Eastern Lo-Fi (Repeat)

There are some trailers which make viewing the complete film a new life-priority.

There are some trailers which make viewing the complete film a new life-priority. When we saw the teaser for Japanese short Encounters, our priorities were re-jigged, and after viewing the full 20 minutes of it we weren’t disappointed. Takashi Iitsuka’s labour of love, made manoeuvering toy puppets by hand and with fishing wire, has the feel of a lysergic Thunderbirds. Screening with Encounters are three other low budget romps, including Lisa Takeba’s Wandering Alien Detective Robin about a lonely detective on a complex case in Tokyo, Devi Kobayashi’s Akiba-Field featuring two women, two swords, and a man in a box, all set for the apocalypse. And everybody’s favourite Japanese UFO-like space monster, Ultraman, features in an episode from the iconic series.