Hatanaka is the founder of film distribution and production company
Cinema Epoch and
Cineridge Entertainment. He first became involved in film distribution working for Headliner Productions on the re-release of films by director
Edward D. Wood, Jr. He founded Phaedra Cinema to distribute international films in the U.S. With a specialization in
cult films, Phaedra released such films as Toshimichi Ohkawa's
Nobody (1994), Cha Chuen Lee's
Once Upon a Time in Triad Society (1996), and
Jimmy Wang Yu's
Master of the Flying Guillotine (1975) and
Toshiharu Ikeda's
Evil Dead Trap (1988). Hatanaka has explained the origins of his interest in Asian cult cinema: "I grew up going to the drive-ins, watching
Sonny Chiba movies-- I've always had a passion for that." In 1998, Phaedra films released the two
Nikkatsu Roman porno films,
Masaru Konuma's
Wife to Be Sacrificed (1974) and
Noboru Tanaka's
A Woman Called Sada Abe (1975) on a theatrical double-bill. The films premiered in
San Francisco in June, opening to very favorable reviews. The films premiered on October 30, 1998 and then played for a week at the Monica 4-Plex theater in
Los Angeles. Hatanaka's
directing credits include
Until the Night (2004) starring
Norman Reedus, the award-winning film
Mad Cowgirl (2006), and
Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (2015). He collaborated with the distribution company Circle Releasing on the release of the
John Woo film
The Killer (1989) under the guidance of crime novelist
George Pelecanos. His subsequent films were
Violent Blue (2011) and
Blue Dream (2013). He distributed the film
The Terrorist (1997) by
Santosh Sivan, which was presented by
John Malkovich. Hatanaka has distributed the works of filmmakers and directors including
Satyajit Ray,
Claude Chabrol,
André Téchiné, and
Leni Riefenstahl, as well as films with such award-winning actors as
Catherine Deneuve,
Ewan McGregor,
Billy Bob Thornton,
Vince Vaughn,
Colin Firth,
Bridget Fonda,
Isabelle Adjani,
Catherine Zeta-Jones,
Isabelle Huppert, and
Gérard Depardieu. ==Filmography==