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I mentioned it in the discord but an example of the reverse that would be exciting is Mawu Films. They only have one release so far though. Maybe distribution would help them release more and unlike Second Run their release is impossible to get in the US.

swo17 wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 7:22 am This is not a Radiance release, and Fran stated on the Discord that the FCE US and UK discs will be identical

Turns out not identical, actually—they will be Region B-locked.

Glowingwabbit wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 5:31 pm I mentioned it in the discord but an example of the reverse that would be exciting is Mawu Films. They only have one release so far though. Maybe distribution would help them release more and unlike Second Run their release is impossible to get in the US.

I would be really into that. their label is ambitious but I hope they do get more things underway. they've been really silent..hopefully we hear good news soon.

Second Run is easily attainable in the US but its definitely an exposure thing. while Criterion obviously handle Daisies, The Cremator, etc I don't see them getting to great films like Coach to Vienna or And the Fifth Horseman is Fear anytime soon. porting some of those over alongside more niche Second Run titles like Marc Isaacs, Love, etc would open those films up to even more audiences who maybe wouldn't think to purchase from a UK label, even if they are region free. obviously people that post on this forum know Second Run well (due to their presence here too) but whenever I comment on Reddit that A Blonde in Love or The Shop on Main Street already have region free Blurays, people genuinely have no clue. so even just putting some titles in stores over here would help people be aware of them and maybe lead to their other titles.

knowing Fran I'm sure he already has plans all around. I emailed him a question two weeks or so ago and he told me he had a whole year's worth of releases already. then his hint picture came and it really is true...the man works serious magic.

Teaser for a upcoming boxset:

Your image isn’t working

That's strange. I can see it on Firefox but it doesn't show up on Google Chrome. Let me try this again:

Either the first or the the last letter is "A", so let's get crack-a-lackin' on guessing what it is, fellows.

Alan Alda: The TV Movies Collection.

I feel like the "Radiance" on the spine should be horizontal rather than vertical.

Obv Lars von Trier's Land of Opportunities- USA trilogy with the third film magically coming into existence as a Radiance exclusive

I’ve got Bava, Coppola, DePalma, Varda or Wajda.

Going by the earlier list, it has to fix into either 'FID BOX', 'WN BOX', or 'DR BOX'.

I feel like the A is more likely the last letter of the title but if it’s not then Wajda is a good shout…

I mean could it be his War Trilogy seeing as Ashes and Diamonds seems to be out of print form Arrow unless I’m missing something!

Not sure how that would work with FID, WN or DR (edit: or DG) though unless something to do with the rights holders…

Michael B already stated that it is very expensive to license Polish films, so I can't see how Radiance would be able to afford to license all 3 films when Criterion couldn't even pay for 3.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 5:34 pm Michael B already stated that it is very expensive to license Polish films, so I can't see how Radiance would be able to afford to license all 3 films when Criterion couldn't even pay for 3.

It's very expensive for Second Run but they're not necessarily out of bounds for Radiance, who we know are licensing from Hollywood and Japanese studios. I doubt that price was the deciding factor for Criterion's deep pockets either; Arrow released a box set of Kieslowski films and Le chat qui fume in France have licensed Zulawski's films as well.

Calvin wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 5:12 pm Going by the earlier list, it has to fix into either 'FID BOX', 'WN BOX', or 'DR BOX'.

DG BOX as well.

a rescue of the full Wajda trilogy would be lovely - Kanal absolutely has a 4K restoration available (it played Cannes!) and I doubt any other UK label is going to touch these. Second Run would of course love to but understandably, not realistic and they have countless Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian films to keep them busy among others..

Criterion absolutely has the capital to license these but chose not to - not the first time they've done it (Malle, Teshigahara) either. they haven't touched any other Polish restorations either though, so who knows honestly with them.

I've got no other guesses on what the box can be. excited either way to see a boxset come so early

Calvin wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 5:40 pm

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 5:34 pm Michael B already stated that it is very expensive to license Polish films, so I can't see how Radiance would be able to afford to license all 3 films when Criterion couldn't even pay for 3.

It's very expensive for Second Run but they're not necessarily out of bounds for Radiance, who we know are licensing from Hollywood and Japanese studios. I doubt that price was the deciding factor for Criterion's deep pockets either; Arrow released a box set of Kieslowski films and Le chat qui fume in France have licensed Zulawski's films as well.

I have no idea who Le chat qui fume licensed the Zulawski films from since it looks like there are multiple rightsholders involved but the films in the Arrow Kieslowski set were licensed from MK2. Clearly they didn't license them directly from the Polish studios and didn't have to pay the high licensing costs that they would have if they were to license the from the Poles. Radiance have so far licensed their American titles from MGM and Sony, 2 labels that are presumably not that expensive to license from considering the numerous amounts of labels that have been releasing titles from them.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 6:39 pm
I have no idea who Le chat qui fume licensed the Zulawski films from since it looks like there are multiple rightsholders involved but the films in the Arrow Kieslowski set were licensed from MK2. Clearly they didn't license them directly from the Polish studios and didn't have to pay the high licensing costs that they would have if they were to license the from the Poles. Radiance have so far licensed their American titles from MGM and Sony, 2 labels that are presumably not that expensive to license from considering the numerous amounts of labels that have been releasing titles from them.

Ah, sorry, I'd forgotten that MK2 repped the Kieslowskis internationally.

