Fantasia 2000

The director of the movie unfortunately could not make it to the festival due to his physical conditions.  According to President Ishikawa, who attended the festival in return, "Hiroyuki Kitakubo did not come to Montreal, but he went to the hospital instead," and also, "He likes blood too much and he went to the hospital."  Even without the director present at the premieres, the crowd seemed to have enjoyed our little presentations and Q&A sessions... and of course the film itself.  This was the official North American Premiere of the film, and we were happy that it took place here at this festival, where many people remembered our studios which won the 2nd place for "JIN-ROH" last year.  Last year was very competitive also with many good films such as "Ring," "Ring 2," "Hypnosis" and such, but this year seemed to be even more competitive with high quality, highly digitized, sophisticated and exciting films from Japan, Hong Kong and India.  (I'm only mentioning the Asian category here, which we're in competition for)  My president wasn't even a bit hopeful about our film winning anything, especially because of its length and the absence of the director.  So it was a great shock to us when it was announced as the 2nd place in the Best Asian Films of 2000!  When he ran up to the stage, he was just so overwhelmed with joy that he forgot to thank the audience in English, and he did it in Japanese instead.

	As always, there were a long line of people waiting to get into the theater.  "Blood: The Last Vampire" was sold out for both of the sessions.
	A theater full of outrageous and exciting fans!
	Maki Terashima introducing the film in French??
	Mr. Ishikawa introducing the film in English...
Candid Photos	Ishikawa and the Ultraman Maki and ??