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Major Monday!
distribution stuff progressing
found rights to major film
looking at great catalogue
watching film sat on for 15 years had a mid afternoon nap

I was on Shochiku's website and discovered they put out Blurays for Kinoshita's Carmen Comes Home, Twenty Four Eyes, and The Ballad of Narayama, another case of films Criterion owns in the US but I doubt they care to do any time soon (they did release Narayama with zero extras), may be something of interest?

Yoshitaro Nomura's 1974 Castle of Sand would be another one.

Since we're just throwing out suggestions here, I'd like to propose literally any films from mainland China. Well, not literally any, but there's tons of classics with HD or better restorations that are either only available in China (the Diskino/WCL releases) or have no physical releases at all (Yellow Earth, In the Heat of the Sun, San Mao Joins the Army, Dislocation, The Red Detachment of Women, Two Stage Sisters, Narrow Street, Kekexili, Woman Demon Human, Soul of a Painter, The Price of Frenzy, Chatterbox, The Troubleshooters, and on and on...). Not to mention more contemporary work from the likes of Wang Bing, Zhou Hao, Zhu Shengze, Yang Mingming, Ying Liang, Song Fang, Li Hongqi, Zheng Lu Xinyuan, and Pema Tseden, who are sorely underrepresented on DVD, never mind anything better.

criterionsnob wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 11:36 pm I would love to see some much needed DVD rescues upgraded to Blu such as:

Claire Denis (No Fear, No Die, I Can’t Sleep, Nénette et Boni, Vendredi soir, L’intrus, 35 Shots of Rum)
Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady, Blissfully Yours, Syndromes and a Century)
Béla Tarr (Almanac of Fall, Werckmeister Harmonies)
Carax (Pola X)
Moodysson (everything, especially Fucking Åmål)
Tom Kalin (Swoon)
Dardenne (L’enfant, Le fils)
Cronenberg (Spider)
Genet (Un chant d'amour)
Cassavetes (Minnie and Moskowitz)
Godard (Notre musique)
Antonioni (Zabriskie Point)

Anything unreleased on Blu from Bresson, Petzold, Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-liang, and Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

If we're talking Carax I hope any future Pola X release also includes the longer (easily superior) 3-hour TV cut.

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Wed Jun 08, 2022 2:22 am Since we're just throwing out suggestions here, I'd like to propose literally any films from mainland China. Well, not literally any, but there's tons of classics with HD or better restorations that are either only available in China (the Diskino/WCL releases) or have no physical releases at all (Yellow Earth, In the Heat of the Sun, San Mao Joins the Army, Dislocation, The Red Detachment of Women, Two Stage Sisters, Narrow Street, Kekexili, Woman Demon Human, Soul of a Painter, The Price of Frenzy, Chatterbox, The Troubleshooters, and on and on...). Not to mention more contemporary work from the likes of Wang Bing, Zhou Hao, Zhu Shengze, Yang Mingming, Ying Liang, Song Fang, Li Hongqi, Zheng Lu Xinyuan, and Pema Tseden, who are sorely underrepresented on DVD, never mind anything better.

Excellent idea!

+1 vote for
Yellow Earth
In the Heat of the Sun
Two Stage Sisters

Also:
The Horse Thief, restored version
The Blue Kite
Li Shaohong films
Ballad of the Yellow River: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103762/
Farewell My Concubine, full version

Some other ideas:
Tous les garcons et les filles de leur age
Georges Simenon adaptations: La tête d´un homme, Nuit de carrefour, Brelan d´as, Gabin´s two Maigret films, Le Chat, Le Train, La Veuve Couderc, La chambre bleue, Feux rouges, L´ainé de Ferchaux, Trois chambres a Manhattan, The Bottom of the Bottle, Le sang a la tête, Monsieur la Souris, La Verité de Bébe Donge
Carpenter´s Assault on Precinct 13, 4K Deaf Crocodile restoration
Nid de guêpes (2002), French action thriller
La métamorphose des cloportes and other 40s-70s French crime films

Twitter....

This morning I thought I might cry. This afternoon I feel I may dance. I've licensed one of my all-time favourite Italian films

FrauBlucher wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 6:28 pm Twitter....

This morning I thought I might cry. This afternoon I feel I may dance. I've licensed one of my all-time favourite Italian films

Hopefully it's a spaghetti western!

On another note, has there been any mention if they will be releasing films in the US yet? Did some searching, but it's a bit unusually quiet as they haven't mentioned anything about region yet.

Stefan Andersson wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:18 pm The Blue Kite

Unfortunately I fear this might be in indefinite limbo. It's a somewhat unusual example of a film produced by a state studio that was banned and never unbanned (which I can't imagine changing anytime soon). It made it out in the first place because the post-production was done abroad and the international rights had already been sold, but if those rights have expired then any future release could require the Beijing Film Studio to sign off, which they're not gonna do. Basically it would come down to whether the international rights were sold outright or only for a fixed period.