I've seen Michael's posts over the years about the high licensing costs, but my impression (which might be wrong) is that their asking price is excessive in relation to other Eastern European countries and the sales numbers that a release will likely generate rather than necessarily being, say, the price Toho would charge for Godzilla. I just really doubt that Criterion's decision to only upgrade Ashes and Diamonds was because they couldn't afford the other two; it seems more likely to me that they weren't happy with the materials for A Generation (which hasn't been recently restored) and decided to break out the most popular one.

That being said, I don't think this is Wajda anyway.

Calvin wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 7:38 pm

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 6:39 pm
I have no idea who Le chat qui fume licensed the Zulawski films from since it looks like there are multiple rightsholders involved but the films in the Arrow Kieslowski set were licensed from MK2. Clearly they didn't license them directly from the Polish studios and didn't have to pay the high licensing costs that they would have if they were to license the from the Poles. Radiance have so far licensed their American titles from MGM and Sony, 2 labels that are presumably not that expensive to license from considering the numerous amounts of labels that have been releasing titles from them.

Ah, sorry, I'd forgotten that MK2 repped the Kieslowskis internationally.

I've seen Michael's posts over the years about the high licensing costs, but my impression (which might be wrong) is that their asking price is excessive in relation to other Eastern European countries and the sales numbers that a release will likely generate rather than necessarily being, say, the price Toho would charge for Godzilla. I just really doubt that Criterion's decision to only upgrade Ashes and Diamonds was because they couldn't afford the other two; it seems more likely to me that they weren't happy with the materials for A Generation (which hasn't been recently restored) and decided to break out the most popular one.

That being said, I don't think this is Wajda anyway.

Though I would also seriously doubt that the Polish companies are asking for Toho amounts of money, the amount that they are requesting must be a "high risk, low rewards" type of situation. I would say that it's more likely that Criterion also thought that it wouldn't be financially worth licensing all 3 Wajda titles when the odds of them making their money back is slim. It's also very telling that we have seen a few labels release titles from Czech Republic and Hungary but very little from Poland, especially when there is little to suggest that releasing titles from the former countries would make them more money than if they were to release titles from the latter country.

ryannichols7 wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 5:25 pm 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!

Yeah, I suppose they could consider doing select VS titles over here. I'm thinking specifically of things like - well, the only VS title I own to date - Schrader's Patty Hearst which is with MGM. And then there's things like Taking Tiger Mountain, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Tough Guys Don't Dance and potentially others (e.g. The Killing Kind, Corruption, Liquid Sky, Incubus, or the Rudy Ray Moore titles). Might be easier just to license them and create their own edition though, as they could change the artwork and add bespoke features/booklets etc.

That said, part of me thinks if Fran wanted to do this kind of thing, he would've tried to get them for Arrow before he left. And besides that, a label like 88 Films would be looking out for the kind of thing VS release and probably would try and get some of them too (not to mention Indicator, Fractured Visions, 101 Films etc).

admittedly I will say I see more commercial appeal in Daisies and Valerie, plus Zeman is brought up a lot as someone influential. I have noticed people do dig back on the Czechoslovak films once they see a few. I'll agree on Hungary though - Bela Tarr is still really popular but I doubt his trumpeting of Jancsó has gotten word out much. Hungary has a lot less exposure but they seem to have done pretty well

I do agree that if the licensing costs weren't substantially larger we'd probably see a much more even split on those titles coming out, especially given the rate they're restored (which is on par with the other central European countries). I don't know if they're aware how their own cinematic legacy is being buried in other countries due to this - we've seen more attention to Vláčil, Zeman, Jancsó, Mészáros, etc than ever and by all accounts the titles sell well enough. meanwhile the same can't be said for Polish directors...there's so much less awareness because people aren't going to hunt down the Polish blurays. lower the costs, let Second Run release some and I'm sure the people in UK shops and even Orbit and Diabolik in the states will move copies

rapta wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:32 pm Yeah, I suppose they could consider doing select VS titles over here. I'm thinking specifically of things like -..., Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song ...

In the US (not sure about the UK rights) Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is with Janus now. It can't be released uncut in the UK. So you can cross that off the wishlist.

dwk wrote: Sun Oct 09, 2022 3:44 am

rapta wrote: Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:32 pm Yeah, I suppose they could consider doing select VS titles over here. I'm thinking specifically of things like -..., Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song ...

In the US (not sure about the UK rights) Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is with Janus now. It can't be released uncut in the UK. So you can cross that off the wishlist.

Ah true, completely forgot about that Peebles set. I think someone previously pointed out how it wasn't just a case of Criterion not being able to get the UK rights to Watermelon Man due to the Indicator release, and I have a feeling the BBFC issue was brought up. Makes sense why BFI never upgraded their DVD...

It was when the BFI revived it circa 2005 that the legal problem first came to light.

Ironically, it might not have done if the young boy in the opening scenes hadn’t gone on to become famous in his own right, but once his birthdate was a matter of easily checkable public record it became clear that Melvin Van Peebles had basically lied about Mario’s age - which meant that the BBFC was legally compelled to cut all sexually explicit material featuring him (since the 1978 Protection of Children Act doesn’t permit context or artistic merit or the child’s father being the filmmaker as legal defences).

And unless there’s a change in the law - which I’d say was pretty much inconceivably unlikely - the BBFC’s hands are tied.

Happy to see 2 mainland Chinese films coming.