Gregory Hatanaka
Encyclopedia
Gregory Hatanaka is an independent film
maker and film distributor
based in Los Angeles, California
, USA
.
.
Hatanaka first began in film distribution working for Headliner Productions on the re-release of films by cult director Edward D. Wood, Jr. 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."
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. Beginning October 30, 1998 and then played for a week at the Monica 4-Plex theater in Los Angeles
.
His directing
credits include Until the Night and the award-winning cult film Mad Cowgirl
. 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
.
He has also distributed the works of Satyajit Ray
, Andre Techine
, Claude Chabrol
, Leni Riefenstahl
, Cedric Kahn
, Christian Vincent
, Takashi Miike
, Abel Ferrara
, Jon Jost
and films with such actors as Catherine Deneuve
, Ewan McGregor
, Catherine Zeta-Jones
, Isabelle Huppert
, Chow Yun-fat
, Billy Bob Thornton
, Vince Vaughn
, Bridget Fonda
, Gerard Depardieu
and Jimmy Wang Yu
.
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
maker and film distributor
Film distributor
A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...
based in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Career
Hatanaka is the founder of film distribution and production company Cinema EpochCinema Epoch
Cinema Epoch is an independent film distribution & production company based in the U.S. It was founded by distribution veteran and filmmaker Gregory Hatanaka. The company specializes in foreign, independent and cult cinema. The company's first release was the martial arts classic Master of the...
.
Hatanaka first began in film distribution working for Headliner Productions on the re-release of films by cult director Edward D. Wood, Jr. 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
Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu is a Chinese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He shot to fame with the Shaw Brothers Studio's martial arts film, The One-Armed Swordsman, in 1967...
's Master of the Flying Guillotine
Master of the Flying Guillotine
Master of the Flying Guillotine is a 1976 Hong Kong wuxia film starring Jimmy Wang, who also wrote and directed the film. It is a sequel to Wang's 1971 film One Armed Boxer, and thus the film is also known as One-Armed Boxer 2 and The One Armed Boxer vs...
(1975
1975 in film
The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....
) and Toshiharu Ikeda
Toshiharu Ikeda
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who worked in pink film and mainstream cinema. He won the award for Best Director at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival for Mermaid Legend.-Early career - Nikkatsu:...
's Evil Dead Trap
Evil Dead Trap
Evil Dead Trap, known in Japan as , is a 1988 Japanese horror film directed by Toshiharu Ikeda and produced by Japan Home Video.-Plot:TV show host Nami asks her viewers to send in home movies; she receives a snuff film apparently shot at a nearby factory. Taking a camera crew out to investigate,...
. Explaining this interest in Asian cult cinema, Hatanaka explained, "I grew up going to the drive-ins, watching Sonny Chiba
Sonny Chiba
, also known as Sonny Chiba, is a Japanese actor, singer, film producer, film director and martial artist.Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience.- Early life :Born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka,...
movies-- I've always had a passion for that."
In 1998 Phaedra films released the two Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
Roman porno films, Masaru Konuma
Masaru Konuma
is a Japanese director most famous for his Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s.-Early life:Masaru Konuma was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, on December 30, 1937. Konuma retains no memories of his father who was a teacher...
's Wife to be Sacrificed
Wife to Be Sacrificed
is a Japanese soft-core pornographic S/M film starring Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. The film was produced by Nikkatsu studios as part of their Roman Porno series.- Background :...
(1974
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
) and Noboru Tanaka
Noboru Tanaka
was a Japanese film director best known known for his Roman Porno films, including three critically respected films known as the Showa trilogy: A Woman Called Sada Abe , Watcher in the Attic , and Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture! , all three starring Nikkatsu Roman porno queen Junko Miyashita...
's A Woman Called Sada Abe
A Woman Called Sada Abe
aka Sada Abe: A Docu-Drama is a Roman porno version of the Sada Abe story directed by Noboru Tanaka.It is based on the true story of a woman who strangled her lover during a love-making session, then severed his penis, which she carried with her until her arrest...
(1975
1975 in film
The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....
