A Label For Many Cinematic Seasons

Formed in 2005, London-based Third Window Films has been one of the key film labels releasing Asian cinema in the West. Their catalogue touches down in a lot of genres, going all the way from moody dramas, bizarre comedies, wacky ‘n’ weird horror films, pumped up cyber punk, Arty Pink films, creative sci-fi,  cool/ sleek action films, and beyond. Adam Torel- the label head honcho/ man-of-many-hats kindly agreed to give M[m] an email interview.

M[m]: What are some of your earliest memories of either films or TV programs?  And do you think any of these triggered your interest in Japanese film?

Adam: To be honest, I don’t really remember much of my youth! Though I sort of remember the film which got me into Asian cinema: When I was around 12 I went to a local film festival (with my mum accompanying me as I was too young) where they were showing Ringo Lam’s Prison on Fire and that got me very much into HK cinema of the 80s which started my interest in Asian cinema as a whole. I initially expanded my knowledge of HK cinema through Taiseng’s VHS releases (I lived in the US as a teenager) at the time, then a little after, I got very much into Japanese new wave cinema and then as Korean cinema broke out in the mid-to-late 90s, I massively immersed myself in that. I had always been interested in cinema, and especially obscure and niche cinema from an early age, but that was how I got into Asian cinema.

 

M[m]: Third Window Films is celebrating its twenty years of operation in 2025. What made you decide to start the company?

Adam: I had been working in various cinemas and video rental shops in the US in the 90s and moved back to the UK (where I was born) in the early 00s. At the time, Tartan Films was the major distributor of Asian cinema, and I started off working there as an intern, before having a full-time position. I really wanted to help Asian cinema get more recognised and expand from the very limited number of genres and titles which were being released in the UK at the time, so I tried to get Tartan to look at a wider variety of titles to release, but they weren’t interested, so I left to start my own company. My goal with the company was to focus on the non-‘extreme’ or ‘classic’ genres, which were the mainstay of Asian cinema distributed films in the UK.

 

M[m]: Please talk a little about the company's name, what it means to you, and did you have any alternative names?

Adam: Apart from movies, I’m also a big music lover. And, like the movies I love, I’m really into finding obscure music from the past, mainly 60s and 70s. When I was a teenager, I was just into the mod and ska scene, but when I moved back to the UK, I got more into northern soul. I guess at the time I started TWF I was into more ‘classics’ of northern soul (Wigan sound), and I had liked Dean Barlow’s Third Window From the Right song. Maybe it was the first ‘expensive’ record I had bought at that time, and that’s why I decided to call my company Third Window Films.

 

M[m]: You talk about a love of music- have you ever thought of releasing soundtracks, either as part of a film release or a standalone release

Adam: I did actually release the soundtrack of my favourite TWF release: The Legend of the Stardust Brothers. Released both on LP and a single EP. 

Plus released a 7-inch from my produced film LOWLIFE LOVE. 

Ruined Heart had a soundtrack CD too, as did Underwater Love, but both of those were Rapid Eye Movies productions. 

 

M[m]: How has the market changed/ developed since you started- both positively & negatively?

Adam: Obviously, over 20 years, a lot has changed. New formats, VOD, COVID, etc.
I actually started just as the DVD market started to crash, so it was not a good time and a very tough first few years, and when things like Netflix really took off, that changed customers' mindsets and also made cinema-going less attractive. But over the past couple of years things have changed again with people wanting boutique physical products and arthouse cinema-going also getting popular again.

 

M[m]: Besides yourself self who else is involved in Third Window Films? And do you have a defined role or are you a man of many hats?

Adam: I do the vast majority of things. Probably as much of a ‘one-man-operation’ as can be possible. And that doesn’t just include distribution of films in the UK, but also worldwide rights management on others (festivals and the press/marketing involved, selling to local distributors, etc) and even production. So it’s a 365-day-a-year job in which I’m working almost every second I’m awake.

