Hawai'i indie filmmaker Aaron Yamasato is in Japan this week to represent Hawai'i and the U.S. at two events in Kyoto today through Sunday.

Yamasato, a Kaua'i native, is best known for his award-winning "Blood of the Samurai" film, which won the Hawai'i International Film Festival's Best Hawai'i-Made Film award in 2001.

Today he is discussing the reappropriation of the samurai image in Western media at the Creative Leadership Seminar at Ritsumeikan University's College of Image Arts and Sciences.

Then tomorrow and Sunday, at the seminar and the Uzumasa Cinema Festival, he will premiere two works: "Blood of the Samurai 2" and a special edition episode of "Ninja Ex," both touted as the first locally produced martial arts action film and television series.

Toei Kyoto Studio is one of the key sponsors of the sessions.

"I am a big fan of Toei Studios, so to be invited and have my work screen there is truly an incredible dream come true for me," said Yamasato.

— Wayne Harada, Advertiser entertainment writer

SCORSESE FILMING BEATLE HARRISON

LOS ANGELES — Martin Scorsese will direct a documentary film on the late Beatles guitarist George Harrison.

"Harrison's music and his search for spiritual meaning is a story that still resonates today and I'm looking forward to delving deeper," Scorsese said in a press release yesterday.

"It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story," Harrison's widow, Olivia, said.

Scorsese, who won his first Academy Award this year for directing "The Departed," has made other films focusing on music stars, including the 2005 documentary "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" and 1978's "The Last Waltz."

Harrison, born in Liverpool, England, and the youngest of the Beatles, died at 58 in Los Angeles on Nov. 29, 2001, after battling lung cancer and a brain tumor.

ACTRESS FOX PLEA TO DUI: NOT GUILTY

LOS ANGELES — Vivica A. Fox pleaded not guilty to drunken driving yesterday, six months after she was stopped for allegedly driving 80 mph and weaving in a traffic lane on the Ventura Freeway.

Fox wasn't in Superior Court as her attorney entered her plea to two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit of .08.

If convicted, the former "Dancing With the Stars" contestant could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

SCREENPLAY OF COPPOLA'S STOLEN

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Armed bandits raided Francis Ford Coppola's Argentine headquarters and stole a computer with the screenplay for the upcoming feature film "Tetro," according to local news media.

The director of "The Godfather" apparently was not in Buenos Aires at the time of the robbery Wednesday night.