The indie action film “Blood of the Samurai” hits Oahu during this year’s Hawaii International Film Festival. The film makes it’s world premiere on Oahu on November 3rd, 2001 as part of the feature fare at HIFF. Set in modern day, “Blood of the Samurai” is a non-stop action piece about two stolen swords and what goes wrong when they fall into the wrong hands. The film is an homage to Hong Kong action movies and 70’s Samurai/Chambara cinema.
What makes this film particularly exciting is that it was written, produced, filmed entirely in Hawaii by Hawaii residents. Lensed in Oahu and partly in Los Angeles, the film is a non-stop martial arts action adventure.
“Blood of the Samurai” was written and directed by Honolulu born- Kauai resident Aaron Yamasato. Aaron holds a AA and BA in Film/Art and is also an award winning animator. The film is produced by Kauai resident Paul Booth, Paul is a graduate of the Vancouver film school. Aaron Yamasato is best known for his award winning short film “Iceberg,” which is a favorite on internet film websites. “Iceberg,” a send-up of “Titanic,” uses stop-motion animation to tell “the untold story of the Titanic accident — from the iceberg’s animal inhabitants point of view.” Paul Booth produced the micro-budget picture in the usual indie way — calling in favors from friends and relatives and investing heart and sweat equity. Screaming Mad George (“Nightmare on Elm St. IV,” “Poltergeist II,” “Big Trouble in Little China,” “The Guyver”), a legend in the special effects makeup world, lent his considerable talent to “Blood of the Samurai.” The film stars (Bryan Yamasaki, Shawn Forsythe, Michael Ng, Colleen Fujioka, Stephanie Sanchez) make their feature film debut.
The world premiere screening takes place Nov 3rd, at 7:30 pm – Hawaii Convention Center, Sony Digital Theater with an encore performance on November 6th at 8:30 pm at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
For more information, check out Blood of the Samurai.com.
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