Photo courtesy of Foundry Communications. © Nikkatsu.
Source: Film Movement press release
Special Thanks to Michael Krause, Foundry Communications
Omnibus Entertainment, a label of North American distributor Film Movement, will premiere a HD restoration of the Nikkatsu classic A WOMAN CALLED SADA ABE via VOD and leading digital platforms on September 4, 2026.
Photo courtesy of Foundry Communications. © Nikkatsu
A WOMAN CALLED SADA ABE (実録阿部定, Jitsuroku Abe Sada, 1975)
Based on the shocking true story of a geisha and sex worker who accidentally killed her lover in a lustful haze of unbridled passion and kinky sex, A WOMAN CALLED SADA ABE is a watershed of hallucinatory erotic cinema. Director Noboru Tanaka, who rose to prominence as one of Nikkatsu’s leading Roman Porno auteurs, framed the tale as both a “true document” and an ode to decadence that lays bare the candid details of the infamous couple’s obsessive relationship. Exquisitely shot with striking period piece production design and expressive mise-en-scène, the film’s raw emotional power is further exemplified by the bold and inspired performance of pink film and Roman Porno super starlet, Junko Miyashita.
Preceding Nagisa Oshima’s renowned telling of the same sensationalized crime, In the REALM OF THE SENSES, by a year, A WOMAN CALLED SADA ABE is “more intimate, more cinematically stylized and arguably more erotic" (Midnight Eye).
Directed by: Noburo Tanaka
Written by: Akio Ido
Cast: Junko Miyashita, Eimei Esumi, Genshu Hanayagi, Yoshie Kitsuda
Produced by: Shigeru Kuribayashi, Yoshihiro Yuki
Cinematography by: Masaru Mori
Genre: World Cinema/Erotic/Drama/Asian
RT: 76 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: Mono
Language: Japanese with English Subtitles
Photo courtesy of Foundry Communications. © Nikkatsu.
About Film Movement
Founded in 2002, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City. It has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide. Film Movement’s theatrical releases include American independent films, documentaries, and foreign art house titles. Its catalog includes titles by directors such as Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Lee Isaac Chung, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent.
Their Omnibus Entertainment label was launched in 2014 to provide a home for a wider variety of films as well as TV and other types of programming.