) on a theatrical double-bill. The films premiered in San Francisco in June, opening to very favorable reviews. Beginning October 30, 1998 and then played for a week at the Monica 4-Plex theater in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
His directing
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
credits include Until the Night and the award-winning cult film Mad Cowgirl
Mad Cowgirl
Mad Cowgirl is an underground cult film by Gregory Hatanaka. Hatanaka dedicated the movie to Doris Wishman, who directed 1960s sexploitation films such as Diary of a Nudist, Behind the Nudist Curtain and Bad Girls Go to Hell, and actor John Cassavetes...
. During this time, he collaborated with the noted distribution company Circle Releasing on the release of the John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
cult film The Killer under the guidance of crime novelist George Pelecanos
George Pelecanos
George P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...
.
He has also distributed the works of Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
, Andre Techine
André Téchiné
André Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....
, Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
, Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
, Cedric Kahn
Cédric Kahn
Cédric Kahn is a French screenwriter and film director. His films include L'Ennui , from the Alberto Moravia novel Boredom and Red Lights , from the Georges Simenon novel...
, Christian Vincent
Christian Vincent
Christian Vincent is a Canadian-American professional dancer, choreographer, actor and model. His most visible role has been as Ricky Davis on the LOGO sitcom Noah's Arc, which chronicles the lives of four gay African-American friends in Los Angeles.Vincent has also appeared in the films She's All...
, Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike
is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...
, Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
, Jon Jost
Jon Jost
Jon Jost is an American independent filmmaker.Born in Chicago to a military family, he grew up in Georgia, Kansas, Japan, Italy, Germany and Virginia. He began making films in January 1963 after being expelled from college. In 1965 he was imprisoned by US authorities for 2 years 3 months for...
and films with such actors as Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
, Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
, Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert is a French actress who has appeared in over 90 film and television productions since 1971. She has had 14 films in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Best Actress Award twice, for Violette Nozière and La pianiste . She is also the most...
, Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
, Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
, Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...
, Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
, Gerard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
and Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu is a Chinese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He shot to fame with the Shaw Brothers Studio's martial arts film, The One-Armed Swordsman, in 1967...
.
As director
- The CriticThe CriticThe Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
2012
- Violent Blue 2010
- Mad CowgirlMad CowgirlMad Cowgirl is an underground cult film by Gregory Hatanaka. Hatanaka dedicated the movie to Doris Wishman, who directed 1960s sexploitation films such as Diary of a Nudist, Behind the Nudist Curtain and Bad Girls Go to Hell, and actor John Cassavetes...
2006
- Until the NightUntil the Night"Until the Night" is a song written by Billy Joel and included on his album 52nd Street, released in 1978. The single reached #50 on the UK Singles Chart....
2004
As distributor
- The Killer by John WooJohn WooJohn Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
- Blood Tea and Red StringBlood Tea and Red StringBlood Tea and Red String is a stop-motion-animated feature film, called by director Christiane Cegavske a "fairy tale for adults". It was released on February 2, 2006 after a production time of 13 years, having been filmed in various places in the West Coast and in two studios...
by Christiane CegavskeChristiane CegavskeChristiane Cegavske is an American artist and stop motion animator.She is primarily known for her animated film Blood Tea and Red String and for having done the animated segments to the movie The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things... - Ma Saison Preferee by Andre TechineAndré TéchinéAndré Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....
- The Stranger by Satyajit RaySatyajit RaySatyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
- Master of the Flying GuillotineMaster of the Flying GuillotineMaster of the Flying Guillotine is a 1976 Hong Kong wuxia film starring Jimmy Wang, who also wrote and directed the film. It is a sequel to Wang's 1971 film One Armed Boxer, and thus the film is also known as One-Armed Boxer 2 and The One Armed Boxer vs...
by Jimmy Wang YuJimmy Wang YuJimmy Wang Yu is a Chinese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He shot to fame with the Shaw Brothers Studio's martial arts film, The One-Armed Swordsman, in 1967... - Gozu by Takashi MiikeTakashi Miikeis a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...
- The Sinister UrgeThe Sinister Urge (film)The Sinister Urge is a 1961 crime drama film that was written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film was featured in episode 613 of the cult television show, Mystery Science Theater 3000.- Synopsis :...
by Edward D. Wood, Jr. - La Separation by Christian VincentChristian VincentChristian Vincent is a Canadian-American professional dancer, choreographer, actor and model. His most visible role has been as Ricky Davis on the LOGO sitcom Noah's Arc, which chronicles the lives of four gay African-American friends in Los Angeles.Vincent has also appeared in the films She's All...
