News

Himizu U.K. Release Details Plus Return of Cult Tetsuo Films

The distributor Third Window Films will release the live-action film of Minoru Furuya's manga Himizu, directed by Sion Sono, in selected U.K. cinemas at the start of June, followed by a DVD/Blu-ray release on August 6.

Himizu's scheduled cinema screenings, beginning on Friday June 1, are listed on Third Windows' events page. They include screenings at London's Prince Charles, ICA, Renoir and Riverside Studios cinemas. There will also be showings at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales. The film has already won the Audience Award at London's Terracotta Far East Festival in April 2012.

In the film, 18-year-old actor Shōta Sometani plays Yūichi Sumida, an abused middle school boy. A certain incident sets him on a descent into darkness. 16-year-old actress Fumi Nikaidō plays Keiko Chazawa, Sumida's female classmate and stalker. Both actors won the Best New Young Actor or Actress Award for their roles in Himizu at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Third Window Films also made the following announcement about the cult live-action Tetsuo films, directed by Shinya Tsukamoto in 1989 and 1992, through the twitchfilm.com site:

We are pleased to announce the Blu-ray release of two huge cult classics from Japan: Tetsuo 1 & 2 will be released together as a Blu-ray double-pack in October 2012 with brand new transfers restored from the original negatives by Shinya Tsukamoto himself. Along with these two new restorations, we will also include Shinya Tsukamoto's 45 minute Tetsuo-prototype film 'The Adventures of Electric Rod Boy' (Denchu Kozo no Boken) in the package. Also included will be a new interview with Tsukamoto regarding the restoration as well as talking about the re-release of these cult classics.

The Tetsuo 1/2 set will coincide with the DVD/Blu-ray release of Kotoko [a 2011 Tsukamoto film] which is also scheduled for October 2012

Additionally, the company confirmed two other live-action releases. Sion Sono's Love Exposure will be released on Blu-ray on the same date as Himizu, August 6, with a new transfer to HD. Third Window has also acquired Gakuryu (Sogo) Ishii's latest film, Isn't Anyone Alive? (Ikiteru mono inai no ka) which features Himizu's male lead, Shōta Sometani. The film is scheduled for release (no details specified) "sometime towards the end of 2012."