117 minutes, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles
Directed by: Eiichiro Hasumi
Starring: Hideaki Ito, Ken Kaito, Atsushi Ito, Ai Kato, Tatsuya Fuji

Showtimes: SUN June 20 - 6:00pm (followed by Q&A with director Eiichiro Hasumi, producer Hirotsugu Usui, and several of the cast members wearing scuba gear!; SUN June 27 - 3:30pm [BUY TICKETS]

Adapted from a wildly popular manga series, which has done for the Japanese Coast Guard what Top Gun did for Navy pilots, UMIZARU follows a team of 14 recruits who submit themselves to the grueling, 50 day training course to become elite Rescue Divers. They drink hard all night long, then stumble into the grind the next morning, performing underwater search and rescue while suffering from pounding hangovers. The actors in UMIZARU spent weeks living barracks-style and in intensive training before the shoot began, and it's the first Japanese film to be shot mostly underwater and with the cooperation of the Coast Guard.

Positioned as one of summer's big blockbusters (opening June 12), UMIZARU stars Hideaki Ito (Princess Blade) as the over-achieving, top recruit; pop idol, Ai Kato, as his love interest; and veteran actor, Tatsuya Fuji (everything from In the Realm of the Senses to Takashi Miike's recent films), as the hard-nosed diving instructor. Both Ito and Fuji are divers who performed all their own stunts. The film is the directorial debut of Eiichiro Hasumi, who assistant directed Bayside Shakedown and was second unit director on Bayside Shakedown 2, the biggest live action hit in Japanese film history.

Pop idols. Scuba diving. Actors performing their own stunts. A theme song by Journey. Do big budget summer blockbusters get any better than this?

EIICHIRO HASUMI [director]

Born March, 1967, Chiba Prefecture. As assistant staging director in ROBOT’s film department, Hasumi helped create with director Katsuyuki Motohiro the intriguing world of Bayside Shakedown (Odoru daisosasen) a hugely successful, hit television series, while also adding several other big-name TV serial dramas to his credit, including Densetsu no Kyoshi (Legendary Teacher) and Dekichatta Kekkon (Shotgun Wedding). On the silver screen, Hasumi served as assistant director for Bayside Shakedown: The Movie (1998), Space Travelers (2000), and Satorare (2001). He was also a second unit director - for the boat scenes - on Bayside Shakedown: The Movie 2 (2003). Hasumi’s other TV drama credits include: Good Luck (NTV), Overtime (Fuji TV), The Antique Store (Fuji TV), Ginza no Koi (Love in the Ginza), Wedding Planner (Fuji TV) and Home & Away (Fuji TV).

HIROTSUGI USUI [producer]

Born October, 1967. Starting out as an assistant director in Fuji TV’s drama producing department, he helped create From the Northern Country ’92 Independence People of Namiki. Since 1996, he moved to the motion pictures department of Fuji TV and served as a producer for Bayside Shakedown: The Movie (1998), Space Travelers (2000), Calmi Cuori Appassionati (2001) Bayside Shakedown: The Movie 2 (2003), which have all been big hits in Japan.