Thank you. I will try that. How did you get the coupon?

Here is the coupon.

Yes, it struck me right off as completely inappropriate to the film, even if considered ironically. I would have much preferred a life-size Fidel head package.
As for the Killer of Sheep package, mine is falling apart already after it was unable to withstand being carried in my bag along with a medium-sized book and some papers last Friday. I don't really care much about this per se, except that it seems disrespectful to package such a long awaited release this way (not to pile on).

Thank you.

I wasn't going to get online and respond to some of the criticisms here of the boxes for I AM CUBA and KILLER OF SHEEP, since I usually feel that everybody has a right to complain if we screw up. But I at least want to explain the thinking behind our boxes and if there is any fault, it is Milestone's and not New Yorker's.

First, I AM CUBA was always an over-the-top experience. It is not a subtle film. And the fact that the most famous scene involves a cigar factory and that some of the participants from the film remembered that Kalatozov was very fond of Cuban cigars, led us to think that we should try something unique and most importantly, fun. For this, I make NO apologies. With god-knows-how-many DVDs coming out every week, there is a huge struggle to get attention for older films and it's tough for a small independent with no advertising budget to get their releases noticed and reviewed. The slim boxes were chosen because otherwise, the cigar box would have been double the size and weight and its big and heavy enough already! As for the discs coming scratched, that is not a factor of the slim boxes but of human error. Every single one of the 30,000 discs (10,000 x 3) has to be put in by hand. Of the 5,000 sold so far, we have heard of two complaints here, possibly the same two people it seems on Amazon, and one more nice guy from New Jersey who did email me last night after I published my response on Amazon. (I'm sending him new discs.) That's five so far. There will probably be more than that of course since after 100 releases (mostly through Image until a couple of years ago) we know this happens even on single disc releases, BUT...

Anyone who knows Milestone, knows we're a small company where you can just email and tell us your problem. Amy, Nadja, Victor or I will take care of it personally. I think anyone who buys I AM CUBA will love the new master with both the Spanish soundtrack AND the Russian overdub track -- we did listen to people's requests about the Spanish-only track after the first edition -- and especially all the bonus features. If anyone wants to express there opinion on the contents, that would be great.

With Killer of Sheep, we are now close friends with Charles Burnett and know that he is is a socially-concerned being. To reflect that, we wanted a small, elegant packaging that was made entirely of recycled paper with as little consumer waste possible. It wasn't an attempt to be cheap, just to try something different and be environmentally responsible. It looks like KOS is selling very well and there should be a re-printing next year. I promise if that happens, it will be a different box and anyone who does not like the current packaging this year can email me when the new edition comes out and we'll send them the new packaging for free. Again, we are a small company who likes to hear from our customers for better or worse and take everybody's concerns seriously.

Like I am Cuba, I hope some of you will open KILLER OF SHEEP and find that it's an incredible edition. Charles Burnett, myself and the fllm's archivist Ross Lipman spent weeks on the video mastering and editing, improving vastly even on the wonderful film restoration Ross did at UCLA. Every scratch and dust mark on the film was discussed over many hours as everybody wanted a beautiful video transfer, but we still needed to retain the rough, documentary feel that was Charles's original intent. It was the same on MY BROTHER'S WEDDING and the short films.

I happen to love Criterion and are best friends with the owners for over twenty years and am their biggest fan, but I do know there is no way they would have spent the enormous amount of money (and seven years of effort) to finance the music clearances, buy a new internegative so the film could be released in theaters, pay for Charles Burnett to finally re-edit MY BROTHER'S WEDDING to the way he always wanted it to be, help UCLA pay for the restorations for KILLER OF SHEEP, SEVERAL FRIENDS and THE HORSE, and now contributing time, money and connections to help Charles get his next film project going.

I make no excuses. My saying is that if I don't make two mistakes by lunchtime, I'm not working hard enough. If you have complaints, it would be good to hear from you. Compliments would be fine too, of course.

Dennis
Milestone Film & Video
milefilms@aol.com

Damn, that's a hearty response. Good stuff. If I thought there was even a 5% chance of I AM CUBA making it all the way to Hungary unscathed I'd purchase in a heartbeat...but as it stands I have to hold off till a tighter presentation comes about (cigar themed slipcase for the three slimlines? ).

Well Dennis, I for one am absolutely thrilled and have taken great joy in Milestone's release of Killer of Sheep. Its good to see a person in a position of power with true passion for cinema and one who actually responds and faces criticism (as we all know the movie industry isn't exactly filled with people who are willing to explain reasons for anything they do.) Needless to say I would've bought the Milestone disc had it been complete garbage, just because I wanted to have a copy of the film, and am enthralled to see the true quality of the print. I hope you guys can continue to release such important classic films that are either unreleased or have been forgotten. Keep up the great work.

Dennis --

The only reason I haven't yet _bought_ your two irresistible new releases is that I put them on my Christmas list and hope someone _else_ will buy them for me soon. If this doesn't happen, I promise to buy these myself as early as possible in 2008.

You are a great company -- so keep up the great work.

Michael Kerpan
Boston

Seriously. Milestone catapulted into my "favorite DVD companies ever" list this year with just a handful of releases. Hats off.

