One of three films at Garter Lane this April to celebrate Japanese Film Festival 2025

A Samurai in Time
侍タイムスリッパー

In the final days of the Edo period, duringa stormy night a samurai faces off against a ronin on a stormy night. But just as lightning strikes, he’s transported to modern-day Kyoto, where the battleground has turned into a jidaigeki film set! Mistaken for an extra in his period attire, he’s swept into the world of historical film productions. Due to his very ‘authentic’ look and speech, he starts working on many productions and finds himself playing the role of a “kirareyaku”, a swordsman whose job is to die spectacularly on film.

A Samurai in Timeis a very low-budget, totally independent film which became a multi-million dollar success. A period film with only 10 crew members. Director Junichi Yasuda took on 12 roles for the film including producer, writer, cinematographer, production manager, lighting, VFX, editing and more! The lead actress even served as the film’s assistant director

After winning the Gold Audience Awardat its premiere at the 2024 Fantasia Film Festival, the film opened on just 1 screen in Tokyo on August 17th, but weeks of sold-out screenings and positive word-of-mouth got the film picked up by the biggest distributor in Japan and rolled out to over400 cinemas nationwide.

Directed by Junichi Yasuda
In memory of Seizo Fukumoto, the actor who died more than 50,000 times!