From the production team behind the Oscar-winning Searching for Sugar Man comes We Are X, a transcendent rock & roll story about X Japan, the world’s biggest and most successful band you’ve never heard of…yet.
Drafthouse Films announced yesterday that they will release Stephen Kijak’s We Are X in New York and Los Angeles on October 21, 2016, followed by nationwide expansion. Since its premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival––where it was awarded the Special Jury Prize for editing––the film has continued to garner critical acclaim due to its remarkably candid portrayal of its enigmatic subject, Yoshiki, leader of the Japanese band X Japan.
Paula Mejia of Newsweek wrote that the film “forces us to grapple with difficult questions of purpose, the inevitable role of pain in art, and how music acts as a force for salvation, as much for the fans as for the musicians who thrash these songs into existence” and finished by calling it one of the most uplifting films she has ever seen at Sundance.
Since then, We Are X has played to sold-out crowds on the festival circuit, including at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival and was the most tweeted about topic during the week of SXSW only after the festival’s keynote speaker, President Barack Obama. Audiences at both the Sundance and SXSW screenings were treated to exclusive performances by Yoshiki, and similar eventized concert presentations of the film are planned for its theatrical release.
“You will not believe the trials and tribulations that the arena-filling, mega-band X Japan have faced in their 30 year career,” says Drafthouse Films founder Tim League. “This documentary will leave you equally breathless and uplifted. It is the best music doc of the year, and we are honored to bring it to American audiences.”
“After spending two years making this film, we are really delighted that the uniquely experienced Tim League, Tom Quinn and Drafthouse Films will be masterminding its theatrical life in the US,” says John Battsek of Passion Pictures. “Their passion and commitment to the film mirror ours and we are excited to work with them through the film’s release.”
Under the enigmatic direction of drummer, pianist, composer, and producer Yoshiki, X Japan has sold over 30 million singles and albums combined––captivating such a wide range of admirers as Sir George Martin, KISS, Stan Lee, and even the Japanese Emperor––and pioneered a spectacle-driven style of visual rock, creating a one-of-a-kind cultural phenomenon.
Chronicling the band’s exhilarating, tumultuous and unimaginable history over the past three decades––persevering through personal, physical and spiritual heartache––the film culminates with preparations for their breathtaking reunion concert at New York’s legendary Madison Square Garden. Directed by acclaimed documentarian Stephen Kijak (Stones in Exile, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man), We Are X is an astonishingly intimate portrait of a deeply haunted––but truly unstoppable––virtuoso and the music that has enthralled legions of the world’s most devoted fans. http://www.wearexfilm.com/
Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is a curated brand of provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world. Following the earnestly simple motto of “sharing the films we love with widest audience possible,” Drafthouse Films debuted in 2010 with the theatrical release of Four Lions, which was named of Time Magazine’s “Top 10 Films Of The Year.” Their diverse and unique slate includes Joshua Oppenheimer’s highly-acclaimed, Oscar® nominated documentaries The Act Of Killing and The Look of Silence, produced by Errol Morris and Werner Herzog and Michel Gondry’s surrealist romance Mood Indigo starring Audrey Tautou.
Recent and upcoming releases include Karyn Kusama’s award-winning and critically-acclaimed thriller The Invitation, Anders Thomas Jensen’s bizarre and inspired dark comedy Men & Chicken starring Mads Mikkelsen and Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, a documentary of the true story of three eleven-year-old boys who filmed a shot-for-shot adaptation of Spielberg’s classic during the 1980s.
Drafthouse Films distributes films theatrically, through home video, VOD and their direct-to-consumer platforms integrating into the ever-growing Alamo Drafthouse entertainment lifestyle brand, which along with Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas includes: Mondo, the collectible art boutique; Fantastic Fest, the largest international genre film festival in the US; and the pop culture website Birth.Movies.Death.
For more information, check out the website at wearexfilm.com.