[AMA-e-News] Asian Media Access: Special Free Passes for Warner Film "Letters From Iwo Jima"

[Johnny Chio]

Hi all:

Asian Media Access (AMA) has 30 passes to preview Warner Bros. film LETTERS
FROM IWO JIMA

1/8 (Mon) 7:30pm
Lagoon Theater
1320 Lagoon Ave., Mpls

AMA Staff will be there at 6:30pm with 30 passes (one pass admits 2), feel
free to stop by pick one up.  Come early as seating is limited to theater
capacity.

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
Sixty-one years ago, US and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later,
several hundred letters are unearthed from that stark island1s soils.  The
letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the
extraordinary general who led them.

The Japanese soldiers are sent to Iwo Jima knowing that in all probability
they will not come back.  Among them are Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a baker
who wants only to live to see the face of his newborn daughter; Baron Nishi
(Tsuyoshi Ihara), an Olympic equestrian champion known around the world for
his skill and his honor; Shimizu (Ryo Kase), a young former military
policeman whose idealism has not yet been tested by war; and Lieutenant Ito
(Shidou Nakamura), a strict military man who would rather accept suicide
than surrender.

Leading the defense is Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe),
whose travels in America have revealed to him the hopeless nature of the war
but also given him strategic insight into how to take on the vast American
armada streaming in from across the Pacific.

With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the
island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi1s unprecedented tactics transform what was
predicted to be a quick and bloody defeat into nearly 40 days of heroic and
resourceful combat.   Almost 7,000 American soldiers were killed on Iwo
Jima; more than 20,000 Japanese troops perished.  The black sands of Iwo
Jima are stained with their blood, but their sacrifices, their struggles,
their courage and their compassion live on in the letters they sent home.

>From Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood (3Million Dollar Baby,2
3Unforgiven2) comes the untold story of the Japanese soldiers and their
General who 61 years ago defended against the invading American forces on
the island of Iwo Jima.

In an effort to explore an event that continues to resonate with both
cultures, Clint Eastwood was haunted by the sense that making only one film
- 3Flags of Our Fathers2 - would be telling only half the story.  With this
unprecedented dual film project, shot back-to-back to be released in
sequence, Eastwood seeks to reveal the battle of Iwo Jima - and, by
implication, the war in the Pacific - as a clash not only of arms but of
cultures.

While they tell separate stories from different perspectives and in
different languages, 3Letters From Iwo Jima2 and 3Flags of Our Fathers2 are
Eastwood1s tribute to those who lost lives on both sides of the conflict.
The director hopes to tell both sides of the story and, with any luck,
collectively reveal a new way of looking at this profoundly affecting moment
in our shared history.

Warner Bros. Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures present a Malpaso/Amblin
Entertainment Production of 3Letters From Iwo Jima,2 starring Academy Award
nominee Ken Watanabe (3The Last Samurai,2 3Memoirs of a Geisha,2 3Batman
Begins2) as Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Imperial Japanese General who
led the resistance.

The ensemble cast is comprised of talented performers including Kazunari
Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase and Shidou Nakamura.  Directed by Clint
Eastwood from a screenplay by Japanese-American screenwriter Iris Yamashita,
from a story by Yamashita & Oscar winner Paul Haggis (3Crash2), based on the
book 3Picture Letters From Commander in Chief2 by Tadamichi Kuribayashi
edited by Tsuyuko Yoshido, published by Shogakukan-Bunko.  The film is
produced by Clint Eastwood, Oscar winner Steven Spielberg (3Saving Private
Ryan,2 3Schindler1s List2) and Oscar nominee Robert Lorenz (3Mystic River2).
Paul Haggis serves as executive producer, and Tim Moore is the co-producer.

Eastwood1s longtime collaborators head the creative behind-the-scenes team:
director of photography Tom Stern; costume designer Deborah Hopper; editors
Joel Cox, A.C.E. and Gary D. Roach; and the late production designer Henry
Bumstead, and production designer James J. Murakami.  The late Phyllis
Huffman served as casting director. Music is by Kyle Eastwood and Michael
Stevens.   3Flags of Our Fathers2 and 3Letters From Iwo Jima2 are the last
films of both Mr. Bumstead and Ms. Huffman.  The former is dedicated to
their memory.

3Letters From Iwo Jima2 is released worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Cast:  Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase and Shidou
Nakamura
Director:   Clint Eastwood
Screenplay by: Iris Yamashita, from a Story by Yamashita & Paul Haggis based
on the book 3Picture Letters From Commander in Chief2 by Tadamichi
Kuribayashi edited by Tsuyuko Yoshido, published by Shogakukan-Bunko
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz
Executive Producer: Paul Haggis
Co-producer: Tim Moore
MPAA Rating:  The film has been rated R.