- L'EnnuiL'EnnuiL'Ennui is a 1998 dramatic film directed by Cédric Kahn, starring Charles Berling and Sophie Guillemin. It follows the life of a bored philosopher as he becomes jealously obsessed with the much younger lover of a dead painter....
by Cedric KahnCédric KahnCédric Kahn is a French screenwriter and film director. His films include L'Ennui , from the Alberto Moravia novel Boredom and Red Lights , from the Georges Simenon novel... - OlympiaOlympia (1938 film)Olympia is a 1938 Nazi propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. The film was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit . It was the first documentary feature...
by Leni RiefenstahlLeni RiefenstahlHelene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party... - South of Heaven, West of HellSouth of Heaven, West of HellSouth of Heaven, West of Hell is country singer Dwight Yoakam's soundtrack album to the motion picture of the same name in which he both starred and directed. Yoakam portrays a lawman in the early 1900s in the "wild west" of the Arizona Territory. Half of the tracks in the album are country music...
by Dwight YoakamDwight YoakamDwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music... - Blue JuiceBlue JuiceBlue Juice is a 1995 British film directed by Carl Prechezer and starring Sean Pertwee, Catherine Zeta Jones, Ewan McGregor and Steven Mackintosh. It follows JC as he attempts to reconcile his surfer lifestyle and loser friends with the pressure to grow up from his girlfriend...
by Carl Prechezer - Un Pont Entre Deux Rives by Gerard DepardieuGérard DepardieuGérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
- Mikres AphroditesMikres AphroditesYoung Aphrodites is an award-winning drama film of 1963 directed by Nikos Koundouros based on a script of Vassilis Vassilikos.-Plot:In 200 BC, a nomadic group of shepherds, in search of new pastures, leave the mountains to settle close to a fishing village...
by Nikos KoundourosNikos KoundourosNikos Koundouros , is a Greek film director, born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete in 1926.He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts, and was later exiled because of his political beliefs to the Makronissos island. At the age of 28 he decided to follow a career in cinematography... - Les BichesLes BichesLes biches is a ballet by Francis Poulenc, premiered by the Ballets Russes in 1924. The composer, who was at the time relatively unknown, was asked by Serge Diaghilev to write a piece based on Glazunov's Les Sylphides, written seventeen years earlier...
by Claude ChabrolClaude ChabrolClaude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s... - Spring in a Small TownSpring in a Small TownSpring in a Small Town is a Chinese film released in 1948 and directed by Fei Mu . The film was based on a short story by Li Tianji , and was produced by the Wenhua Film Company....
by Fei MuFei MuFei Mu was a major Chinese film director from the pre-Communist era.-Biography:Born in Shanghai, China, Fei Mu is considered by many to be one of the major film directors prior to the communist revolution in 1949... - The Terrorist by Santosh SivanSantosh SivanSantosh Sivan is an Indian cinematographer, film director, and producer who has worked in Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, and Hindi cinema....
- Wife to Be SacrificedWife to Be Sacrificedis a Japanese soft-core pornographic S/M film starring Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. The film was produced by Nikkatsu studios as part of their Roman Porno series.- Background :...
by Masaru KonumaMasaru Konumais a Japanese director most famous for his Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s.-Early life:Masaru Konuma was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, on December 30, 1937. Konuma retains no memories of his father who was a teacher...
starring Naomi TaniNaomi Taniis a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout... - A Woman Called Sada AbeA Woman Called Sada Abeaka Sada Abe: A Docu-Drama is a Roman porno version of the Sada Abe story directed by Noboru Tanaka.It is based on the true story of a woman who strangled her lover during a love-making session, then severed his penis, which she carried with her until her arrest...
by Noboru TanakaNoboru Tanakawas a Japanese film director best known known for his Roman Porno films, including three critically respected films known as the Showa trilogy: A Woman Called Sada Abe , Watcher in the Attic , and Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture! , all three starring Nikkatsu Roman porno queen Junko Miyashita...
starring Junko MiyashitaJunko Miyashitais a Japanese actress who had a long and varied career working both in pink film and mainstream cinema.- Career :Junko Miyashita was born in Tokyo on January 29, 1949. She was working as a waitress at a coffee shop when she was recruited to work in Pink films.... - R'Xmas by Abel FerraraAbel FerraraAbel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...