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Gregory Hatanaka | |
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 Hatanaka in 2006 | |
| Occupation(s) | Film distributor, director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor |
Gregory Hatanaka is an American independent filmmaker and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California.
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Gregory Hatanaka | |
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| Hatanaka in 2006 | |
| Occupation(s) | Film distributor, director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor |
Gregory Hatanaka is an American independent filmmaker and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California.
Hatanaka is the founder of film distribution and production company Cinema Epoch and Cineridge Entertainment. He first became involved in film distribution working for Headliner Productions on the re-release of films by director Edward D. Wood, Jr. [1] He founded Phaedra Cinema to distribute international films in the U.S. With a specialization in cult films, Phaedra released such films as Toshimichi Ohkawa's Nobody (1994), Cha Chuen Lee's Once Upon a Time in Triad Society (1996), and Jimmy Wang Yu's Master of the Flying Guillotine (1975) and Toshiharu Ikeda's Evil Dead Trap (1988). Hatanaka has explained the origins of his interest in Asian cult cinema: "I grew up going to the drive-ins, watching Sonny Chiba movies-- I've always had a passion for that." [2]
In 1998, Phaedra films released the two Nikkatsu Roman porno films, Masaru Konuma's Wife to Be Sacrificed (1974) and Noboru Tanaka's A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975) on a theatrical double-bill. The films premiered in San Francisco in June, opening to very favorable reviews. [3] The films premiered on October 30, 1998 and then played for a week at the Monica 4-Plex theater in Los Angeles. [4]
Hatanaka's directing credits include Until the Night (2004) starring Norman Reedus, the award-winning[ which? ] film Mad Cowgirl (2006), and Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (2015).[ citation needed ] He collaborated with the distribution company Circle Releasing on the release of the John Woo film The Killer (1989) under the guidance of crime novelist George Pelecanos. [5] His subsequent films were Violent Blue (2011) and Blue Dream (2013). He distributed the film The Terrorist (1997) by Santosh Sivan, which was presented by John Malkovich.[ citation needed ]
Hatanaka has distributed the works of filmmakers and directors including Satyajit Ray, Claude Chabrol, André Téchiné, and Leni Riefenstahl,[ citation needed ] as well as films with such award-winning actors as Catherine Deneuve, Ewan McGregor, Billy Bob Thornton, Vince Vaughn, Colin Firth, Bridget Fonda, Isabelle Adjani, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Isabelle Huppert, and Gérard Depardieu.[ citation needed ]
Pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equivalent of pink films would essentially be erotic thrillers, e.g. Fatal Attraction, Fifty Shades of Grey, Basic Instinct, 9½ Weeks, as well as the works of directors Russ Meyer and Andy Sidaris.
Naomi Tani is a Japanese pink film actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.
Toshiharu Ikeda was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who worked in pink film and mainstream cinema. He won the award for Best Director at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival for Mermaid Legend.
Wife to be Sacrificed (1974) is a Japanese soft-core pornographic S/M film starring Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. The film was produced by Nikkatsu studios as part of their Roman Porno series.
Flower and Snake a.k.a. Flowers and Serpents (1974) is a Japanese pink film starring Naomi Tani, directed by Masaru Konuma and produced by Nikkatsu. Based on a novel by Oniroku Dan, Japan's best-known author of sadomasochistic (S&M) fiction, Flower and Snake was the first of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films to deal with an S&M theme. Together with the later Wife to Be Sacrificed this film is credited with starting the S&M Roman Porno series which helped save Nikkatsu from financial collapse during the 1970s.
Kate Asabuki is a Japanese actress and glamour model who appeared in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films of the 1980s and was also an early adult video (AV) performer.
Masaru Konuma was a Japanese film director known for his Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s.
Teruo Ishii was a Japanese film director best known in the West for his early films in the Super Giant series, and for his films in the ero guro ("erotic-grotesque") subgenre of pinku eiga such as Shogun's Joy of Torture (1968). He also directed the 1965 film Abashiri Prison, which helped to make Ken Takakura a major star in Japan. Referred to in Japan as "The King of Cult", Ishii had a much more prolific and eclectic career than was generally known in the West during his lifetime.
Oniroku Dan was a Japanese author who has been called, "the most celebrated writer of popular SM novels in Japan." Many of his stories have been filmed, most notably by Nikkatsu studio in their Roman Porno series. Dan had a close professional association with actress Naomi Tani throughout her career. He died on May 6, 2011.
Noboru Tanaka was a Japanese film director known for his Roman Porno films, including three critically respected films known as the Showa trilogy: A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975), Watcher in the Attic (1976), and Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture! (1977), all three starring Nikkatsu Roman porno queen Junko Miyashita. The first film in this trilogy recounted the story of Sada Abe a year before Nagisa Oshima's internationally released In the Realm of the Senses (1976), which told the same story. Though at the time he was working, his career was overshadowed by directors such as Tatsumi Kumashiro and Chūsei Sone, many critics today judge Tanaka the best of Nikkatsu's Roman porno directors.
Tattooed Flower Vase a.k.a. Mature Vase: Tattooed Vagina (1976) is a Japanese pink film in the Roman Porno series, starring Naomi Tani, directed by Masaru Konuma and produced by Nikkatsu.
Phaedra Cinema was a United States distributor of independent and international films. The company was created by filmmaker Gregory Hatanaka in 1996 and its first release was the comedy Sudden Manhattan, directed by and starring Adrienne Shelley.
Cruelty: Black Rose TortureakaBlack Rose Slave is a 1975 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Naomi Tani.
Watcher in the AtticakaStroller in the Attic, Edogawa Rampo Theater: Walker in the Attic and Walker in the Attic is a 1976 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Noboru Tanaka and starring Junko Miyashita.
Rape ! 13-th Hour is a 1977 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Yasuharu Hasebe and with Yuri Yamashina. It has homosexual content.
Maiko Kazama is a Japanese actress known especially for her roles in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series of films in the early 1980s.
Woman Who Exposes Herself is a 1981 Japanese film directed by Masaru Konuma and starring Maiko Kazama. It is the third film in the four part "The Woman Who ..." series which Nikkatsu produced in 1981-1982 as part of their Roman porno series to showcase the talents of Maiko Kazama as a successor to Naomi Tani who had retired in 1979.
Mina Asami is a Japanese TV actress and former pink film actress.
Flower and Snake is a 2004 Japanese film directed by Takashi Ishii and starring Aya Sugimoto. It is based on the 1974 film Flower and Snake directed by Masaru Konuma and starring Naomi Tani. The earlier film, based on a novel by Oniroku Dan, was part of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series. The 2004 version has been described as marking a "watershed moment in the history of Japanese film censorship" with "some of the most extravagant scenes of sexual cruelty and graphic nudity to be passed off as mainstream entertainment in any part of the world."
Nami Matsukawa is a Japanese 1980s pink film actress and bondage and fetish model who is best known for being the 4th Nikkatsu SM Queen in 1983.