Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

[ryannichols7]

HOT = Dead Mountaineer's Hotel almost definitely. Fran already confirmed an Estonian title was coming and this one fits Radiance perfectly, plus it already got a release in Germany. really looking forward to it if that ends up being the case

Thank you. Hopefully it’s Criterion and not Yume .

I also hope Criterion don't sit on them either, but I think it may be worth it - Nikkatsu just recently did a 4K restoration of Branded to Kill and I hope they do the other Suzukis too. Gate of Flesh is my second favorite film of his after Tokyo Drifter and it would really benefit from a new restoration, hopefully they get to them soon

I'm with you on Conflagration big time, though I'd take really any of Ichikawa's films. The Inugami Family is one I really want to see and it got a 4K release in Japan I'm not convinced I wanna spring $150 for..

[therewillbeblus]

MA x 2 = Maren Ade's The Forest for the Trees and Everyone Else? The only other MA I can think of would be Antonioni and I'm not sure there's two of his films available.

Yeah, Fran expressed interest in Zabriskie Point but that's it's not doable since Warner only wants to work with Criterion and Shout

[yoloswegmaster]

WB don't want to work with only both those labels but no other label can really afford to pay what WB is asking for to license one of their films.

[ryannichols7]

I'd be really curious to learn more about the relationships Shout and also BFI have with Warner. BFI seem pretty able to pull off a title here and there as well. Arrow still only licensed Cruising, yes? I'd be surprised if they didn't have the capital to license a WB title in their wheelhouse much like BFI did for Get Carter

steering this thread back to Radiance, I noticed that Welcome to the Dollhouse has a Visit Films logo on the back. is that no longer with Sony? just curious if we can look for more Sony titles from Radiance or not, but admittedly Sony's catalog is covered really well in the UK by Indicator, Criterion, and the occasional Eureka title. Fran has already shown us he's willing to find a different lane than the other labels

[Calvin]

Fran also mentioned that "abbreviations are not consistent as they were just too obvious otherwise! So might be director, licensor…"

Maybe it's a red herring, but this would suggest that at least one of them is a licensor and I'm struggling to find any that would fit. Am for Amazon?!

[Glowingwabbit]

MIS has to be Misunderstood . Fran mentioned working on two Luigi Comencini films and it's even in the copy for a A Sunday Woman. I really hope it's that one anyway.

[ryannichols7]

it appears Fran has gotten Tony Rayns to write about Imamura's The Insect Woman judging by this picture

EDIT: it appears Rayns did the essay for the long OOP MOC edition. can anyone check their copy and compare if it's the same?

[criterionsnob]

I checked. It’s the MOC booklet in that picture.

[CSM126]

Radiance partners with Fun City Editions for Married to the Mob and Cutter’s Way

[Glowingwabbit]

Maybe it's time Fun City Editions finally get irs own thread now

[therewillbeblus]

Maybe it's time Fun City Editions finally get irs own thread now

They used to!

[What A Disgrace]

I wonder if Radiance will team up with any other OCN labels, further complicating any plans to properly represent them on the forum and also allowing British people to buy Canadian art films and Russian fantasy epics domestically.

[swo17]

Maybe it's time Fun City Editions finally get irs own thread now

They used to!

Well they're one of several very interesting labels under the VS umbrella with nonetheless low output and it was inconsistent for them to have their own thread and not any of the others. Fran has said he's in discussions with multiple other labels to distribute them similarly, so let's see what happens with that. Perhaps since Radiance has its own subforum it will make sense to have one or more threads for its partner labels.

As always, the best way to vote for there being more dedicated threads is to add enough discussion to merit them

[ryannichols7]

I think with this happening, we can safely put the "will Amazon hold MGM titles hostage" speculation to rest. I'm sure The Coca Cola Kid will be a forthcoming title too, can't imagine another UK label touching that

[Drucker]

What does this partnership mean exactly? Looks like it's available on the Radiance site...is this functionally a Radiance release in terms of production team behind it?

