New Reviews and awards for Wings

We are very excited to announce that Wings of Defeat recently won the 2008 Above and Beyond Award from the Women Film Critics Circle. We also were nominated for 2008 Most Overlooked Film by the James Egee Cinema Circle. Daniel Sauerwein's Military History blog gave us a great review as did Video Librarian. Read them in the press section of the website. Happy New Year everyone!

Wings wins Audience Award at AAIFF!

Thanks for all the folks who came out to show love and support at the AAIFF. It was a great screening with insightful conversation...and it was great to screen Another Journey for the first time. It was fun festival! Thanks to Sonjia, William and the ACV gang for all the hard work and support for Asian and Asian Am film!

NYC Dept of Education

During our US tour, we visit East West High School for International Studies in Flushing. We were all so impressed by the sensitive and thoughtful questions asked by the students. Here's an article highlighting the event on the NYC Dept of Education website. Check it out!
http://schools.nyc.gov/Home/InOurSchoolsToday/2007-2008/veterans.htm

WoD wins Special Jury Award at SFIAAFF!!

We are so honored to have won a Special Jury Award at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival last night!! Too bad we couldn't be there in person to express our gratitude but there's lots of love coming from here on the east coast to the west coast. It was a fantastic way to finish our mini-US Tour. Thanks to Chi-Hui, Taro and the rest of the festival crew for making our stay welcome and the screening a success.

US Tour is complete

Thank you to everyone who came out to see the film in SF, NY and DC. Sold out screenings, lots of engaging questions, and plenty of shochu and sushi made the week go by too quickly. Ena san and Ueshima san were completely impressed by the high school and university students who asked so many thoughtful questions. It was great to see Ena san and Ueshima san reunite with USS Drexler survivors Fred Mitchell and Gene Brick. More photos will follow but here are a couple from the sold-out NY premiere screening where the evening ended with a standing ovation as Ena san, Ueshima san and Fred stood on stage holding hands. To think that this was an impossible image only a few decades ago...it can all perhaps give us a little hope as to what is possible.

US Tour and DVD news

I have to admit keeping up my blog writing is harder than I thought. Daily life seems to get in the way but lots of great things have been happening with the film since I last wrote. First off, former Kamikaze Ena Takehiko and Ueshima Takeo are coming to the US! We will be premiering the film at the SF Intl Asian Amer Film Festival on March 14, head to NYC for a screening at the Japan Society and then to DC for an event at Georgetown. They will have a mini reunion with Fred Mitchell and Gene Brick while they are here and of course we will document everything on video. The JAPANESE DVD will be on sale in Japan starting March 19th. Pony Canyon has done an incredible job with the whole package and we are really excited to share the film with more and more folks. The AMERICAN version of the DVD will be on sale to educators starting this summer...then to individuals shortly after that so stay tuned! Thank you to everyone for their continued support. We'll be announcing more festival news in the near future so be sure to check back.

IDFA Screening Times

The screening times have been set. We'll be in the First Appearance Competition section and will be having our intl premiere on Nov 24 at 7:45pm, Nov 29 at 5:30pm, and Dec 1 at 4:00pm. Films Transit will be repping the film domestically and internationally - big thank you to Jan and Diana. We are so honored to be working with you!