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Exclusive: Here’s first-footage of Paris-set chef drama Grande Maison Paris, the standalone feature spinoff from the world of Japanese hit series La Grande Maison: Tokyo.

Set in the high stakes world of Parisian culinary excellence, the film is led by Japanese star Takuya Kimura (Blade of the Immortal) reprising his lead role from the series, and popular Korean actor and rapper from band2PM Ok Taec-yeon (Hansan: Rising Dragon).

Three Michelin star Japanese chef Kei Kobayashi (of Paris restaurant Kei) created the film’s cuisine. Pic gets its world premiere at the upcoming San Sebastián Film Festival.

Toho will release in Japan. Sony Pictures International Productions will release in France, with London and Paris-based finance, production and sales company Film Constellation handling international sales.

The official synopsis reads: “Famous Japanese chef Obana (Takuya Kimura) opens a new restaurant in Paris in the quest for his elusive third Michelin star.

Teppei Koike and Katsuhisa Namase are set to star in a film adaptation of the Nhk comedy show Salaryman Neo.

The Nhk series, which depicts a loose office atmosphere, has been a surprise hit with office workers across Japan since debuting as a 1-off special in 2004 and coming back as a regular show in 2006.

This will be Koike’s first appearance in the series, and the film version will feature an original story. Koike will play a new employee at a company while Namase plays his irrational section manager.

Turmoil erupts as a new product plan is revealed in an impromptu meeting, insuring a gloomy future for employees.

Ikki Sawamura and Sei Hiraizumi, who also appeared in the show, will play supporting roles.

Filming will begin in mid-April, with a national release planned for November.

Sources: Tokyograph, Cinema Today...

...Or we should say "Cheat Sheets" since this year's SXSW Film Festival boasts over 140 films, requiring more than just one page to cover every single one of the narrative and documentary features that will be playing in Austin from March 11th through 19th. While the festival has already provided a very helpful schedule to flip through and Pdf of the screening grid online, consider this your quick hit guide to all the features at the festival - every title leads to its corresponding festival page in addition to links to trailers, official sites, filmmakers' Facebook pages and Twitter accounts so you can follow the action from the festival or from home.

Meanwhile, there will be plenty of action during these next two weeks on IFC.com where, in addition to our live video page, Matt Singer (@mattsinger) and I (@mfrushmore) will be filing reviews and interviews throughout the film festival.

Sweet Samurai Jesus.

It was only yesterday that we put up five pics from the upcoming redo of 13 Assassins by Takashi Miike and like that we now know who all 13 actors will be. Led by Koji Yakusho, who most around these parts would know from Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Retribution, Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata, to name a few, in the lead assassin role of Shimada Shinzaemon, the other dozen actors are Hiroki Matsukata [Izo],  Yusuke Iseya [Blindness, Sukiyaki Western Django and Casshern], Takayuki Yamada [Crows Zero films and Mw], Tsuyoshi Ihara [Letter from Iwo Jima], Arata Furuta [Tokyo Zombie and Zebraman], Ikki Sawamura [Gokusen: The Movie and Steamboy], Sousuke Takaoka [Crows Zero films, Blue Spring and Battle Royale], Yuma Ishigaki [Gokusen: The Movie, Azumi 2 and Battle Royale 2], Masataka Kubota, Seiji Rokkaku [My Boss, My hero], Kazuki Namioka [Crows Zero films, L Change the World and Midnight Eagle], and Koen Kondo [Linda Linda Linda, Zebraman and Nodome Cantabile].

That is a fine mix of veteran and young talent. Filming has only just begun and is expected to go into September which means we still have a ways to go before we get to see this.

Following up the release of the teaser trailer we were treated to a unique approach to revealing costume designs for director and star Naoto Takenaka’s upcoming zombie comedy film Yamagata Scream. The director and two of his stars, Riko Narumi and Ikki Sawamura, strutted their stuff on the runway during the Masatomo Autumn-Winter 2009 Men’s Collection Show. Takenaka is in a lovely leopard print suit. Narumi is clad in an adorable school uniform. And Sawamura looks just fetching in his samurai uniform. All the costumes were designed for the film by Maji Masatomo.

The story is set in a village in the Yamagata prefecture, inspired by tales of the ochimusha of the Taira clan. The ochimusha were warriors who, after being defeated in battle, fled to remote areas of Japan and established small towns to live in. In the film, a businessman and a high school girl arrive in...