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Third Window Films

Don’t miss out on our Third Window Films clearout sale at fopp! Enjoy markdowns on a wide range of titles from this fantastic film label. Get browsing now and add some cult classics and hidden gems to your collection! But hurry, stock is limited!
Third Window Films is a distribution company based in the United Kingdom that specializes in bringing Asian cinema to western audiences. Founded in 2005, the company has released a number of critically acclaimed films on DVD and Blu-ray, including works from Japanese masters such as Sion Sono and Shinya Tsukamoto.
One of the most impressive things about Third Window is the company’s commitment to quality. From the packaging to the transfers, it’s clear that they take great care in presenting their releases in the best possible light. For example, the Blu-ray release of Sion Sono’s “Love Exposure” features a stunning transfer that showcases the film’s gorgeous cinematography.
But more than just presenting films in high quality, they have also played an important role in introducing Asian cinema to western audiences. Many of the films the company has released would have otherwise gone unnoticed outside of their home countries, but thanks to their passion and dedication, they have been given a chance to find new audiences around the world.
Another standout release from the label is “Cold Fish,” a twisted thriller also from director Sion Sono that follows a mild-mannered fish store owner who becomes embroiled in gruesome crimes. The film is a masterclass in tension and suspense, and features standout performances from its cast.
But they’re is not just about releasing films from established directors; the company also takes risks on up-and-coming talent. One example of this is “Lowlife Love,” a 2015 film from director Eiji Uchida that explores the seedy underbelly of the Japanese film industry. The film is a darkly comedic look at the desperation and exploitation that can be found in the world of low-budget filmmaking.
Perhaps the most important thing about the label is the way in which the company has helped to expand the horizons of western audiences. By presenting films from a variety of genres and directors, the company has introduced viewers to a whole new world of cinema that they may not have otherwise discovered. 
Third Window is a truly remarkable distributor of world cinema, and one that has made a significant contribution to the UK film industry. The company’s commitment to quality and its dedication to showcasing the very best of Asian cinema have helped to introduce UK audiences to some of the most visually stunning and intellectually challenging films from the region.

Love Exposure

 

director  sion sono
written by  sion sono
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

maverick japanese director sion sono writes and directs this irreverently zany, three-and-a half hour, black-comedy drama which captures a year in the life of 17-year-old yu (takahiro nishijima). yu falls into sinful ways after the death of his saintly mother and his father’s subsequent ordainment to the catholic priesthood. yu’s speciality as a petty criminal is taking sneaky camera shots up girls’ skirts while he ostensibly performs elaborate martial arts moves. he falls in love with rough diamond yoko (hikari mitsushima), but their future together comes under threat when the creepy koike (sakura ando) goes all out to lure yu into his religious cult.

Lowlife Love

 

director  eiji uchida
written by  eiji uchida
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

japanese drama written and directed by eiji uchida. film director tetsuo (kiyohiko shibukawa) is living off the glory of a hit indie film he made many years before and is struggling to get his second feature off the ground. his fortunes change, however, when he meets aspiring actress minami (maya okano) and scriptwriter ken (shugo oshinari) and offers to collaborate with them on their next project. he assumes the director’s chair with ken’s script and minami as his star and enlists the help of veteran producer kida (denden) for financing. as the project takes flight, tetsuo once again finds himself struggling to succeed in the movie business.

Coldfish

 

director  sion sono
written by  sion sono
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

japanese thriller from director shion sono which focuses on tropical fish seller mr. shamoto (mitsuru fukikoshi) who unwittingly goes into business with an elderly psychopath. when shamoto’s troubled daughter mitsuko (hikari kajiwara) is caught shoplifting at a local store, he rushes to diffuse the situation. on arriving there, shamoto finds himself being charmed by a rival business owner, mr. murata (denden), and decides it might be in his interests to let mitsuko work and board at murata’s much fancier aquarium. soon, however, shamoto realises everything is not as it seems, and that mr. murata is hiding a chilling secret behind his smile…

Antiporno

 

director  sion sono
written by  sion sono
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

a girl’s delusion and reality are disrupted in a rich-colored and fantastic world. sion sono (love exposure) creates an anarchistic, radical, beautiful and controversial film that destroys the wall of the expression in his quest to freedom. kyoko is a twenty-one-year-old artist who loves being at the center of attention. one day, feeling down, she lashes out against her assistant, sexually humiliating her in front of the rest of the staff. suddenly someone yells cut! and we realise that they are actually on a movie set.

