Cinema Show Films is proud to announce the release of a new film about American fans of Japanese popular culture called otaku. True Otaku is a feature-length documentary film created about otaku fandom. The documentary was filmed in the greater Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan region at Otakon 2010, Anime USA 2010, and at the DC Anime Club. The Mid-Atlantic premiere of True Otaku is being hosted by the DC Anime Club and is scheduled for June 25, 2011 at the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. The film has also been selected for screening as part of the Geek Film Festival being held July 1 – 4, 2011 at Florida Supercon in Miami, Florida.
True Otaku begins with an overview of otaku fandom set against the backdrop of Otakon 2010. Then the film goes in-depth, profiling an award-winning cosplayer, Iris Venturino, as she readies to compete in Anime USA's Hall Costume Contest. True Otaku also profiles Lauren Orsini, a blogger and journalist, and the DC Anime Club, an organization established to introduce and educate people in the Washington, D.C. area about East Asian culture. The visit to the DC Anime Club coincides with a demonstration by the Jedi Guardians, a non-profit lightsaber dueling group that supports charity events, community functions, and fundraisers. Finally, True Otaku wraps up by following Iris through Anime USA's Hall Costume Contest judging process, providing insight into the motivations, creative process, and challenges at the heart of cosplay.
The otaku community as a whole continues to change and evolve. True Otaku was created to provide a unique snapshot of otaku fandom at a given moment in time and place. Through this snapshot, we can learn about the deeper motivations at the heart of otaku fandom and ultimately celebrate the passion, richness, and diversity of America's true otaku community.
About Cinema Show Films
True Otaku was produced, directed, and edited by Jeff Clark, an independent documentary filmmaker from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Jeff attended college at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, majoring in film production and creative writing. In 1999, he was hired by Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, Virginia to create educational television programming. Jeff continues to work for the Fairfax school district as a producer and director. He has numerous projects, both short-form and full-length film and video works, to his credit. He was co-producer on the regional Emmy award-winning television series Flight School in 2007. In 2009, Jeff resumed independent film work, traveling to Lebanon to document the work of the non-profit organization Heart for Lebanon. His latest project, True Otaku, was born out of an affinity for Japanese popular culture and otaku fandom. Jeff's production company, Cinema Show Films, is named after a festival-winning short video he created in 1989.
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