Junco & Cheep 180 City Live Tour Hokkaido

Junco and Cheep Hiroishi started their 180 City Live Tour at the Yubari Fantastic Film Festival. It was like killing two birds with one stone(I don't kill birds) lol.

Same Old Story: A Trip Back 20 Years was the film I showed at the festival. Though the film only showed once in the 4 days of the festival, Junco and Cheep performed live every night of the festival. I really good start for the rest of the tour going through 2009 and 2010.

This is a different kind of live tour than the ones you might be thinking of. The northern island of Japan, Hokkaido has 180 towns inside its vast area of land mass. Most of the towns are really small, but when you are doing live shows in small towns there is one thing that spreads quickly.

Rumors.

The Japanese call it uwasa, but for Japanese musicians it is the best thing next to hot Sake.
The next towns in line for the show is Eniwa, and Otaru. This is only the start, but I really get the feeling they are going to take off with in the latter part of 2009.

Junco has been getting a lot of views from both Japanese and Westerners a like on her MySpace page. I have yet to update the info on her page, but as the tour starts to pick up you will be able to her more of her music there as well.

Cheep is...well Cheep is Cheep. He still has his die hard followers and some of the younger generations are starting to take to him. His MySpace is not as trendy as Junco's, but nonetheless still getting decent hits.

Both musicians write a blog (in Japanese) which can be read on the Discovery Music homepage.
If you are into different kinds of music from around the world then I can tell you now you are going to enjoy the music of Junco and Cheep. Keep you updated when I can.

Yubari Fantastic Film Festival 2009 Theme Song "名画座"

Yubari Fantastic Film Festival 2009 Theme Song "名画座" pronounced "MEIGAZA" meaning something like classic film theater in Japanese. The song was written and composed by Cheep Hiroishi and sung with JUNCO. It is an amazing song even if you don't know Japanese. The promotion video that was made for the song and the film festival is also very well made.

You can almost understand the words just by watching the video. Please leave a comment on what you thought about the song and video. It is kinda long running for over 6 minutes, but you still will want to watch it again.

Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 2009 Updates

I just went to Yubari the other day to help film a promotional video of Cheep Hiroishi and Junco's new song that will debut at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in February 2009. While I was there I got a chance to take a lot of photos of the town which I wanted to share with my blog readers.
I was suprised to see all the movie advertisments from the old days still displaying on billboards almost anywhere you look. I couldn't walk 20 feet without seeing some sort of movie display. Back in those days the ads were huge. There was not ink-jet printer so they were hand painted and put up everywhere from small coffee shops and hotels to government offices and schools.

I guess back in the day it was the movie festival to be at. The movie craze took a brief break due tolack of funding and the town's own finacial and political issues, but it seems to have bounce back. And just in time too.

My film along with about sixty others will be showing over a period of one week between February 26th to March 3rd. I am assuming it is going to be pretty big. I will definitely give more updates on the festival as I know about them and a good review of the festival after it is over.

The town is still filled really great people who are almost all movie fanatics. It really like walking into a completely new world. I
forgot that I was in Japan.

An experience some say you will remember for a life time. I'll just have to see for myself.

Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival: Same Old Story

The Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 2009 is one of the most famous film festivals in the world. The Festival draws over 50,000 people in its one week movie and film extravaganza.
The festival starts on February 26th and run through March 2nd with closing ceremonies on March 3rd.

Some of the films that will be showing is (cough) mine; Same Old Story: A Trip Back 20 years, Crows Zero 2 (opening), and Madagascar 2 (closing). Of course there are too many more to
mention, but the festival brings a lot of international talented filmmakers together and allows them a huge venue to promote their films.

Though Yubari itself is very small (and bankrupt) it didn't stop the film festival from continuing its name's legacy. If you are in Japan during the time of the festival I really recommend you attend. It is an experience you will never forget and a culture you will always remember.

Same Old Story on IMDb

Same Old Story finally after months and months of submissions has found its spot on IMDb.
This was no easy task, but after submitting to Withoutabox and then winning an award for "Best International Music Documentary" it started to open up a whole new can of media spinach.

Now that the film's title page is up and running on IMDb it is becoming even more of a task to submit updates. Don't get me wrong the guys and gals over at IMDb are doing a great job, but would be nice if things were a lot easier to submit.

I am still only 80% satisfied, but I am sure they will eventually get around to upgrading that satisfaction to 100%.

So this is for all of you film makers out there who are trying to get your film "out there" and be seen by the rest of the world in the easiest way possible. You have got nothing to lose by submitting to IMDb except them rejecting you. Even my submission got rejected the first time. Persistance is the key here along with a long line of PR linked throughout the world wide web.

"Same Old Story" Movie Soundtrack

The soundtrack for "Same Old Story" the documentary film that won Best International Music Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival has been released for sale by Discovery Firm and can be purchased through the Discovery Sound website using Paypal and of course Amazon.

The album includes the title song "Same Old Story" and an instrumental track called "Overlook" both written and performed by Cheep Hiroishi the musician whom the film was about.

Sales are limited to 10,000 copies till the end of 2008. If you haven't already bought the album, I recommend you take advantage of the first release.

For a measly $10 you are getting an original album by a highly acclaimed Japanese artist.

"Same Old Story" Wins Best International Music Documentary

It's final. The Japanese Documentary "Same Old Story" has won Best International Music Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival September 2008.

This was a very unexpected surprise as this was a first time film and of course independently produced and directed. Since the news of our film winning an award from such a large film festival, it has opened the doors to future festivals.

2009 is going to be a very big year for our movie as it is going to be shown at 6 more festivals throughout the world.
I really hope this film will touch peoples hearts and give them insight on their own life and history.

I know this poster is in Japanese and I am working the English translation hoping to get it online by the end of the week. I just couldn't wait to share it will all of my readers.

If you are in the area and have a chance to see the film please do. You can check our movie page here for festival updates.

Same Old Story at New York Film Festival

"Same Old Story", a documentary film produced by Discovery Firm, Inc. has been accepted into the New York Film Festival September 18th through the 25th. If you are in the New York area September 21st at 12:00pm stop by and see the film. You can purchase tickets early online before they sell out.

Will be playing at the Village East Cinema located at 181 2nd Avenue at 12th Street.

In addition to tickets, I have 100 opening night VIP passes that I am giving away to anyone who mails me and lets me know they want some. Opening night is a big event where film makers and producers get together to to see what films will be played at the festival. Last year many big stars showed up to the opening night and mingled with the other VIP guests.