Farewell My Concubine, full version

The BFI edition is still available from their shop, so I think it's off the table unless Radiance is doing U.S.-only releases.

Stefan Andersson wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:18 pm Some other ideas:
Tous les garcons et les filles de leur age

After watching Assayas’ Cold Water and Denis’ US Go Home, I was very intrigued by the prospect of someone issuing this as a set. Are the rest of the films anywhere near the quality of these two? (They’ve generally gotten pretty solid reviews.) I’d imagine the music rights would be a nightmare.

One of the Italian films on Fran's letterboxd profile is Pensione Paura which Mondo Macabro just released in the US but I don't know how much Radiance are planning to lean into genre titles like this one. Also on the list are Arcana and The Mattei Affair. Fran is a Rosi fan, right?

Il Posto came to mind for me.

DeprongMori wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 11:43 pm

Stefan Andersson wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:18 pm Some other ideas:
Tous les garcons et les filles de leur age

After watching Assayas’ Cold Water and Denis’ US Go Home, I was very intrigued by the prospect of someone issuing this as a set. Are the rest of the films anywhere near the quality of these two? (They’ve generally gotten pretty solid reviews.) I’d imagine the music rights would be a nightmare.

The Akerman is immense. Would be a day one purchase for me from whoever releases it, and it's criminal that no one has given how often her name comes up.

Was/is it part of the Akerman Foundation restorations? IIRC, they were working through her entire catalog.

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 7:45 pm

Stefan Andersson wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 4:18 pm The Blue Kite

Unfortunately I fear this might be in indefinite limbo. It's a somewhat unusual example of a film produced by a state studio that was banned and never unbanned (which I can't imagine changing anytime soon). It made it out in the first place because the post-production was done abroad and the international rights had already been sold, but if those rights have expired then any future release could require the Beijing Film Studio to sign off, which they're not gonna do. Basically it would come down to whether the international rights were sold outright or only for a fixed period.

Farewell My Concubine, full version

The BFI edition is still available from their shop, so I think it's off the table unless Radiance is doing U.S.-only releases.

Many thanks for these updates!

Fran closed another deal as per his Twitter feed, this time with the Swedish flag.

Finch wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:40 pm Fran closed another deal as per his Twitter feed, this time with the Swedish flag.

Fingers crossed for some Bo Widerberg, especially Adalen 31

beamish14 wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:08 pm

Finch wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:40 pm Fran closed another deal as per his Twitter feed, this time with the Swedish flag.

Fingers crossed for some Bo Widerberg, especially Adalen 31

I'm not crazy about that one, but I'd kill for Elvira Madigan or especially All Things Fair

I'd love to see a label pick up some Hasse Ekman, particularly Girl with Hyacinths but I've also heard great things about The Banquet and Flames in the Dark.

New tweet stating that a new deal has been done:

Another deal done!

Estonia huh? The Last Relic (1969) and The Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979) would be neat.

I hope they actually get to release some of these films, whatever they are.

Exciting! Would love to see these neglected gems on Blu:

Malá morská víla (1976, Karel Kachyna)
Thick Lashes of Lauri Mäntyvaara (2017, Hannaleena Hauru)
L'ennui (1998, Cédric Kahn)
Fruit of Paradise (1970, Vera Chytilová)
Under the Skin (1997, Carine Adler)
Butterflies Are Free (1972, Milton Katselas)
Awara (1951, Raj Kapoor)
Shree 420 (1955, Raj Kapoor)
The Apple (1998, Samira Makhmalbaf)
Harry, He's Here To Help (2000, Dominik Moll)
Real Life (1979, Albert Brooks)
Funny Ha Ha (2002, Andrew Bujalski)
Hotell (2013, Lisa Langseth)
Fear and Trembling (2003, Amélie Nothomb)

This image has been tweeted with a "hopefully a new acquisition"

France confirmed for the first time.

Done deal and some other things happening that are jaw on the floor stuff. It's going to be rolling around my head all weekend. Have a good one everyone!

Fran, I'm really enjoying your country reveals, definitely lots of excitement and good way to drum up more ideas. Estonia is the most exciting one for me so far, a country totally ignored by the usual film world. Dead Mountaineer's Hotel would be a dream release and feels very much like a Kat Ellinger produced release (I'm thinking about her commentary on Eureka's fantastic release of The White Reindeer, from Estonia's older brother Finland). definitely hope it happens and could see it being a great first foray into Estonian cinema.

hope to see Greek and Indian flags. I'd say Japanese too, but considering Tom Mes is already involved I'm sure that's not even a need. keep these coming!!

"Contacted a filmmaker who has never wanted to discuss their work. Screenings have happened but never a home ent deal. Such a gorgeous film, needs to be restored! Fingers crossed..."

Any ideas?