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The blu-ray must be 'Fantastic Planet' and the DVD possibly the Epstein title.

Both of those have been mentioned or hinted at before though. It's definitely not those.

We'll have to keep guessing until the grabs come up on Twitter.

Do the 17 discs include second discs for special features (e.g. M) or can we expect more titles to be announced for March, in addition to the Pialats?

Okay, wild guess:

DVD: Liebelei or Signora di tutti (Ophuls)
Blu Ray: Madadayo (Kurosawa)

Madayayo, Vivre Sa Vie, Eureka;

all have releases from different companies already in the uk, so I doubt eureka have the rights.


I also hope one (or both!) will be Japanese New Wave ATG titles, but I fear Funeral Parade of Roses will remain a one off

Looking forward to the grabs!

Going through the catalogue of directors and trying to figure out what films are remaining to be released in the uk, and aren't so well known they'd demand a BD and SD release ala M;
I think the BD will either be a Kurosawa -The Lower Depths, Naruse - Lightning (? are materials good enough), L'Herbier, or an Imamura. I guess i could add Visconti's White Nights as well... Or a Kobayashi - Harakiri?

Hmm, i'm starting to think this may be impossible to guess!

17-discs refers to the number of discs in Jan/Feb/Mar - not the number of releases.

Feb is CITY GIRL BD, M BD, M 2xDVD, and THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW DVD
Mar is SOUS LE SOLEIL DE SATAN 2xDVD, and A NOS AMOURS. 2xDVD.
Apr is zilch.
May is looking like FANTASTIC PLANET BD and perhaps some others.

Thanks for clarifying that, Nick.

Some guesses for the Blu:

Kurosawa - Dodeskaden (no one in UK has the rights, but then again not one of his most loved films)
Dreyer - Passion of Joan of Arc
Melville - Le Deuxieme Souffle; maybe Leon Morin, Pretre
Rossellini - Too many to list
Watkins - The War Game/Culloden
Renoir?
Mizoguchi?
Franju - Inferno
Claude Lanzmann?
Obviously, a good chance of more Murnau, Lang silents.

More Kiyoshi Kurosawa perhaps

doc mccoy wrote:Thanks for clarifying that, Nick.

Some guesses for the Blu:

Watkins - The War Game/Culloden

Unless the BBC has radically changed its licensing policies for UK distributors, you can probably rule those two out.

Kurosawa - could well be right
Dreyer - unlikely, I believe artificial eye own the rights, and besides this would definitely get a combo release
Melville - possibly, but not Leon Morin which is an Optimum title
Watkins - I think there might be some rights problem in the uk with those two titles seeing as BFI lost them (edit:beaten by Michael!)
Renoir - The Golden Coach would be nice, or Monsieur Lange; but I don't think it's likely, La Chienne might have been mentioned a long time ago
Mizoguchi - not sure about the print quality of the remaining titles, could be Sumako, but again I don't think it'll be a Mizo (unfortunately)
Franju - good guess
Claude Lanzmann - prob nothing good quality enough for blu, really doubt MoC will bring out one of his fairly obscure titles on Blu before the likes of Kwaidan etc; so unlikely
Murnau - what's left? The Burning Soil? Again would this come out on Blu before Nosferatu etc? And I think if this was going to be a re-release of THAT film, there would be announcements already.
Lang - Destiny? I just really don't think MoC are going to spontaneously release a silent at this point, after Nick has said how difficult it is mastering one for Blu (see Mabuse thread)
Kurosawa Kiyoshi - could well be


I forgot Satyajit Ray, it would be nice if The Music Room was the film, but i suspect this film only has poor quality elements, and won't be making the jump to Blu anytime soon

Ok, some more guesses:

Welles - Was there not some movement recently on Chimes at Midnight?
Immamura - Ballad of Narayama? Some titles already released by Criterion - Pigs and Battleships, Insect Woman


I would say Bruno Dumont and Rene Laloux, but I think most of their titles are already covered.

