Evokative Awards at Fantasia!

As the Fantasia International Film Festival just drew to a close, Evokative Films wishes to highlight its recent harvest of awards: a Public Prize and the Séquences Award.

ROUGH CUT, a South-Korean film directed by JANG Hoon, co-written and co-produced by KIM Ki-duk, won the Séquences Award, for “it’s fascinating and intelligent screenplay and its perfect mix of auteur and action film”. The film regaled the audience in a sold-out screening in the Hall Theatre (700 seats) on July 25th.

ROUGH CUT will soon be part of the programming of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and of the Calgary International Film Festival, to then be seen on Canadian theatrical screens in January.

BLACK won the 3rd place of the coveted Public Prize in the Best American or European Film category, following its July 22nd screening in the Hall Theatre, hosted by Lead Actor and French rapper MC Jean Gab’1, Director Pierre Laffargue and Co-Producer Lauranne Bourrachot.

BLACK is now playing in Montreal at the AMC Forum (with English subtitles) and Mega-Plex Pont-Viau (French only) theatres starting today. BLACK will also be part of the programming of the upcoming Toronto After Dark Film Festival and will then continue its run in the rest of Quebec and Canada.

Evokative Films would also like to highlight the quality of the programming of this recent edition of the festival, congratulate its hard-working staff and thank its ever-growing fans, who all helped Fantasia reach a record number of sold-out screenings.

Posted in Events

BLACK Premiere at Fantasia and in theatres from July 31st!

Evokative Films would like to highlight the Canadian Premiere of BLACK at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, which will precede its theatrical release. The premiere will take place on July 22nd at 7pm and will be hosted by Lead Actor and French rapper MC Jean Gab’1, Director Pierre Laffargue and Co-producer Lauranne Bourrachot .

Black, a Senegalese bank-robber born and raised in France, is getting over a disastrous heist in which he lost nearly all of his men. He’s seriously thinking of going straight when his cousin Lamine calls him from Dakar: a briefcase full of contraband diamonds has just been deposited in the bank where he works. Thinking this will be an unbelievably easy coup, Black assembles a new gang and quickly flies to Africa. What they haven’t planned, however, is that they are far from being the only ones interested in that briefcase. The corrupt director of the bank, an arm dealer suffering from suppurating psoriasis, a gang of mercenaries from Chechnya and an Interpol agent are also set to get their hands on those diamonds.

After its World Premiere in the Fantastic Fest section of the SXSW Film Festival, this heist film filled with action, peppered with comedy, blaxploitation influences and African mysticism and paced to a funky soundtrack seduced both the audience and critics. A screening at the Seattle International Film Festival followed in June. In August BLACK will be screening at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and London’s Film4 FrightFest. BLACK was released in French theatres today.

Posted in Theatrical Releases

Sion Sono’s HAZARD on DVD from July 14th!

Canadian lovers of the Japanese cinema provocateur Sion Sono will finally have the chance to see his New York adventure HAZARD on DVD. Written and directed by Sion Sono (SUICIDE CLUB, NORIKO’S DINNER TABLE, STRANGE CIRCUS, EXTE: HAIR EXTENSIONS, LOVE EXPOSURE), the film debuted Joe Odagiri (ADRIFT IN TOKYO, RETRIBUTION, SHINOBI), now a Japanese star actor, as well as Jai West (LOVE EXPOSURE, BIG BANG LOVE, JUVENILE A) and Motoki Fukami (CROWS: EPISODE 0).

Shin is a Japanese university student longing to escape his meaningless existence. One day he discovers a book titled "Dangerous Ways to Walk the World" which talks about the hazards of New York City. Shin immediately jets off in search of danger and adventure, but he isn’t prepared for the harsh realities of the city. After being mugged for eveything he's got, Shin is befriended by Lee and Takeda, two Japanese-American punks who school him in the ways of crime. It's not long before Shin joins them and starts taking on all comers; robbing, stealing, and celebrating his new found freedom in New York City.

An anarchic adventure taking place in the pre-Giuliani New-York of 1991, HAZARD was filmed on location with a small budget, often with guerilla-style camerawork. Although filmed in 2002, it was only released domestivally in Japan in 2005 and was programmed in a few festivals, such as the New York Asian Film Festival and the Fantasia International Film Festival, in 2007.

The DVD features Japanese and English dialogue with optional English and French subtitles. A Making-of (in Japanese only) and an Exclusive Video Interview with Sion Sono, produced by Evokative Films, are included as extra features. The packaging includes a booklet with an interview with the Director and a foreword by Chris MaGee, founder of the Toronto J-Film Pow-wow blog, specialised in Japanese films. In accordance with the innovative vocation of Evokative, the DVD packaging is an environmentally-friendly and elegant digipack made of 100% recycled materials and wrapped in a 100% biodegradable cellophane.

It is to be noted that Sion Sono’s latest opus, the 4-hours-long LOVE EXPOSURE, will have its Canadian Premiere on July 11th and 12th at the Fantasia International Film Festival. This film was celebrated at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, where Sono was awarded the Caligari Film Award and the Fipresci Prize. This week the film also won the Grand Jury Prize at the New York Asian Film Festival.

Posted in DVD Releases