Third Window Films focuses on contemporary films from the Far East, so far that means Hong Kong, Korea, and especially Japan.? They began with several Korean box office and art-house favorites like Kick The Moon, Friend, Peppermint Candy, and Guns and Talks; took a detour to Hong Kong to release Johnnie To's fantastic PTU starring Suet Lam to cinemas and home video, and they currently have found a tight focus on Japanese films of all kinds.? I think it is their collection of Japanese films that most interests me.? Third Window's Adam Torel has told me that he tries to think outside the established views of what east Asian films should look like.? He fears that too much is focused on the J-Horror scene and other such extreme cinema and that these films, while flashy, are overpowering other, more interesting and even entertaining, films that really deserve a shot at being seen.? I tend to agree.
I'm not going to go into too much detail on their individual releases in this column, I'll save that for the follow-ups, but I'm very excited to explore Third Window's growing and finely curated catalog of releases.? I drew up a few simple questions for Adam, and he graciously gave me some very candid and insightful answers.? I'm no interviewer, and as such I'm glad he did such a great job answering.? Here is a little bit of what he told me, I'll try to spread this out, because there is a lot of good information to share:
Who are you, what is your background?
Adam Torel, English born, raised and currently residing, but lived in the States from the age of 10-21 (approx). Went to University in Massachusetts for A.A. in Liberal Arts then did B.A. in Film Theory at both a university in Florida and also one in London. Learnt all I know about film working for Video Renaissance in Florida for 3-4 years, one of the biggest video stores in the world with over 35,000 titles and the biggest selection of out of print titles you'll ever see in one place.When/why did you start the label?
August 2005 after leaving Tartan Films where I worked for a year. The reason I started it was because of how disillusioned I was with how Tartan Films and other UK distribution labels were pigeon-holing Asian cinema into the 'Extreme' category. I wanted to show that there was so much coming out of Asia other than long-haired ghost films and over-the-top violent films. I also feel that it is the job of a distributor to get films out there which wouldn't be seen otherwise. What's the point in 5 companies all trying to outbid each other for the next big budget genre title? If 5 companies are after it then it'll get seen anyways. Why all bid over the same title when there are hundreds of great films out each year from Asia that nobody is releasing?? If there is no market, then create one. It's all about taking risks and believing in your product with a long-term goal in mind.How many people work at Third Window?? Is there have a full time staff or is this something that people do in their spare time?? Is Third Window your full time job?
Third Window is mainly myself and it's my full-time job, though I'm also a record collector and soul DJ so make money from that and selling records which goes into picking up new titles. I handle all acquisitions, theatrical booking, and some press, but I work with a sales company called Fusion Media who also handle all sales for Artificial Eye, Network, Terracotta, Yume, HB and other similar sized foreign film distributors. As they handle so many similar companies it's easy for our titles to get lumped in with bigger titles for retail campaigns. They're on a commission basis so it's quite a good deal. In regards to press and PR, I handle for straight to DVD releases, but the bigger titles are handled by a larger PR company called The Associates where Paul Smith, who was the head of press at Tartan Films for many years, looks after our titles.What do you look for in a film for Third Window?
I like films which are unique and stick out. As mentioned before, I started the label because so many companies were releasing so many films which you could barely tell apart. Over-saturation of these low-quality, unoriginal 'by-the-numbers' products is what killed the market here a few years after Tartan built up such a great market with a selection of quality titles. A market which they, themselves, helped destroy. If you look at our releases, we probably have one of the widest variety of genres and titles of any Asian-related distribution label in the world. From the tour de force acting powerhouse titles like 'Oasis' to candy-coloured looks at odd sub-cultures in 'Kamikaze Girls' to fierce political satires such as 'The President's Last Bang', strange quirky comedies like 'Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers', 4 hour long epics like 'Love Exposure' and small indies like 'Kakera: A Piece of Our Life'. We've even got the genre titles like Johnnie To's wonderful police procedural 'PTU' and KT Kwak's box office record breaking 'Friend'. As long as it's good and stands out from the rest, then we want to get it out there.Where do you find these films?? Do you make deals at film festivals and such?? Do you ever get the rights for films before you see them based on a relationship with the filmmaker/production company?
Most films I find at either festivals or markets, but I also receive many screeners each week from companies trying to sell their latest titles. I prefer to scout smaller, more niche film festivals such as Nippon Connection and Udine where I can find more unknown titles which wouldn't make it into the major festivals or be heavily promoted by sales agents. These titles, such as 'Fine, Totally Fine', 'Fish Story', etc, can be picked up cheaper as there isn't as much expectation for a sale. I also get a lot of information from other festivals programmers and friends like Jasper Sharp and Chris Magee who tell me of some smaller titles which might have gone under my radar. I found out about 'Confessions of a Dog' from them. The bigger films like 'Confessions' and 'Memories of Matsuko' are usually done at bigger markets like Cannes where they are usually first screened. I never buy a title before its made or based on a trailer. That is the reason why I had enough with Tartan Films who were doing as such. Even if it's a director I admire or have worked with in the past, you never know what their next title could be, so better wait till its done, though with most of the directors I've worked with such as Tetsuya Nakashima, Miki Satoshi, Sion Sono, etc, I am usually the first point of call from the sales companies to give me first refusal on their latest works.What do you hope to accomplish with your releases?
To educate and create a market for these titles. I always get in arguments with cinema programmers and the such who always give the same response: "we won't handle foreign films because the big ones will always make more money". Maybe in the short term this is true, but I refuse to believe that all cinema-goers are that ignorant and only want to watch Hollywood 'entertainment'. If cinemas only programmed foreign films then people would have to watch them and then grow to appreciate and like them. I believe that the foreign film market is only small because nobody will take a chance and give the audience more of a chance. I hope that slowly, through Third Window's releases, we can create a larger audience who will appreciate all what is out there in the East.I have more of this interview on tap for later as we reach into different parts of Third Window's collection.? There are a ton of really great titles to look at, I've seen a handful of them, but I'm going to be watching a lot more in the coming weeks, so look forward to more information regarding what you can expect from Third Window as time goes on.? In addition to more behind-the-scenes stuff, Adam has assured me that Twitch readers can look forward to some pretty cool giveaways and future releases, so look forward to that!
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