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Mamoru Oshii Previews New 'Dark Fantasy' Film at Film Festival

The Sanuki Film Festival in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture screened director Mamoru Oshii's new film on Sunday. Director Katsuyuki Motohiro, who organizes the festival, said in a stage talk with Oshii that the screening for the film was hurriedly decided after pamphlets for the festival were already printed, so the screening ended up becoming a "secret" preview screening.

Production I.G produced the "dark fantasy" film, but Eiga.com's report did not clarify if the film was anime or live-action. Oshii stated that filming for the film took four months, and that dubbing for the film only concluded one week before the screening in the festival. Oshii added that, besides him, only five Tokyo-based staff members had seen the completed film, and none of the cast members had seen it.

Oshii further stated that while he had received some opinions about the film, he hadn't changed a single thing about the film. He said that "a work only becomes a movie once the audience has seen it," and hurried to let the audience see it "even one day earlier" so that it would be a completed film, and chose the Sanuki Film Festival as it was the closest opportunity to screen the film.

Production I.G previously revealed last March that it was seeking volunteer extras for the filming of an Oshii film that it was producing. The description noted at the time that it the film had a "school fantasy" theme.

Novelist Baku Yumemakura revealed last March that Oshii will direct an animation film adaptation of Yumemakura's Chimera novel series.

Oshii is known for writing and directing numerous animated films, original video anime (OVA), television anime series, and live-action films. His early career included directing the first original video anime, Dallos. He also directed Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Angel's Egg, and several Patlabor projects.

The 1995 science fiction animated feature Ghost in the Shell led him to international critical and commercial success. After the success of Ghost in the Shell, Oshii was involved in various projects such as Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade, Blood: The Last Vampire, and The Sky Crawlers.

Oshii has worked on live-action projects in the past, such as The Last Druid: Garm Wars, the The Next Generation -Patlabor- project, and Nowhere Girl. He directed the hybrid live-action/CG micro-series "Sand Whale and Me" at Production I.G, which debuted on Adult Swim's Toonami block in March 2017.

Source: Eiga.com