The Philadelphia Japan Arts Matsuri (PJAM) is a four-day festival planned for early July 2011 as a fundraiser to benefit the Japanese Red Cross. The festival will feature Japanese film, music, and art, and will extend to include local performers and artists. PJAM is organized by a collective of Philadelphia-based Japan enthusiasts.
But first, PJAM took us to Hell for a good cause on Friday, May 13th with Yoshiro Nishimura’s newest splatter epic, Helldriver at the beautiful Prince Music Theater. An over the top opus of outlandish gore and side splitting slapstick humor, Helldriver continues the tradition of Nishimura’s previous films and collaborations such as Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police, and Robo Geisha, all of which went on to become international internet sensations. Helldriver is his largest and most lavish production yet. This is a post apocalyptic zombie film of which the likes has never been seen! We have two words for you, “chainsaw katana!”
The film was followed with live performances by popular J-‐rock bands, Uzuhi and High Teen Boogie. Uzuhi combines traditional Japanese folk music with power ballad anthem rock, sugary Anime theme songs, skank inducing ska, and lightning fast punk rock while High Teen Boogie’s all female blues rock trio is reminiscent to the iconic 5,6,7,8’s from Kill Bill Volume 1. This event marks Helldriver’s official Philadelphia premiere and is being held in conjunction with the international charity screening tour, Splatter Matters.
100% of all proceeds are headed to the Japanese Red Cross.
Photo Gallery by Tim Bonner.
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HELLDRIVER – Official Trailor
[youtube width=”560″ height=”349″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKHKDfsSxT4[/youtube]
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