Jasper Sharp's "Behind the Pink Curtain" launches at Fantastic Fest

by Chris MaGee

It's times like this when I feel like a fat kid on the sidelines at the big high school football game (Ouch! Flashbacks to my youth there.) As all of you know this year's Fantastic Fest is slowly winding down today having brought the best in genre cinema to film fans in Austin, Texas. Not only did Asian film fans get to feast their eyes on Ji-woon Kim's "The Good, The Bad and The Weird" and Gô Shibata’s "Late Bloomer," but they also got to attend the launch of Jasper Sharp's new book "Behind the Pink Curtian" and the accompanying programme of four rare pinku eiga films. Jasper (above center) was on hand to sign books with Fab Press editor and chief Harvey Fenton (above right) as well as to introduce the films in the programme.

Twitch has had boots on the ground in Austin and have been posting reviews of "Blue Film Woman", "Gushing Prayer", "A Lonely Cow Weeps at Dawn" and "S&M Hunter," and series co-programmer Marc Walkow seems to be very pleased with the reception these films have been getting. I guess we'll have to keep our fingers crossed to see if these get picked up for some kind of North American distribution.

Those of us who weren't lucky enough to be at Fantastic Fest this year will have to wait until November when "Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema" hits bookstores across the U.S. and Canada.

Thanks to Blake Ethridge of CinemaisDope.com for the pic.