Gunman Champion (ガンマン大将 Ganman taisho)

Screening with Off Highway 20

Japanese comedian Shaq stars as a little man with a big imagination. In reality he wanders around an amusement park where he’s fallen in love with a tour guide (Masayo), and has run afoul of a motley gang of bullies. In his fertile fantasy world he’s the Gunman Champion, a mysterious gunslinger who battles evil from Mexico to the sci-fi world of The Matrix. This brief description only scratches the surface of this zany adventure that plays like Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp on amphetamines.

Director: sugarmountain

Producer: Takahiro Yamashita

Writers: Daisuke Sato & Takahiro Yamashita

Cinematography: Takeya Sekiguchi

Editing: Daisuke Sato

Music: Rui Yoshida, Nao Tokisawa & Masa

Cast: Shaq, Masayo, Masaki Kurusu

Released: 2009

Running time: 25 min.

Trailer /  Official Website

Director’s Bio

sugarmountain are director Daisuke Sato and producer Takahiro Yamashita. Born in 1972 studied at Tokyo’s Meiji Gakuin University. Born in 1971 Takahiro Yamashita studied economics at Kyoto’s Doshisha University before becoming involved in film production. Yamashita is the president of Three Arrows Entertainment which has produced the 2002 Iranian/ Japanese co-production The Wind Carpet and the 2006 yakuza film Bloody Snake Under the Sun. Gunman Champion combines both their skills and talents and is one of a series of comedic short films starring Shaq.