This week, we're talking about an event that allowed attendees to watch Phantom Blood early, and meet some of the cast. But first, our current leads: still nothing from Sakura Con. You know the drill - another follow-up has been sent, and our contact in the Archive still plans on attending when it happens in April over in Seattle. Next, I heard back from Viz Media, who claimed they did not have any people they could directly refer me to over at Shueisha, and recommended that I try contacting them myself... again. I'm not sure if the failure my first time around was due to my own phone plan or what the deal was, but I'll do some digging and see what I can do. Lastly, I heard back from the Chicago Film Archives, who were not able to help due to them focusing on American-based films that were created in the 1930's - 1980's, so unfortunately they are a no-go. As an addendum to this episode, however, I did hear from the International Federation of Film Archives, who talked with their Japanese contacts and sadly were unable to help. At least we can say they got back with me. Now, this preview event is fascinating - not only did viewers get to see Phantom Blood five days prior to its public premiere, but this particular version of the film was still incomplete - the fact that they were still finishing up the film mere days before the film was slated to come to theaters raises some questions as to what was happening behind the scenes. However, that's not the only mysterious thing about this preview... REMEMBER: If you have anything to contribute to the archive or have any leads, be sure to
reach out through the Contact tab! SOURCES/CITATIONS: Report on the Preview Event The movie's official blog (via the Wayback Machine) SimplyDead's post WBA's post
The fact that so many things went wrong is unbelievable. I'm shocked this happened just mere days before the release and the fact it still was not finished?? It baffles me.