Director Kitamura Surprises Audiences in Hollywood

AZUMI Plays to an Appreciative Audience Author: Richard Pusateri Source: AsiaVision

The American premiere of AZUMI was almost sneaked onto the Egyptian Theatre on Tuesday night, July 25, 2006, by AsiaVision. The presentation was originally described as an advanced screening of the 2003 teen samurai adventure AZUMI. However that night, the presentation was described as the “American premiere” with surprise guest director Ryuhei Kitamura. Mr. Kitamura spoke briefly to the audience before the screening describing how his self-produced gore-fest VERSUS lead to being chosen to direct AZUMI by producer Mata Yamamoto. During his comments, Mr. Kitamura affectionately teased Mr. Yamamoto, who was also in attendance but did not address the crowd. In July, AsiaVision brought AZUMI to high profile presence at Anime Expo in Anaheim California and two weeks later at the San Diego ComicCon. Mr. Kitamura was present at both promotional events. While there was some indication he might be at the Egyptian showing, there was no announcement from the American Cinematheque. Earlier in July the American Cinematheque simply invited members to the July 25 showing of AZUMI. The July 21 edition of the LA Weekly printed an offer to admit one (with the ad) plus a guest, describing the event as an “advanced screening.” The large turnout of viewers appeared pleased by the surprise premiere, the surprise appearance of Mr. Kitamura and of course enjoyed the slickly produced samurai assassin swordplay. During the program, no mention was made of GODZILLA FINAL WARS; however that movie’s American star Don Frye was spotted in the crowd. Mr. Frye said he had been invited by Mr. Kitamura to attend and just hang out with his old friend. The subtitled print was shown at the Egyptian but the newly dubbed version will be released in American theaters. AZUMI began a run at the West L.A. Nuart Theater. AsiaVision is the live action feature branch of Urban Vision Entertainment Inc. AZUMI marks the launch of AsiaVision’s theatrical releases.

AZUMI Theatrical Release Schedule STARTING JULY 28 Landmark Nuart Theatre 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 Lumiere Theatre 1572 California Street San Francisco, CA 94109 Shattuck Cinemas 2230 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704 Regal Edwards University 4245 Campus Drive Irvine, CA 92612 Camera 12 Cinema 201 South Second Street San Jose, CA 95113 STARTING AUGUST 4 Ken Cinema 4061 Adams Avenue San Diego, CA 92116 Landmark Century Centre Cinema Clark Shopping Centre 2828 North Clark Street Chicago, IL 60657 STARTING AUGUST 18 Starz Film Center 900 Auraria Parkway Denver, CO 80204 Check asiavisionfilms.com for additional screenings and locations.