Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

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What A Disgrace · Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:20 pm

Desert of the Tartars was Valerio Zurlini's last film, and I believe it is his most well known as well.

andyli · #2077 Post by **andyli** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:21 pm

Some additional consideration: Mizoguchi, Ozu, Naruse, Pasolini, Zurlini, Ruiz, Eustache, Tarr, Hou, Yang, etc. (I know some are impossible to acquire.)

Peacock · #2078 Post by **Peacock** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:28 pm

Yeah, you’re just listing a bunch of names! Salo is with BFI, ditto An Autumn Afternoon, The Assassin is out on Blu in the UK, I imagine YiYi is with Criterion etc.

And I would say Saraband is Bergman’s last film not Fanny and Alexander, but does anyone consider Saraband one of Bergman’s greatest?

This clue is too vague, there’s many great last movies not released on BD in the UK. Exciting though!

ellipsis7 · #2079 Post by **ellipsis7** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:37 pm

What A Disgrace wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:20 pm Desert of the Tartars was Valerio Zurlini's last film, and I believe it is his most well known as well.

Looks as if it could be so...

THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS
[IL DESERTO DEI TARTARI]
The final film directed by Italy's Valerio Zurlini is an oneiric meditation on militarism based on a celebrated 1940 novel by Dino Buzzati. Assigned to a remote desert outpost, the young lieutenant Drogo (Jacques Perrin) anxiously awaits his first encounter with the enemy army. But the enemy never appears. His platoon keeps drilling, and life continues elsewhere, but Drogo and company remain trapped in their fortress. As time passes, their world becomes even more untethered from the wider one. Absent any external enemy, the officers bicker among themselves, soldiers mutiny and illness and madness creep in. The international cast includes Vittorio Gassman, Giuliano Gemma, Philippe Noiret, Fernando Rey, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Max von Sydow, Francisco Rabal and Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz. The real-life location of the film's Fortezza Bastiani was the medieval Bam Citadel fortress in Iran, later declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, and badly damaged by a 2003 earthquake. The atmospheric score is by Ennio Morricone. “[THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS] may be the grandest and most lavish existentialist parable ever made” – Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice. DIR Valerio Zurlini; SCR Jean-Louis Bertuccelli, André G. Brunelin, from the novel "The Tartar Steppe" by Dino Buzzati; PROD Michelle de Broca, Bahman Farmanara, Mario Gallo, Enzo Giulioli, Jacques Perrin, Giorgio Silvagni. Italy/France/West Germany/Iran, 1976, color, 140 min. In Italian with English subtitles. RATED PG

Restored 4K DCP courtesy of Cinecittà.

AFI Member passes accepted.

Run Time: 140 Minutes

Opening Date: Saturday, July 06, 2024

Genre: Historical drama

geoffcowgill · #2080 Post by **geoffcowgill** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 5:04 pm

therewillbeblus wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:19 pm Watch it be Truffaut's Confidentially Yours

This is the only guess that matches the letter clues so far. Maybe they meant "This director's last film is one of his best...of the '80s."

#2081 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 5:15 pm

All of the other Truffauts Artificial Eye put out went to BFI, I have no reason think that one would be any different (but we know he wants to put out every Truffaut he can, so who knows)

yoloswegmaster · Mon Dec 22, 2025 5:22 pm

TVC15 wrote: Mon Dec 15, 2025 4:25 pm More Visconti has been teased for 2026, so the CON could very well be Conversation Piece

KL is screening the new 4K restoration stateside next month, so this could very well be it.

geoffcowgill · #2083 Post by **geoffcowgill** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 5:35 pm

I know Smile was considered a likely contender, but with no letter clues matching up, my guesses for the New Hollywood satire are Werewolf of Washington (WW) or Hi Mom (HM).

Calvin · #2084 Post by **Calvin** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 7:02 pm

It's worth pointing out that the letter clues do not necessarily represent the entire slate so there might not be perfect match up

MichaelB · #2085 Post by **MichaelB** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 7:24 pm

geoffcowgill wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 5:35 pm I know Smile was considered a likely contender, but with no letter clues matching up, my guesses for the New Hollywood satire are Werewolf of Washington (WW) or Hi Mom (HM).

Hi Mom! was put out by Fran when he was at Arrow Academy.

ChunkyLover · #2086 Post by **ChunkyLover** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 7:58 pm

TVC15 wrote: Mon Dec 15, 2025 4:25 pm More Visconti has been teased for 2026, so the CON could very well be Conversation Piece

If they do Conversation Piece I hope they include both English tracks.

