All That Remains is now available on DVD at Amazon.com (for America and Canada) – pick up your copy today!

Stay tuned for news of our up coming projects for 2017…

Directors  Dominic Higgins, Ian Higgins and producer Nigel Martin Davey with the cast of All That Remains. Photo credit: Masaichiro Moriyama

On Saturday 3^rd September, we held the cast and crew screening of ALL THAT REMAINS. We had a big turn out, so a huge thanks to all that came. It was great to see some faces we haven’t seen in quite a while.

Among the guests were also many of the local Japanese community who gave up their free time to appear as extras in several key scenes, again, it was great to have the chance to say thank you to these guys and to show them what we’ve done.

We also had a special guest, a supporter of the film from our very early days of crowdfunding, Mr. Masaichiro Moriyama. After four years of emailing back and forth it was wonderful to get the opportunity to meet him face…

The tiny figure of Dr Nagai in his little hut, lying on his back, writing under a giant cloud and surrounded by the beginnings of a re-built Nagasaki.

Our current feature project, All That Remains (currently in post-production) is one of only a handful of Western films that has attempted to depict the atomic bombings of Japan, up close and personal. As such the responsibility and the magnitude of recreating such a devastating and history defining moment was, to say the least, enormous, and at times a little overwhelming.

But, once we had committed to telling this story, it was time to roll our sleeves up and do whatever it took to see it through to the end.

To keep our budget down we opted to do all the special effects work ourselves, what we didn’t know was that it would take us almost four years to make the film…

The Atomic Bomb in Japanese Cinema: Critical Essaysis a “collection of new essays that explores the cultural aftermath of the bombings and its expression in Japanese cinema” with a special section on how Western film-makers have tackled the subject.

Edited by Mathew Edwards (Film Out of Bounds), the book is a fascinating and enlightening read that includes exclusive interviews with critically acclaimed directors Roger Spotiswoode (Hiroshima, Tomorrow Never Dies) and Steven Okazaki (White Light/Black Rain), oh and we’re very proud to say, a very in-depth interview with Ian and Dominic Higgins discussingAll That Remains, which, in case you didn’t know, tells the life story of Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor and peace activist, Dr. Takashi Nagai.

Many thanks to Mathew Edwards for his interest in All That Remains and for including it such an important addition to the library of film literature.

The book…

26 Martyrs – Animated short

Our animated short 26 Martyrs is now available for pre-order online, via VOD (video on demand) over at Reelhouse– an online video distribution platform for independent film-makers.

26 Martyrs tells the story of how 26 men and boys were condemned to be crucified in Nagasaki by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the absolute ruler of Japan in 1597.

Fr. Paul Glynn, author of A Song For Nagasaki, had this to say about our film, “An heroic saga that stirs hearts”.

The short is a kind of prequel to our feature project, All That Remains, as the story of the martyrs had a profound effect on our main character, Takashi Nagai.

26 Martyrs

VOD has been an area we have been keen to explore for some time and we’re excited to now finally have the chance, so head over to our corner at Reelhouse and check it out…

Meg Kubota plays Tsumo Moriyama, the mother of Dr Nagai’s wife, Midori. After the atomic bombing which claimed the life of Midori, Tsumo lived with Dr Nagai in his tiny wooden hut, Nyokodo, where she became a mother for their children and a carer for the bed-ridden Dr. Nagai. In her performance, London based actress, Meg Kubota captures the quiet strength and dignity of a woman who survived the unthinkable. Below she shares some of her thoughts and her approach to the role…

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I am a Japanese actress based in the UK and I have been working as an actress in this country for a very long time now. I trained at Arts Educational Drama School in London and since leaving, I have been very fortunate to work in theatre, film, television and radio drama. I have also been the voice of characters in…

Midori Nagai, the wife and confident of Dr. Nagai was the epitome of the Japanese expression “graceful bamboo” – gentle yet filled with an incredible inner strength. Such an important role required careful and considerate casting. We found the perfect fit in London based actress, Yuna Shin – who, from her very first audition captured Midori’s essence in a performance of remarkable depth.

Below is a very interesting interview…

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I graduated from Drama Studio London in 2010 so I have been acting professionally for 4 full years now. Before that, I did an MA in marketing communications and worked for an investment company to save the tuition fee for a drama school.

Looking back, I could have gone to drama school straight away rather than doing the MA, which may have saved time and money. But it was valuable because…

All That Remains in the edit suite

It’s been a while since we’ve had chance to post any kind of updates on our current feature project, All That Remains, so we thought we’d grab a few moments to do just that…

It’s been a very intense few months, editing and generating the necessary Special Effects shots. However having spent so much time in the edit suite, it was getting to the point where we could no longer see the woods for the trees. We were also risking creative burn out.

So we took a couple of weeks off from the project, turning our attention instead to client work and to developing a couple of other projects, one of which we’ll be looking to push into production next year.

It’s incredible how much of a fresh perspective this change of scenery gave us when we fired the edit back up and…