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.
