Gregory Hatanaka

Gregory Hatanaka
Occupation Film distributor, director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor

Gregory Hatanaka is an independent filmmaker and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Career

Hatanaka is the founder of film distribution and production company Cinema Epoch.

Hatanaka first began in film distribution working for Headliner Productions on the re-release of films by cult 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, Cha Chuen Lee's Triad Story and Jimmy Wang Yu's Master of the Flying Guillotine (1975) and Toshiharu Ikeda's Evil Dead Trap. Explaining this interest in Asian cult cinema, Hatanaka explained, "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] Beginning October 30, 1998 and then played for a week at the Monica 4-Plex theater in Los Angeles.[4]

His directing credits include Until the Night, the award-winning cult film Mad Cowgirl and Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance". During this time, he collaborated with the noted distribution company Circle Releasing on the release of the John Woo cult film The Killer under the guidance of crime novelist George Pelecanos.[5] His subsequent films are Violent Blue and Blue Dream.

He has distributed the works of a wide variety of internationally renowned filmmakers and directors, including Satyajit Ray, Claude Chabrol, and Leni Riefenstahl, and films with such actors as Catherine Deneuve, Ewan McGregor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Isabelle Huppert,and Gérard Depardieu.

Filmography

As director

As distributor

References

  1. Doyle, Wyatt. (1999). "Blood Spattered Hero in Hollywood" in Asian Cult Cinema Number 22, 1st Quarter 1999. p. 8.
  2. Doyle (1999). p. 9.
  3. Tani, Naomi. (1998) "Introduction" in Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications. p. 9. ISBN 1-889288-52-7.
  4. Thomas, Kevin. (1998). "Entertainment Desk" in the Los Angeles Times, October 29, 1998., p.21.
  5. Doyle (1999). pp. 8-9.
  6. Asian Cult Cinema, #22, 1st Quarter 1999, p.10.

External links

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