Forrest Taft · #2087 Post by **Forrest Taft** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 8:14 pm

andyli wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 4:08 pm "This director's final feature was one of his best", and I was thinking of Bergman and Bresson at first, except that Fanny & Alexander and L'argent are still with BFI. Then there's Tarkovsky and Orson Welles... The Sacrifice has been conspicuously absent from MUBI in UK. Does F for Fake or The Other Side of the Wind count as the last feature? Or maybe I shouldn't think about masters. After all one of his best is not necessarily a masterpiece.

Also, we can rule out female directors because of the pronoun.

Surely this must mean Gohatto?

Feego · #2088 Post by **Feego** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:35 pm

What are the chances of The Big Clock and Phantom Lady, both released by Arrow Academy and now apparently out of print, being released by Radiance?

ryannichols7 · #2089 Post by **ryannichols7** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 10:33 pm

Feego wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:35 pm What are the chances of The Big Clock and Phantom Lady, both released by Arrow Academy and now apparently out of print, being released by Radiance?

we haven't seen anything OOP from Arrow Academy come back from Radiance. on top of that, Classic Hollywood has been ruled out multiple times

#2090 Post by **Finch** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 10:34 pm

Low, I'd think. Fran generally doesn't like updating films that he'd probably consider as already having acceptable releases. I'd shoot Radiance an email and ask. You might get a definitive answer.

Peacock · #2091 Post by **Peacock** » Mon Dec 22, 2025 11:28 pm

What were some of the takeaways from the Discord AMA?

JSC · #2092 Post by **JSC** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 12:54 am

And I would say Saraband is Bergman’s last film not Fanny and Alexander, but does anyone consider Saraband one of Bergman’s greatest?

While it functions as something of a coda to Scenes from a Marriage, I think it's a great film in its own right (I had the good fortune to
see it when it came out theatrically in the US). Bergman never lost his powers as a filmmaker and Erland Josephson and Liv Ulmann are
always a marvel together. Börje Ahlstedt also gives a great performance as Josephson's son

#2093 Post by **Finch** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:29 pm

2026 Title Teaser Advent Calendar

A saucy story by a female director

andyli · #2094 Post by **andyli** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:30 pm

Now this time we rule out all the boys.

#2095 Post by **domino harvey** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:34 pm

L’annulaire?

andyli · #2096 Post by **andyli** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:38 pm

Something from Breillat?

Jean-Luc Garbo · Tue Dec 23, 2025 6:36 pm

domino harvey wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:34 pm L’annulaire?

That'd be a very nice surprise! Breillat wouldn't be so bad either.

Maltic · #2098 Post by **Maltic** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 8:14 pm

Feego wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:35 pm What are the chances of The Big Clock and Phantom Lady, both released by Arrow Academy and now apparently out of print, being released by Radiance?

Finch wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 10:34 pm Low, I'd think. Fran generally doesn't like updating films that he'd probably consider as already having acceptable releases. I'd shoot Radiance an email and ask. You might get a definitive answer.

A lot of the expressive esoterica from Arrow Academy could really use an upgrade.

Stuff that already had great blurays will get an UHD upgrade, but you wonder if someone will ever get around to Ramrod or So Dark the Night.

Calvin · #2099 Post by **Calvin** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:10 pm

Peacock wrote:What were some of the takeaways from the Discord AMA?

In summary:

- No Dino Risi in 2026, maybe beyond that
- No success with any Indian cinema yet
- "Trying" with Iranian cinema but nothing that can be confirmed yet
- Mr Arkadin is with someone else
- No Irish films in the works
- There are more box sets with >3 films in development
- Something is blocking The Spider's Stratagem
- Transmission has 12 months worth of titles scheduled
- Sales not up to scratch to attempt any Deville or Manoel De Oliveira
- No Piavoli licensed yet
- No US exclusives
- There are 3 Radical Japan sets in the pipeline at present
- There is at least one silent film in the pipeline
- No spaghetti westerns planned
- No classic Hollywood
- There was too much 'digital tinkering' with the master for Tange Sazen
- There are issues stopping The Best of Youth from being licensed
- There is an Italian film from 1964 coming up
- one or two female filmmakers in 2026
- There will be melodrama/romance from filmmakers "like" Cottafavi, Kautner, and Manuel Mur Oti (unclear if the yes was to one of those specific filmmakers or a similarity)
- Fran isn't familiar with Jon Jost or Rob Tregenza
- - No success with Taiwanese films

#2100 Post by **Matt** » Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:14 pm

I’m glad someone is at least trying to get The Spider’s Stratagem out.

Did Fran already list the failed licenses of 2025, or is this Discord AMA the equivalent of that?

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