Fumihiko Sori's VEXILLE seems to be getting the attention of many, even those outside the realm of anime fandom. I have to admit I am not an avid follower of anime series and manga, preferring to see works intentionally made for the big screen like GHOST IN THE SHELL, PAPRIKA, etc. That said, when working at Toronto's Suspect video which was one of the first places in the city that stocked anime, I did manage to get a handle on the popular and influential series like PERFECT BLUE, RANMA and NEON GENESIS EVANGELION. When I caught a screening of VEXILLE in the market in Cannes this past May, I was quickly impressed by the film?s fluid action scenes, as well as with the twist in the story, placing Japan as the villain. Here is a glowing review from Todd Brown over at Twitchfilm.net.

In addition to the two trailers found on YouTube, the official website for VEXILLE is streaming the first twelve minutes of the film. The site is in Japanese, but to check out this glimpse, click on either the 500k or 1M bandwidth button to start the stream. Click here to go to the site.

VEXILLE is scheduled to have its North American premiere on Sunday, September 9th at Midnight Madness. To read the full TIFF programme note for VEXILLE, click here.

Here is the Japanese theatrical trailer:

And here is a longer promo with more shots of the action.