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On the latest Criterion Now podcast, Deaf Crocodile revealed that they plan on releasing a box set of Shahram Mokri films (Fish and Cat, Ashkan the Charmed Ring and Other Stories, Invasion, Careless Crime) through their home video partner (Vinegar Syndrome).

Awesome! Fish & Cat is sorely needed and Careless Crime is another great one. Haven't seen the others yet

Anyone seen The Unknown Man of Shandigor? Been following Deaf Crocodile's work for a bit and the stills look great

Two of those three were featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, wherein their charms came thru despite the butchering, and the writers for that show subsequently had largely fond words for them.

Ilya Muromets and Sampo are directed by Aleksandr Ptushko, of Viy, and his whole filmography looks worthwhile. I'm super excited about this announcement, and hope the Blu-rays come sooner than later.

He’s really great. I would argue we wouldn’t have a lot of significant folks at least in the same way without him like Karel Zeman.

This is incredibly exciting to me, especially their announced intention to make this an ongoing project. I hope the releases prove successful enough to keep it going for a while. I watched a considerable amount of fantastika in 2021, including 9 films by Aleksandr Rou which sort of blur together in my memory with their elaborate sets, slapsticky comedy, trickster devils/witches, undersea kings, purehearted Cossacks, Soviet propaganda and talking animals (I shudder to imagine the "milo and otis" version of how they might have gotten some of these performances but darn if the talking, beer-guzzling bear cubs weren't the most incredible, dumbfounding thing the first few times I encountered them. I may be an easy mark.. I'm like the "human performances are the REAL special effects" guy but for animals simply existing.)

They're starting with two Ptushko films out of the gate but I hope they also do his Ruslan y Ludmila which was a favorite of mine, combining the most straightforward fairytale / heroic quest plot with the most fantastic sets. Of the ones they're doing, I've only seen Ilya Muromets aka The Sword and the Dragon which IIRC was a bit like if one of the Harryhausen Sinbad movies loved the motherland as much as its monsters.

criterionsnob wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 4:30 pm New partner label releases announced, including:

Ilya Muromets [Deaf Crocodile]

I was looking around on Deaf Crocodile's own web site a bit and saw a release from January that says that will be releasing this, plus Sampo and Zerograd. It also says:

All three films will be released in summer 2022 theatrically, digitally, and on home-video as part of an ongoing “Russian Fantastika” collection, working with Deaf Crocodile’s partner Grasshopper Films for digital release and OCN / Vinegar Syndrome for Blu-ray release.
...
Deaf Crocodile and Seagull Films will be announcing additional “Russian Fantastika” titles in the near future.

Of course, events since that release may put a spike in additional such Russian titles for a while - unless maybe there are other co-productions like Sampo, which was restored (and presumably acquired from) the Finnish National Audiovisual Institute.

PillowRock wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 4:21 am

criterionsnob wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 4:30 pm New partner label releases announced, including:

Ilya Muromets [Deaf Crocodile]

I was looking around on Deaf Crocodile's own web site a bit and saw a release from January that says that will be releasing this, plus Sampo and Zerograd. It also says:

All three films will be released in summer 2022 theatrically, digitally, and on home-video as part of an ongoing “Russian Fantastika” collection, working with Deaf Crocodile’s partner Grasshopper Films for digital release and OCN / Vinegar Syndrome for Blu-ray release.
...
Deaf Crocodile and Seagull Films will be announcing additional “Russian Fantastika” titles in the near future.

Of course, events since that release may put a spike in additional such Russian titles for a while - unless maybe there are other co-productions like Sampo, which was restored (and presumably acquired from) the Finnish National Audiovisual Institute.

This was already posted back in January.

That Mokri release would be vital even if it only presented Fish & Cat in a watchable transfer. Careless Crime is also brilliant and I'm looking forward to catching up with the other two.

For those that earned it, the $10 coupon doesn't take effect until the 10th, but Ilya Muromets is already down to less than 50 copies. I'm hoping it works for me to place a partial order now including both low stock items and pre-orders, and then add to it next week once the code is active

The Shahram Mokri set sounds like a dream come true. It's not my dream, because I have never heard of him before Deaf Crocodile was launched, but I'm excited to share that dream.

zedz has been a vocal supporter of Fish and Cat for years, but I hope someone tells him about this because I wouldn’t blame him for never opening this thread!

I've made him aware

Deaf Crocodile tweeted that they have 3 films included in this MoMA series, Making Waves: A New Generation of Indian Independent Filmmakers

Edit: Looks like it's Achal Mishra's The Village House and Dhuin and Pushpendra Singh's The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs (What a Disgrace beat my edit)

Specifically, they have The Sheperdess and the Seven Songs, Village House, and Dhuin.

Oh darn, now this thread won’t devolve into endless posts if people guessing titles

domino harvey wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 12:20 am Oh darn, now this thread won’t devolve into endless posts if people guessing titles

At least if it had it would have been based on a limited number of films. I stopped looking at the other thread awhile ago.

I recognized The Village House and The Shepherdess because they were two of the first titles Deaf Crocodile acquired, so I checked their website and recognized Dhuin.

Anyone know if the subtitles on Fish & Cat on the Shahram Mokri set are good? Deaf Crocodile's streaming version subtitles on Kanopy are terrible, with half-written lines, etc., to the point of not knowing what's being said. Hoping it's a streaming glitch and not a problem with the source, if that's possible, but thought I would check here.

Yes, I did notice half-written sounding lines on the Blu-ray as well.

Jesus, how bad is it? I really want to support this release, but that's inexcusable

There are a few of those scattered throughout and yes that's inexcusable but overall I thought it was fine.