Crowdfund This: A Blu-ray/DVD Boxset Of NEW DIRECTORS OF JAPAN

UK-based distributor Third Window Films is a popular company in these parts, lauded for its dedication to making Asian cinema available to the general public. And not just the famous ones either: the company has often focused on obscure films and new talent as well, often at quite some financial risk to itself.

Well, speaking of risk: to be able to publish a Limited Edition boxset of several films by new Japanese talent, Third Window Films had to be assured of at least 250 sales to make the project a financially viable one. So what did Third Window Films do? They raised a Kickstarter campaign.

Quoting a couple of items from the press release:

This project, hopefully the first of many (depending on its success!), is focusing on young and unique directors from Japan whose films have not received any sort of distribution in their own or any other territory. We want to focus on supporting young talent and making their names recognizable, so we decided to create this New Directors From Japan release, which focuses on individual directors and their work.

This release will be a limited edition set of only 1,000 copies. To cover both our Blu-ray and DVD customers, the release will be a DUAL FORMAT release and include BOTH a BLU-RAY and a DVD of the films, as well as a separate extras disc (on DVD) which will include interviews with all the directors involved.

This KICKSTARTER campaign is to setup the initial costs of creating this release. Due to the number of films, interviews, as well as the fact that we are putting both a Blu-ray and 2 DVDs into the box with a slipcase, it is a very expensive project, so we want to raise the initial funds by pre-selling the first 250 copies at £16 each (the retail price will be £22.99), and the added bonus of pre-ordering is that each of the 250 copies will be signed by all 3 directors!

The boxset will include the following films:

MY BABY (わたしの赤ちゃん 16mins) by Nagisa Isogai
THE LUST OF ANGELS (天使の欲望 40mins), also by Nagisa Isogai
AND THE MUD SHIP SAILS AWAY (そして泥船はゆく 88mins) by Hirobumi Watanabe
BUY BLING, GET ONE FREE (シャレ番外地 27mins) by KosukeTakaya

Details about the films and their directors can be found at the Kickstarter page.