MoC already released a Johnnie To title - could it be Vengeance?

I think you're referring to The Trial of Joan of Arc by Bresson - AE have the rights to that; no one seems to have released that Dreyer title in the UK.

I emailed BFI a year or two ago enquiring about them releasing Passion of Joan, and I got a reply saying they believed Artificial Eye had the rights.
And Chimes at Midnight was recently seeked to be shown at the Filmhouse in the UK and was told 'no'; i'm guessing the same will currently apply for home video.

I think if it's an Imamura it'll be A Man Vanishes; something unavailable in the states right now, but for which a good print exists and is going to be released by Crit sometime

To seems a good bet, but then again a few months ago somebody enquired to Nick and he said it was unlikely.

Peacock wrote:I emailed BFI a year or two ago enquiring about them releasing Passion of Joan, and I got a reply saying they believed Artificial Eye had the rights.

Artificial Eye certainly had the rights to the Dreyer Joan of Arc last time I checked.

Artificial Eye certainly had the rights to the Dreyer Joan of Arc last time I checked.

In that case, my apologies Peacock. But the only AE title on Amazon is the Bresson version - any ideas why AE are dragging their feet on this? Have they made any announcements about their intentions to release it on DVD/Blu-ray?

My wild guesses for the Blu-ray: a Criterion double dip
Red Desert, a Kurosawa one (Seven Samurai, Kagemusha), Pierrot Le Fou

Nick will you tell us immediately if someone has named a right film?

Mozart wrote:My wild guesses for the Blu-ray: a Criterion double dip
Red Desert, a Kurosawa one (Seven Samurai, Kagemusha), Pierrot Le Fou

Nick will you tell us immediately if someone has named a right film?

You're not wrong about "wild guesses" - Red Desert is already out on Blu-ray on a UK label, and the BFI isn't relinquishing the rights any time soon.

Pierrot le fou is also impossible, as it's part of the Canal catalogue, so Optimum have it (the same issue would throw most Renoirs out of contention, including Le Crime de Monsieur Lange).

I also have strong doubts that those Kurosawas are up for grabs - which is presumably why MoC has had to delve into the darker corners of his catalogue up to now.

A couple of wild guesses:

DVD: Teinosuke Kinugasa's A Page of Madness
Blu-ray: Johnnie To's Sparrow

More Johnnie To would be wonderful, but while Sparrow is quite a delightful film, I feel The Mission is in greater need of a proper release.

Mozart wrote:My wild guesses for the Blu-ray: a Criterion double dip
Red Desert, a Kurosawa one (Seven Samurai, Kagemusha), Pierrot Le Fou

Nick will you tell us immediately if someone has named a right film?

My tea just shot out of my mouth =D>

Just guessing (or more like hoping)

Dvd: Out 1.
Blu-ray: The Eel

Mostly wishful thinking but here's my wild guesses:

DVD only - La Classe Operaia va in Paradiso (Petri)
Blu only - Sandra (Visconti)

TMDaines wrote: My tea just shot out of my mouth =D>

You do what you can do.....
Hope you enjoyed it!

Mr Finch wrote:More Johnnie To would be wonderful, but while Sparrow is quite a delightful film, I feel The Mission is in greater need of a proper release.

Seconded.

Isn't Joan Of Arc on public domain?

Michael Kerpan wrote:

Mr Finch wrote:More Johnnie To would be wonderful, but while Sparrow is quite a delightful film, I feel The Mission is in greater need of a proper release.

Seconded.

Thirded. The Hong Kong release of the Sparrow already has a flawless transfer and on Blu-Ray no less. The Mission would be an excellent choice! I think Nick has said in the past that there's no Johnnie To for the future in an other thread, though.

perkizitore wrote:Isn't Joan Of Arc on public domain?

Not under EU copyright law it isn't. Dreyer died in 1968, so it's in copyright until New Year's Day 2039 by my reckoning.