[swo17]

I think it's just the UK equivalent of Vinegar Syndrome's model. These releases will not have Radiance branding or numbered spines

[rapta]

101 Films have recently been distributing AGFA titles in a similar way, but FCE is a label I’m far more interested in. Already own their Morvern Callar release and was considering importing others that were region B friendly, but now I’ll hold off!

Other MGM titles include Born to Win, Rancho Deluxe, The Coca-Cola Kid, Alphabet City, Smile, Heartbreakers, and Jeremy. Not sure about Walking the Line, Primetime Panic, Natural Enemies but I’d appreciate UK releases if they’re possible. Obviously Radio On, I Start Counting and Bilitis all got UK releases so probably won’t show up (and supposedly the UK rights for Morvern Callar are very difficult to attain, so I’d be surprised if they got that released here…good thing that’s a region free disc)!

PS: ended up cancelling my original Radiance order - the January bundle, plus Miami Blues and Welcome to the Dollhouse - in favour of getting the FCE bundle instead of the Solondz. So if all goes to plan, I’ll get 3x Radiance titles and 2x FCE titles in early February (or possibly earlier)!

[ryannichols7]

Fran has said the FCE discs will be identical to the US ones, so quite literally I guess he's just using his pull to license the films (since he already has an existing MGM deal) and port their releases for the UK. smart, as it allows him to release films he'd probably be interested in while not having to do the legwork of producing another edition / commissioning extras / etc. we've seen a lot of this cross-the-pond partnering lately with Eureka and Arrow, Flicker Alley, and even Kino to some degree. Indicator ported some BFI titles to the US but did add a little of their own flair. either way, I think its a smart move all around, as not everyone (Rapta I know you're one) is region free and it allows for good editions to be bought no matter which region you're in

I definitely think all the FCE MGM licenses are fair game, they're all available in the UK and I'd be really surprised if any other label got to them - I'm sure Indicator would love to do some (especially the ones by the central European directors) but as of now they don't have an MGM deal...at least that we know about. BFI have said they aren't working with MGM currently. so if Radiance/FCE found a niche here, hopefully they make good use of it like Indicator has done for Studiocanal so far

[black&huge]

with Radiance releasing Married to the Mob hopefully David M will encode it on top of already having a better slip than the stateside release

[swo17]

This is not a Radiance release, and Fran stated on the Discord that the FCE US and UK discs will be identical

[Calvin]

Isn't it pretty much the same deal as Arrow distributing Third Window and Second Run

[MichaelB]

Isn't it pretty much the same deal as Arrow distributing Third Window and Second Run

It sounds more like Sony's repackaging of Criterion titles for the UK market and handling things like BBFC submission, legal packaging stipulations, etc.

With the Arrow arrangement you refer to, they're merely physically distributing already finished product.

[pzadvance]

thrilled about this Fun City deal. As a European resident, the bundle is almost $20 cheaper to import than it would be from VS. These also happen to be the pair from FCE I wanted the most!

[rapta]

What's interesting is the implication there will be other 'partner labels', much like Vinegar Syndrome tend to do. I wonder if they'll partner with Kani too, who have some interesting Asian titles over in the US (namely a certain Brocka film, but also Robinson's Garden which sounds appealing). And I wonder if they'd consider a partnership with Arbelos/Cinelicious too, as they have several titles not yet available in the UK (though Eureka just sniped Son of the White Mare, and I thought Indicator might have Private Property based on previous Twitter behaviour...that was a few years back now though).

[ryannichols7]

I'm not even sure who else it could mean and I've been trying to think of that. I mean in theory - technically couldn't they distribute mainline Vinegar Syndrome too? I feel like most of their films don't have UK releases, so would be an easy port over. then again, I think Fran wants to make it clear Radiance isn't going to be a big genre label, and people are already confused about what a partner label entails

MichaelB makes a good point about the BBFC too - making an ill advised US -> UK jump without the expertise of the market is something I'm sure no US label wants to repeat, hence why we haven't seen any do such a move since Criterion did

if only Criterion didn't have a lot of the titles hostage, I'd love to see Second Run USA and be able to pick up new titles at Barnes and Noble without BBFC logos ..now that would be an idea for the reverse!