Bullet Ballet

 

director  shinya tsukamoto
written by  shinya tsukamoto
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

goda (shinya tsukamoto) is a thirty-something documentary filmmaker. while his work may seem intriguing to some his life is absolutely average – long hours at the office, drinks after work, an equally busy girlfriend, kiriko, that he’s been with for a decade. no surprises. no detours. no shocks. that is until he returns home one night to find police cars and ambulances surrounding the entrance to his apartment building. when he gets upstairs he’s told that kiriko has committed suicide. if this wasn’t devastating enough goda also learns that she killed herself with a bullet to the head. with japan having some of the strictest set of gun control laws on the books not only is goda left with the yawning, black “why” behind kiriko’s suicide, but also a whole other set of mysterious “hows”, “wheres” and “whos”. how did kiriko get a handgun in the first place? from where? and most importantly from who? goda goes on a quest into the gritty criminal underworld of tokyo in order to answer these questions, and maybe inhabit the last days of kiriko’s life.

Dangan Runner

 

director  sabu
written by  sabu
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

japanese director sabu, director of such films as happiness, mr long and miss zombie made his start with dangan runner (aka non-stop), the story of three losers brought together by fate with disastrous results. a would-be bank robber (tomorowo taguchi from tetsuo) forgets his mask on his first big heist, and then botches an attempt to shoplift a replacement mask from a nearby convenience store. the store’s clerk (diamond yukai from lost in translation), a washed-up rock star, chases the thief and literally runs into a yakuza (shinichi tsutsumi from our little sister) to whom he owes money. thus begins an all-night, three-way pursuit through the streets of tokyo.

Hanagatami

 

director  nobuhiko ôbayashi
written by  nobuhiko ôbayashi · chiho katsura
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

in the spring of 1941, sixteen-year-old toshihiko leaves amsterdam to attend school in karatsu, a small town on the western coast of japan, where his aunt keiko cares for his ailing cousin mina. immersed in the seaside’s nature and culture, toshihiko soon befriends the town’s other extraordinary adolescents as they all contend with the war’s inescapable gravitational pull. with his memories as a survivor of world war ii echoing in the uncertainty of world events unfolding today, director obayashi returns us to 1941, a pivotal time for japan, as the unstoppable momentum of war forcibly seized the lives of youth away to battlefields where they disappeared forever. in dazzling, full-bloom obayashi style, ‘hanagatami’ captures the passion, innocence, and struggle of the end days of youth in a country consumed by the flames of war.

the legend of the stardust brothers

 

director  macoto tezuka
written by  macoto tezuka
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

in 1985, macoto tezka (son of the great manga artist osamu tezuka) met musician and tv personality haruo chicada who had made a soundtrack to a movie which didn’t actually exist: the legend of the stardust brothers. at the time macoto was just 22 years old, a film-student with many short experimental films under his belt, but yet to make a feature-debut and of course had the pressure of the tezuka name. with chicada as producer, tezka then adapted this fake soundtrack into the real movie story of the stardust brothers. the resulting film the legend of the stardust brothers is the exact definition of a cult film. despite the huge array of talent on board with a large budget, the film is totally unknown even to this day in both japan and worldwide. more than 30 years since its release, the stardust brothers will finally make itself known worldwide with a new master and a brand new director s cut!

One Cut Of The Dead

 

director  shin’ichirô ueda
written by  shin’ichirô ueda
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

one cut of the dead opens in a run-down, abandoned warehouse where a film crew are making a zombie film… yet, this is no ordinary warehouse. it’s been said that it’s the site of where military experiments took place… out of nowhere, real zombies arrive and terrorize the crew! this may sound like a the plot of a clichéd zombie film, but one cut of the dead is something completely different! starting off with a non-stop one-take 37 minute shot, the film then completely switches direction and turns the zombie genre completely upside down into a charming, audience-friendly comedy! young director shinichiro ueda and his cast of non-professionals have created something fresh and entertaining which has become both a massive hit not just in japan, but across the world!

Taste of Tea

 

director  katsuhito ishii
written by  katsuhito ishii
language(s)  japanese  subtitles  english
format  blu-ray

 

filmmaker katsuhito ishii takes a break from the post-tarantino excess of such highly-stylized outings as shark skin man and peach hip girl for this low-key look at an eccentric family residing in a quiet countryside town just north of tokyo. the haruno family is a five-piece clan living the simple life in japan. the summer sun shining gently down, this quiet quintet is transformed into a six-piece when urban-dwelling uncle ayano (tadanobu asano), a successful music producer, arrives to visit his family and confront his feelings for the ex-girlfriend who married another man after ayano moved to the city. as the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.

 


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