In 1985, Macoto Tezka (son of the great manga artist Osamu Tezuka) met musician and TV personality Haruo Chicada who had made a soundtrack to a movie which didn’t actually exist: The Legend of the Stardust Brothers.
At the time Macoto was just 22 years old, a film-student with many short experimental films under his belt, but yet to make a feature-debut and of course had the pressure of the TEZUKA name. With Chicada as producer, Tezka then adapted this “fake soundtrack” into the real movie story of “The Stardust Brothers”.
With inspiration from “Phantom of the Paradise” and “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Tezuka assembled a cast of some of Japan’s most famous musicians of the time, including such greats as Kiyohiko Ozaki, ISSAY, Sunplaza Nakano and Hiroshi Takano, alongside many famous names in Manga such as Monkey Punch (Lupin the 3rd), Shinji Nagashima (Hanaichi Monme), Yosuke Takahashi (Mugen Shinsi) and even many upcoming film directors of the time such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata) and Daihachi Yoshida (The Kirishima Thing).
The resulting film “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” is the exact definition of a cult film. Despite the huge array of talent on board with a large budget, the film is totally unknown even to this day in both Japan and worldwide. More than 30 years since its release, “The Stardust Brothers” will finally make itself known worldwide with a new master and a brand new Director’s Cut!
LIMITED EDITION (1000 units) available for ALL REGIONS, starting 17 Feb 2020. Features dual-format DVD/BLURAY plus a Soundtrack CD. Includes:
– Making of from the film’s original release
– New interview with director Macoto Tezka
– Soundtrack CD
RRP: £24.99.
Available to Pre-order from the Arrow Films Store.
About Director Macoto Tezka
At the age of 17, Tezka (also known as Macoto Tezuka) won a prize for his debut 8mm film and was highly evaluated for his skills by judge and well-known movie director Nagisa Oshima (Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence). When Tezuka was at collage, he made his feature debut directing “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers”. Since then, he has been creating various feature and experimental films. He also created a pioneering original video(V cinema) film called “Ghost Paradise -Yokai Tengoku-” and a documentary about Akira Kurosawa. Tezka spent 10 years cinemizing “Hakuchi -the innocent- ” written by well-known novelist Ango Sakaguchi, and the film received the digital award in Venice and was invited to a number of international film festivals. His animated feature film “Black Jack” won the outstanding performance award at the Tokyo Animation Award. Feature-length films like “Black Kiss” and “The Brand New Legend of The Stardust Brothers” were invited to the Tokyo International Film Festival. As the bereaved of Osamu Tezuka , Tezka has been working on various projects and productions of his father.
Selected Filmography:
・FANTASTIC☆PARTY” 1979/8mm
・MOMENT 1981
・The Legend of Stardust Brothers 1985
・Ghost Paradise 1986
・Hakuchi: The Innocent 1999/35mm Venice Film Festival WINNER Digital Award *Theatrical Release in France
・Black Kiss 2004/35mm
・Black Jack 2005/TV/Animation
・ASTROBOY” 2009/35mm/3D
・The New Legend of Stardust Brothers 2016
・Tezuka’s Barbara 2019