Though I have some people who I work with on certain aspects, for example on DVD /Blu-ray authoring I have been with the same person for the majority of my time, a guy named Andrew Kirkham, plus have used some similar people for making new artwork for releases, or people like Jasper Sharp and Tom Mes for commentary tracks.

 

M[m]: Please select ten of the favourite films you’ve released on the label, with a brief comment on why for each?

Adam: It would mainly be films where I have put the most energy into, which would be films from the past which had never been released overseas before and required me to take on multiple jobs to get them out there (clearing rights, making new contracts, making new masters, handling worldwide sales, etc)

So old films like The Legend of the Stardust Brothers, Mermaid Legend, DOOR, Crazy Thunder Road, etc, would fall into that category.

Plus, new films like One Cut of the Dead, A Samurai in Time, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, etc, have been ones which I’ve also handled the worldwide releases for, so I put a lot of time and effort into them.

 

M[m]: What have been your best & least-selling titles over the years? And are there any unappreciated gems you think should have done better/ people should be aware of?

Adam: Best are Tetsuo, Love Exposure, Confessions, Kamikaze Girls, Hana-bi, One Cut of the Dead

The worst are mostly the indie films, like Your Lovely Smile, Sake Bomb, Suffering of Ninko, etc.

I expected more from some films like the Toshiaki Toyoda releases, Luminous Woman, Tokyo Pop, Summer Time Machine Blues, and Mad Cats

 

M[m]: Please could you talk a little bit about how you go about selecting a film for release?

Adam: I like to work on films which wouldn’t be released if it wasn’t for me, as I don’t feel there’s much point in releasing something which others want to, or is available in other territories. So, it’s about finding films I like which fall into that category.

 

M[m]: I believe one of the early collections of yours we reviewed was Pink Films 5 & 6, Do you have any plans to release more in this series? Or what about a series focusing on the connected Roman porno genre?

Adam: I think both the Pink and Roman Porno genres are getting releases by many companies nowadays, so it’s not much point for me to focus on them, though I do release some which I’ve acquired based on other reasons, for example Takashi Ishii’s Angel Guts series, which are Roman Porno films, but the connection for me is with Takashi Ishii, not RP.

 

M[m]: Could you talk about films that you had issues getting hold of prints/ related elements?

Adam: In many cases, just my wanting to acquire the UK rights will not convince the rights holder to let go of the prints so that they can be remastered. In any case, the UK rights only will not cover the costs, so in cases where prints have turned up I usually need to work as the film’s ‘sales agent’ (but without any commission) to find distributors around the world who would be willing to acquire the film, and pay a fee which can be used towards the costs of remastering the films. So, this can be a constant issue and requires working a lot, and for free.

 

M[m]: What have you got planned release-wise for the next six months?

Adam: In August is a 4-film set of Takashi Ishii films covering 2 years from 1992-1994. The reason I started on this project is that it’s a direct connection to my work on the Directors Company series as the 1992 film from this set, Original Sin, started off as a Directors Company film, and only during production did the company go under, which required another company to take over the production to finish the film. So, the set starts off from the exact point the Directors Company ended.

After that is a box set of the Maiku Hama Trilogy, and in early 2026, I have a box set of Nikkatsu’s Angel Guts series.

M[m]: You mention your Directors Company series- how did you first come aware of the production company, and what triggered you to start the series?

Adam: The reason I started the Directors Company series is that a friend of mine discovered a bunch of supposed “lost” negatives of many of the films from the company. More than anything, without good materials, it’s hard to re-release old films in HD, so that was the trigger. Still took ages to sort out the rights and everything else, but it was the start of it all. 

 

M[m]: What has personally impacted you over the last 12 months- be it film, music, books, or art?

Adam: To be honest, I’m working so much that I don’t really have time for anything but work. I haven’t listened to any music, read a book and barely seen a non-work film in years…

 

Thanks to Adam for his time & effort with the interview. The label's website is here https://thirdwindowfilms.com/