Third Window FIlms Releasing A Samurai In Time In UK

A Samurai in Time( 侍タイムスリッパー) is a bona fide phenomenon in its native Japan. Third Window Films are set to give the film a UK release on Blu-ray and Digital from April.

The film is directed Junichi Yasuda, created on a tiny budget and a crew of 10. Yasuda himself took on many of the crew roles which working as a rice farmer and running a ramen restaurant!

A Samurai in Time went on to be such a word-of-mouth success that it ended up playing in more than 400 cinemas, being nominated for 7 Academy Awards (winners announced 14th March) and grossing more than the vast majority of Hollywood blockbusters released in Japan in 2024!

With one strike of lightning, samurai Kosaka Shinzaemon accidentally teleports through time and finds himself in modern day Japan. However, his realisation doesn’t hit so quickly, because of all places, he happens to land on a period drama film set! After facing the director’s wrath for veering away from a script he has no idea about, Kosaka is saved by the kind assistant director Yuka. The samurai soon comes to with his troubling situation and learns to make a living as a kirareyaku, a swordsman whose job is to die spectacularly on film. Mesmerised by the world of showbiz, will Kosaka adapt to his new reality, or will the grudges of the Edo period war slice his life apart?

A Samurai in Time was made in memory of Seizo Fukumoto, Japan’s leading kirareyaku who died more than 50,000 times on camera and starred as the Silent Samurai in Last Samurai (2003). With Makiya Yamaguchi in the lead role, this fish-out-of-water comedy is one that’s sure to bring the laughs, while also paying homage to samurai cinema. Director Junichi Yasuda is also a man of many talents, who not only founded his production company MIRAIEIGASHA in 2014, but also took over his father’s rice farming business in 2023.

Bonus Features
• Director Junichi Yasuda interview
• Deleted Scenes
• Makiya Yamaguchi and Yuno Sakura behind the scenes talk show
• Teaser Trailer
• Trailer
• Slipcase Edition (Limited to 2000 copies)
• Region FREE

A Samurai In Time will be released on Blu-Ray and Digital Platforms from 28th April. The film is also part of Japanese Foundation Touring Film Programme which will take place from 8th February until 31st March.