Wroot, Jonathan ORCID: 0000-0002-6827-728X (2018) Moving from Japanese film distribution to production: An interview with Third Window Films’ Adam Torel. Bright Lights Film Journal. ISSN 0147-4049 (Online)

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Abstract

East Asian cinema continues to have an audience in the UK, but finding this audience is a significant challenge. Following Tartan’s short-lived but influential Asia Extreme sub-label (which lasted from 2000 to 2008), other distributors have used a range of techniques and strategies to encourage audiences to attend screenings of Asian films, as well as to purchase DVDs or digital alternatives. DVDs, and to some extent Blu-rays, have continued to be the most popular formats for Asian film releases in the UK, despite the availability of streaming and downloading alternatives. Third Window Films is one label that particularly illustrates these trends. However, in this challenging market, managing director Adam Torel has now moved into producing films in order to acquire new titles and continue to promote them around the world. Distribution is often seen as an invisible process within the film industry, despite being central to exhibition and consumption. Third Window’s latest efforts show how the label’s experiences within distribution have successfully led to film production, often through crowdfunding and social media promotions. They do not necessarily have to rely on corporate or studio support, nor the latest digital alternatives, in order to get their films seen within existing global infrastructures of exhibition and consumption. This is particularly illustrated through Third Window’s first independently produced feature, Lowlife Love (dir. Eiji Uchida, 2015). I interviewed Torel at the end of 2016, shortly after the UK DVD and Blu-ray release of Lowlife Love. His experiences of this change in role will be documented later in this article. First, it is necessary to chart Third Window’s history before Lowlife Love to demonstrate how this was an important turning point for the company and to show practices of independent filmmaking and distribution.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Filmmaking, Japan, distribution, producing, independent
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Design (DES)
Last Modified:	12 May 2020 09:03
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/21314

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