Third Window Films
The Third Window Films brand was born in 2005 when its film-loving founders grew bored of the stream of worn-out shock horror vehicles from the Far East. Third Window Films works hard to bring you the wonderful world beyond long-haired ghost films and mindless Hollywood action copies, sourcing the finest works in new Far Eastern cinema. We strive to represent a rich variety of film genres, be they dramas, comedies, political satires, action or anything else in between. Expect everything from the unknown and cult to the off-beat and even the occasional mainstream masterpiece – expect nothing but quality Asian cinema!
Kamikaze Girls is one of Third Window's most popular releases.
The films we choose to release are mainly a mix of personal choice and satisfying the needs of a market, while at the same time not exploiting the audience or market in any way. We release films we love and try to create the widest variety of films and genres to fully express what is happening in contemporary Asian cinema, from mainstream to independent. The films we release also depend on the size of the release. If it’s a straight to DVD title, we can take more risks in releasing a film which is more unheard of or might have a harder chance to sell, as the financial strain is less on a smaller release. For a larger title, we need to make sure that it ticks enough boxes to sustain a large theatrical and subsequent DVD/Blu-ray release. We do try, though, to handle films which haven’t been released in the West before or anywhere with English-subtitles, but on the bigger titles, this is harder to do, so we try to compete by releasing on or as close to the original release date in the films’ native country.
We started acquiring titles in 2005 with our first batch of releases in 2007. This was soon after Tartan had collapsed and there wasn’t much interest in Asian cinema in the UK – and customers were wary about spending their money on non-established titles (due to the massive influx of sub-par releases for a few years prior). We had lots of problems starting up, which was surprising considered we started releasing many good quality ‘genre’ titles like No Blood No Tears, PTU, Friend, Guns And Talks and others, but it wasn’t until we focused on Japanese titles that we started to see a shift in sales. Maybe it was because of the complete lack of contemporary non ‘genre’ releases from Japan or maybe people were just bored of ‘genre’ titles. Since then, we’ve seen the growth of a new market of people who like independent and quirky Asian cinema, and it’s starting to make the scene much more interesting here. Confessions, Kamikaze Girls and Love Exposure have been our top three sellers.
In terms of theatrical releases, it’s a lot harder to get films booked than before due to so many independent cinemas getting taken over by chains like the Picturehouse or City Screen who tend to program or own the vast majority of independent cinemas in the UK.
Anybody is more than welcome to get in touch with any questions or requests. They can get in touch through the ‘Contact’ section of our website or ask through our Facebook group, and we shall endeavour to answer them asap.
Let Third Window Films be your window to the East!
Website: thirdwindowfilms.com
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