2005/Color/35mm/Vista size/Dolby Stereo/3 hour 15 min A FILM BY GEN TAKAHASHI STARRING SHUN SUGATA HIRONOBU NOMURA JUN KAWAMOTO HARUMI INOUE KUNIHIKO IDA GEN IDEMITSU A GRAND CAFE PICTURES PRODUCTION Distribution by GOLDEN NETWORK Story Takeda, a serious police officer with a sense of justice, is drawn into crime by an assistant police inspector who’s his boss. The crime is organized drug smuggling in the police state of Japan, where the entire police force, including the prosecutor’s office and courts, has become one. Eventually, Takeda takes responsibility for the entire police organization and attempts suicide while in custody. Escaping death, Takeda tries to expose the upper levels of the police in court but the judge, who has been threatened by the police, disallows the accuser Takeda’s statement. To save Takeda, the newspaper journalist Kusama, with whom he exchanged information before being steeped in wrong, holds a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan with evidence of police crime that Takeda obtained. Japan’s mass media has determined that the truth about crime by police cannot be reported. News This story is a piece of entertainment about social problems that depicts unjustness in society through the figure of a man who has lost his life as an individual because he was faithful to the police force, or Babylon System. At the same time, the work also suggests the reality that one must fight in order to win one’s freedom. The story itself is fictional, although aspects such as cozy ties with the courts and police crime depicted as well as Japan’s mass media being manipulated by the police are all from factual material. The lead role is played by the gifted actor Shun Sugata, who has worked in Japan and in major films abroad such as “Kill Bill,” “The Last Samurai,” and “Sakura Blue Eyes Samurai.” Accompanying him are famed Japanese actors and as-yet unknown actors. The director is Gen Takahashi, whose most recent work “Charon” has received acclaim abroad. GEN TAKAHASHI Director and writer ／ Producer Born in Tokyo in 1965, Gen Takahashi entered the world of film with a stint at Toei’s Tokyo studio. An independent by nature, Gen is today one of the most prominent screenwriters in the Asian film world. His 1992 theatrical and film directorial debut, HEARTLESS, soon achieved enduring popularity as a cult favorite. He has been studying the international film industry since 1997, focusing on Hong Kong while expanding his network of contacts among film industry people in each country. Other theatrical and film works by Gen include YOUG BLOOD TYPHOON, Toppamono Taiyoden, LADY PLASTIC and Gin no Otoko, and the documentary Songshan Shaolin Temple, an original production filmed in collaboration with Songshan Shaolin Temple of China. Gen moved his operations completely out of Japan beginning in 2002, and he established the production company GRAND CAFE PICTURES in 2004. At the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, CHARON, the company’s first production, won the Fantaland Grand Prix, which is the prize for the film that garnered the most support from the audience from among those shown. It was also highly evaluated at the international competition invitational during the International Film Festival of Mannheim-Heidelberg. Takahashi’s latest 2005 release, CONFESSIONS OF A DOG, is also currently being prepared for entry in various film festivals around the world. An epic social drama running 3 hours 15 minutes, this film deals with the theme of actual crimes committed by Japanese police officers, one of the most taboo topics in Japan. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, which has a history of 60 years, cooperated in the shooting of the film. A problematic work, it is eliciting controversy even before its release. WORLD SALES GORLDEN NETWARK (852) 2751 1886 ( Hong Kong ) Presented by SHINKUKAN GRAND CAFE PICTURES Producers SEIZOU TAMURA GEN TAKAHASHI Co-Producer TERUKAZU SATO ISAO KODAKA GEN TAKAHASHI Director and writer GEN TAKAHASHI Supervisor YU TERASAWA Cinematographer RYU ISHIKURA / MASAHIDE IIOKA Lighting Director MITSURU OGAWA Production Designer AKIRA ISHIGE Editor GEN TAKAHASHI Music URARA TAKAI JUN MURAKAMI NAOTO OGURA Sound Recordist MASAMI NISHIOKA Assistant Director MASASHIGE NAKANISHI Starring SHUN SUGATA HIRONOBU NOMURA JUN KAWAMOTO HARUMI INOUE KUNIHIKO IDA GEN IDEMITSU