Off to LA

Heading out today to Los Angeles, both for the American Film Market—a good opportunity to catch up with recent and not-yet-released Asian films that are good candidates for NYAFF next year, as well as to reconnect with company reps from Asian distributors—and for some supplement work. Specifically we'll be recording two audio commentaries, one for Synapse Films' upcoming DVD of Wandering Ginza Butterfly, the first of a pair of female gambler films Meiko Kaji starred in after moving from Nikkatsu to Toei in the early 1970s, and one for BCI Eclipse's disc of Takeshi Kitano's second film as a director, Boiling Point. Both are with a known, LA-based film programmer and writer, and very knowledgeable guy about Japanese genre cinema. The Synapse disc is due next spring, along with its sequel, and though the Kitano's date hasn't been set yet, I'd guess that it'll be out around the same time, along with Violent Cop.

After LA, we're back home for a few days before heading back to Tokyo again for some more interviews and for the Tokyo Filmex festival. Then December will be occupied by editing some of the interview footage we shot on our last Tokyo trip, as well as planning work for 2009. It never ends!