Adrift in Tokyo, Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers) on the comedy TV show Jikou Keisatsu. (Monday also sees the next Asian Movies Meetup Group, where this month the Secret Japanese Movie Meetup also turns Third Window Anniversary Party.)

Of course all eyes will be on the UK theatrical release of Himizu, the award-winning film from Japanese director Sion Sono, which opens on 1 June. Like Cold Fish, it stars the rather lovely Denden in a supporting role. Sono’s epic Love Exposure will also be released on Blu-ray on 6 August. (Meaning you’ll be able to watch all four hours in one go without swapping discs!)

The really exciting news came that Third Window have acquired Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron man and Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer for Blu-ray release to accompany their DVD & Blu-ray release of his latest film Kotoko in late September/October.

They’ve also acquired Sogo Ishii’s first film in ten years, Isn’t Anyone Alive? From a director who has been bringing us strange and surreal films for 30 years such as Burst City, Crazy Thunder Road, Crazy Family, Angel Dust and Electric Dragon 80000V it stars Himizu‘s Shota Sometani.

Wow! It’s shaping up for one hell of a year for Third Window…

Welsh born director Gareth Evans, will bring his hit Indonesian action film The Raid, back to Wales for a special event premiere involving 11 simultaneous screenings across the country on Wednesday 16th May.

Already touted as 2012′s best action film and receiving rave reviews from the press, The Raid has wowed audiences across the globe and introduced legions of action fans to the newest martial arts superstar, Iko Uwais.

The Raid is the winner of the 2011 Midnight Madness People’s Choice Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival, the Audience and Critics’ Choice Awards at the 2012 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival and was a sold out hit at the 2012 Sundance and SXSW Festivals. The Raid also features an original score by Linkin Parks’ Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese (Tron: Legacy).

The film will receive its red carpet Welsh premiere at the Cardiff, Cineworld on the evening of Wednesday 16th May and simultaneous preview screenings will be held across Wales at these venues: Bridgend, Odeon; Cardiff, Odeon; Cardiff, Showcase; Cardiff, Vue; Carmarthen, Apollo; Cwmbran, Vue; Llandudno, Cineworld; Merthyr Tydfil, Vue; Newport Gwent, Cineworld; Swansea, Odeon. Contact cinemas for exact start times.

Terracotta Festival is proud to hold the European premiere of the Chinese movie Inseparable directed by Dayyan Eng, featuring Daniel Wu and Kevin Spacey.

Inseparable tells the story of hopeless 30 year old Li (Wu), who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a strange American ex-pat, Chuck (Kevin Spacey in excellent comic form). They first meet when Chuck foils Li’s attempt at suicide, claiming to be his neighbour. He takes Li under his wing, gradually helping with his troubles at work, with life in general and his relationship woes with his wife, Pang (Gong), an investigative reporter who suffers from extreme mood swings. But is Chuck really who he says he is? And why do Li and Chuck “patrol the streets” like superheros late in to the night…?

The films official release in China is due on May 2012.

Find out more about the full Terracotta Festival programme.

The full programme for the 4th annual has been released and once again it’s shaping up to be an outstanding festival with plenty of UK premieres, Q&As, masterclasses, and – of course – those parties… (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.

The London Korean Film Festival launches today with a K-Pop concert and a gala screening of Kim Han-min’s War Of The Arrow (aka Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon) with a Q&A with the director… (more…)

Third Window Films are holding a special premiere event to celebrate the upcoming release of Underwater Love – A Pink Musical, featuring a live performance from Stereo Total.

The event will take place on Sunday 16 October from 6pm at the Rich Mix in Bethnal Green. Tickets and more information can be found here.

The film is an offbeat joint venture between Germany’s Rapid Eye Movies and Japan’s Kokuei Company comes a whimsical pink film musical about a woman and a sea creature.

Directed by pink-film veteran Shinji Imaoka (Lunch Box, Frog Song), shot by Christopher Doyle – the famed cinematographer behind Hero and countless films by Wong Kar-Wai – and with music by new wave/synth pop/punk rock/lo fi multi lingual French German duo Stereo Total, Underwater Love – A Pink Musical promises to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

Underwater Love – A Pink Musical is released on UK DVD on 21 November 2011 by Third Window Films.

The full programme for the 55th London Film Festival was released yesterday, and it’s another strong year for Asian film. The line-up includes: the UK première of Takashi Miike’s follow up to 13 Assassins, a neo-classical remake of the Yasuhiko Takiguchi story about desperate, impoverished ronin and implacably cruel feudal lords, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (don’t know if the screenings will be in 3D?); Jiang Wen’s rumbustious comedy-adventure Let The Bullets Fly, starring Chow Yun-fat, Ge You and Jiang himself; A Simple Life, director Ann Hui’s first collaboration with Andy Lau since the film that helped make him a star nearly 30 years ago, Boat People; and AnDa Union: From the Steppes to the City, a documentary by Tim Pearce, Sophie Lascelles and Marc Tiley about Chinese Inner Mongolian band AnDa Union, which might very well be the soundtrack to the year. (more…)

The festival kicks-off with an opening gala featuring Kim Han-min’s Arrow The Ultimate Weapon, a Q&A with the director, and a K Pop performance! The closing film will be the UK premiere of Director Kim Ki-duk’s controversial documentary, Arirang, in which he explains his three year absence from filmmaking, followed by a Q&A.

