Western film companies in Asia

[Stephen Cremin]

Yes, I agree.  ICA is under 200 seats and barriers of it being a membership
cinema and its perceived snobbery put a lot of people off.  You can get
Japanese audiences in there which can subsidise distribution, but not when a
film's eight years old.  I think Blue Light have been sitting on it for
years - they used to use the image of Nikaido Miho at the window on their
music posters around London - but I've heard that ICA are considering that
and/or BOUNCE-KO GALS (aka "Leaving") for June.  Of course, Downtown
Pictures have been sitting on BOUNCE for a couple of years too.

I always advice sales agents that they should get in their contract that
theatrical distribution in the UK doesn't mean a week at the ICA or a couple
of screenings at the Prince Charles.  I do think ICA has a lot of value in
building the image of a director, but if you want crossover success you need
a more accessible venue.  We can see that historically with Wong Kar-wai and
Kitano.  I've a soft spot for Harada Masato's films, so really worried that
BOUNCE will be buried.  Looking at television's current fascination with the
darker side of Japan - Christmas documentaries on Channel 4 about SM
mistresses, teenage gangs and pornographers and a travel piece on ITV coming
up on Thursday on the country that killed whats-her-face as the mother
collects her body from the Tokyo morgue - I think TOKYO DECADENCE could be
one of those - literally - handful of Asian films that get bought each year
for late-night screenings.

Yes, if you care about Asian films and you live in the UK then get a DVD
player that can handle VCDs and travel.  Which seems as good a time as any
to plug a Japanese film festival in Cologne next month (15-19 March) that
has so many new features and guests that I just don't know how they're going
to fit them into four days.  One of the key organisers is on the list and I
hope this gives him all the excuses he needs to tell us more about it..

Stephen

PS: BATTLE ROYALE looks like an October release.

----------
>From: Jasper Sharp <j.sharp at publitec.vnu.com>
>To: "'KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu'" <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>Subject: RE: Western film companies in Asia
>Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 10:02:21 +0100
>

>
>>AUDITION is coming out in London soon.  BATTLE ROYALE in a few months. 
>>TOKYO DECADENCE in perhaps June.  Korean film THE ISLE too.  But all of
>>these films have something in common: they're all famous for their shock
>>value.  
>
>I'm a little confused. I knew AUDITION was getting a release in London, and
>am happy (and very surprised) that BATTLE ROYALE is, but TOKYO DECADENCE?
>Are you talking about a theatrical release, or is this going on to video,
>because its already about 8 years old. 
>Also, talking about releases in the UK is a little misleading when the
>majority of Japanese films I saw whilst living in London where only screened
>theatrically in the Institute of Contemporary Arts, a tiny cinema which has
>a capacity of about 200 people maximum. This was the only venue where THE
>RING, AUGUST IN THE WATER and PERFECT BLUE all played. The only other
>Japanese films that came out in the UK at the same time which achieved a
>broader release were SHALL WE DANCE and UNAGI.
>So yes, its great that these films are getting theatrical releases in the
>UK, but the scale of such releases is almost negligible. Kawaii sou. Thank
>god for VCD.