The award-winning, new music documentary on the Japanese rock group X JAPAN titled 'WE ARE X'--from Passion Pictures--has won the SXSW Film Festival Audience Award for "Excellence In Title Design" (here). 'WE ARE X'-which explores the evolution, groundbreaking history and hopeful future of the land of the rising sun's most culturally significant and iconic rock group, X JAPAN--made its SXSW premiere as part of the "24 Beats Per Second" category showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians with an emphasis on documentary. The SXSW Award-winning title design for 'WE ARE X' was created by Allison and Ant Brownmoore of Blue Spill.
X JAPAN and 'WE ARE X' dominated social media conversation during SXSW 2016 Music & Film weeks. The group marked the #2 most-used hashtag at SXSW this year: #X JAPAN and #WE ARE X-related tweets received (source: Keyhole and Forbes) just under 11 million impressions throughout the week (Posts: 11,888, Users who Posted: 1,799, Reach: 2,485,559, Impressions: 10,914,757). For a detailed breakdown, read "How POTUS and X JAPAN Dominated Social Media At SXSW" (here).
YOSHIKI--songwriter, drummer, classically-trained pianist and the creative force of X JAPAN--performed a special set for the captivated SXSW crowd of movie-goers following the final screening of 'WE ARE X' at the Paramount Theatre in Austin on Friday, March 18. YOSHIKI's classical versions of X JAPAN's songs with a string quartet live on stage garnered a standing ovation following his performance.Directly after the Paramount screening and performance, YOSHIKI ran to the "Japan Nite" event at the Elysium in Austin and offered another striking live performance for the standing room only crowd (event photo link above and below). Three of the scheduled bands for "Japan Nite" were unable to make it to Austin due to visa issues and Yoshiki stepped in to support the long-running SXSW event.
From X JAPAN's massive success (over 30 million albums, singles and videos sold) and sold-out tours worldwide, 'WE ARE X' chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of this legendary quintet who continue to tour the world, performing sold-out shows at major arenas in 16 countries throughout the U.S. and Europe. 'WE ARE X' was produced by John Battsek of Passion Pictures, producer of two Academy Award-winning documentaries (Searching For SugarMan, One Day In September), and directed by Stephen Kijak (Stones In Exile, Scott Walker: 30th Century Man). The film also wonthe Special Jury Award for "Best Editing"at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards (Jan. 20) in Park City, UT. 'WE ARE X'--edited by Mako Kamitsuna and John Maringuoin and assisted by June Okada--earned rousing ovations during its six Sundance screenings throughout that film festival.
X JAPAN--YOSHIKI (drums/piano/composer), TOSHI (vocals), PATA (guitar), HEATH (bass), SUGIZO (violin/guitar) alongside their fallen brothers HIDE (guitars, 1987-1997) and TAIJI (1986-1992)--are currently laying down tracks in a Los Angeles studio for their as-yet-untitled album, which is due for a worldwide release in late 2016.