This year’s programme sees a North & South Korean film strand, a Ryoo Seung Retrospective, a light hearted comedy films section, an Animation day and Mise en scene short films, all taking place in London at the Cineworld Haymarket, Apollo and ICA cinemas, and on tour nationally in Sheffield, Cambridge and Newcastle. (more…)

It’s been a bumper week for festival’s, as the London Korean Film Festival 2011 announced it’s opening gala film, and some of the other titles we can look forward to this November.

(Feels like you wait a whole year, then all of a sudden…)

The festival kicks-off with an opening gala featuring Kim Han-min’s Arrow The Ultimate Weapon, a Q&A with the director, and a K Pop performance! The closing film will be the UK premiere of Director Kim Ki-duk’s controversial documentary, Arirang, in which he explains his three year absence from filmmaking, followed by a Q&A.

This year’s programme sees a North & South Korean film strand, a Ryoo Seung Retrospective, a light hearted comedy films section, an Animation day and Mise en scene short films, all taking place in London at the Cineworld Haymarket, Apollo and ICA cinemas, and on tour nationally in Sheffield, Cambridge and Newcastle. (more…)

The full programme for the 55th London Film Festival was released yesterday, and it’s another strong year for Asian film. The line-up includes: the UK première of Takashi Miike’s follow up to 13 Assassins, a neo-classical remake of the Yasuhiko Takiguchi story about desperate, impoverished ronin and implacably cruel feudal lords, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (don’t know if the screenings will be in 3D?); Jiang Wen’s rumbustious comedy-adventure Let The Bullets Fly, starring Chow Yun-fat, Ge You and Jiang himself; A Simple Life, director Ann Hui’s first collaboration with Andy Lau since the film that helped make him a star nearly 30 years ago, Boat People; and AnDa Union: From the Steppes to the City, a documentary by Tim Pearce, Sophie Lascelles and Marc Tiley about Chinese Inner Mongolian band AnDa Union, which might very well be the soundtrack to the year. (more…)

My inbox has been brimming this week with the news that Tony Jaa will return to the screen with the sequel to Warrior King (aka Tom Yum Goong, aka The Protector – can we have less English titles, please?).

Produced and directed by Prachya Pinkaew, Warrior King 2 (aka Tom Yum Goong 2, aka The Protector 2 – sheeesh!) will also star Jija Yanin (Chocolate, Raging Phoenix), Marrese Crump (who recently worked on RZA’s The Man With The Iron Fists in Shanghai), Dan Chupong (Born to Fight, Ong-Bak, Ong Bak: The Beginning, Ong Bak 3) and Kazu Tang (Raging Phoenix, Danny The Dog). The picture above shows the main cast at the production opening ceremony last Wednesday in Bangkok, left to right: Jaa, Crump,  Tang, Chupong, and of course Yanin in front.

With Prachya at the helm from the start, here’s hoping this doesn’t turn into the disaster areas that were the Ong-Bak ‘prequels’…

Uniqlo crop up again this week, as their sponsored event We Love Anime comes to the Barbican Centre, London on 7th July. Partnered with Manga Entertainment and Optimum Releasing, this event has been travelling round the country with a goodie bag full of films. THis screening will include a chance to see the Studio Ghibli classic Laputa Castle In The Sky and a feature-length adaptation of TV series Trigun with Trigun: Badlands Rumble. The features will introduced by the Barbican’s in-house expert (and top UK Anime expert, lucky Barbican!) Helen McCarthy.

But that’s only part of what the Barbican has in store for Anime lovers, as during July they play host to a whole season of Studio Ghibli classics on the big screen where they belong. This will include Princess Mononoke, My Neighbour Totoro, Grave Of The Fireflies, Spirited Away and Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind, all in their original language, as well as special preview of Arrietty, based on the classic children’s story The Borrowers.

» For more information and details on how to book, go to Barbican.org.uk.

The event We Love Anime comes to the Barbican Centre, London on 7th July. Partnered with Manga Entertainment and Optimum Releasing, this event has been travelling round the country with a goodie bag full of films. THis screening will include a chance to see the Studio Ghibli classic Laputa Castle In The Sky and a feature-length adaptation of TV series Trigun with Trigun: Badlands Rumble. The features will introduced by the Barbican’s in-house expert (and top UK Anime expert, lucky Barbican!) Helen McCarthy.

But that’s only part of what the Barbican has in store for Anime lovers, as during July they play host to a whole season of Studio Ghibli classics on the big screen where they belong. This will include Princess Mononoke, My Neighbour Totoro, Grave Of The Fireflies, Spirited Away and Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind, all in their original language, as well as special preview of Arrietty, based on the classic children’s story The Borrowers.

» For more information and details on how to book, go to Barbican.org.uk.

Europe’s largest Taiwanese Film Festival is back for its 3rd edition with 4 film Premieres of must see film from one of the world’s most prolific award winning film industry.

The festival which will kick off on May 26th at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly with surprise critical and box office smash Seven Days in Heaven by emerging directing duo, Wang Yu-lin and Essay Liu.

The line-up will also include the 2010 Berlin film festival contender and Taiwan’s official entry for best foreign language film, Monga by Niu Chen-Zer. The film which has become one of the most successful in Taiwanese box office history stars Asia heart throb’s Ethan Ruan and Mark Zhao.

Also playing will be Leon Dai’s Can’t Live Without You (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti) offering audiences a profoundly moving drama about a father’s quest to stay with his daughter despite the intervention of the state upholding an irregular bureaucratic rule that may force them to separate.

Wang Lee Hom’s directorial debut Love in Disguise will form part of the first Taiwan Cinefest Cross Strait Film Section recognising Taiwanese talent’s contribution in Greater China.

» Find out more on the Festival’s website