For me, they were already there and always will be. The customer fidelity and utter down-to-earthness of the reply was a bonus. From Tabu, La Terre by Antoine, the sublime Yevgeni Bauer material (MORE MORE!! Child of the Big City!!), the wonderfully complete Phantom of the Opera (the only presentation with both the original cut of the film and the 1929 sound reissue with the sound, and loaded with extras), The Bat Whispers (another ultra complete presentation), the incredibly gutsy presentation of Bernard's The Chess Player (which Criterion/Eclipse, in their rush to claim credit for being the first to 'reintroduce' the 'almost totally forgotten' Bernard to the home video market, completely 'forgot' to mention), the eerie Pickford Sparrows, the incredibly beautiful Hindle Wakes, not to mention Piccadilly, Beyond the Rocks, etc. The list goes on and on-- I've been a virtual broken record of defense of the sublime labels Milestone and Kino who are the very bread and butter for any fan of the rarest finest silent cinema, who have the trailblazing exonomic guts to release this kind of hyperobscure material... and yet incredibly take hits (which drive me nuts) from complainers over the red herring of pal-ntsc issues of transfer-nativity... when the country of telecine origin will not even release the thing on disc themelves!

Milestone is one of two or three companies that are the very core and essence of what it is I hope for in a video company. The other is Kino, the other seems to be turning out to be Flicker Alley. There are one or two in Europe (Transit aside) who are beginning to dabble in it. But Milestone and Kino are the only companies at present whose taste mirrors my own to such an extent where I could, from here on out, never give another look at their release roster, and simply blindly subscribe to whatever comes out off their schedule and the incoming material will just be an ongoing cinemateque of Everything I've Been Dreaming About Having On Home Video. I don't have to dream about running my own video co-- someone is already doing it for me as though I was doing it myself. Criterion doesn't have anywhere NEAR the amount of cinematic and economic guts that Milestone has. Not in their laserdisc days, and not now-- not with Eclipse either. Anyone who thinks there is a similarity between what Milestone does and what CC (even Eclipse) does are sorely mistaken.

My affection for--and endless championing of-- Milestone is so thorough and thoroughly well-known around here that I sorta felt entitled to give a little ribbing on the cigar box. And it worries me a little bit (because the company is so important to me) to think that such a large amount of money might have been lost on an unneccessary embellishment to the CUBA packaging. I sincerely hope that it turns out to have been a worthwhile investment to attract more buyers... at least enough to more than cover the cost of the design and it's execution. Running beneath mine and Gregory's joshing about the design is a genuine concern for a company of huge importance to the both of us (I'm sure I speak for greg as well).. a company that no doubt operates at times within a dangerous proximity to profit magins, and does so purely out passion for this kind of cinema. I really hope that the returns-reports from Amazon are exaggerated or misconstrued, and that this project stays safely in black ink!

The thrust of my comments-- my two cents-- is that as a longtime Milestone devotee I'd rather see those extra design dollars go into another supplement on an upcoming release, or seeding another release altogether. But no-one knows better than you Dennis how to make Milestone prosper, as you all have done a fantastic and beyond-commendable job over there doing the impossible for years, and demonstrating by example for newer companies in Europe that it is indeed possible to do what you do and survive.

All Best Wishes

The offer to replace the Killer of Sheep packaging free of charge in the event of a reissue is wonderful -- very generous.
I also want to briefly voice my sincere appreciation of Milestone. (And I don't really think one needs to build them up, or Kino, by taking a shot at Criterion -- all three companies have different niches and I'm sure all invest more time and resources in many more predictably money-losing or break-even titles than almost any other company in the business would even consider releasing.) There are SO many fascinating titles in Milestone's catalog. If they had a different distributor and I could get their products at DD/DVD Planet I'm sure I would buy slightly more, but I still seek out ways to get a lot of their crucial releases. I still don't have I am Cuba because Overstock.com canceled my order for no apparent reason even though they have the item in stock, but I'm willing to go through some extra hassle and deal with less-favored retailers to get this stuff. It's great to have confirmation that the Russian voiceover is optional this time. That was probably mentioned somewhere but if so I missed it.
I didn't mean to only comment on the packaging issues and not balance it with praise for the DVDs or the films themselves. I don't think I could ever do justice to I am Cuba and Killer of Sheep in words. As for the releases themselves, I'm still making my way through the Killer of Sheep package, but so far the quality is outstanding. My only complaint aside from the package is that the voices seemed a little too quiet in the audio mix. I have a fairly standard 2-channel stereo setup, and when I watched the disc small sounds like silverware clacking against plates were coming close to drowning out the actors' voices. Anyone else have this experience?
Finally: two brief opinions on the packaging decisions in light of Dennis's post: I applaud the motivation behind the plastic-free case, but I think durability vs. disposability is also part of the environmental responsibility equation. Regarding I am Cuba, the desire to get attention for a release with unusual packaging is also commendable, but this might be a dangerous road to go down, especially because for so many of us space is at such a premium. I'm now at the point where I should be getting rid of something for each new thing I buy, which I don't really want to do.
That's all I'll say on this subject. Thanks for taking the time to listen to the feedback, which is often prone to griping.

I emphatically disagree Greg, and I think it was a fair comparison Dennis made in distinguishing the extreme difficulty of what he does vs. what CC does. And I don't think it's necc to see it as a "shot" anybody is taking, as much as it is a simple reminder of what the reality is, to put expectations in perspective, especially versus the griping (like you mentioned) when something doesn't measure up to the example of a CC release. In financial terms, the risk factor between the catalogs is extreme. As is the depth of the pockets for each release.

This specifically is what made me nervous about the expensive packaging. Criterion could afford to loosely and freely afford to take such a risk. Milestone just does not have the global army of "completists", nor the ongoing luxury of premium retail shelving in places like B&N to prompt impulse buys. They are not the "sexy" label (marketing folks will know what I mean) that CC are, which can hands down be declared the "leading" producer of dvd's in the world.

As far as CC rolling the dice on break-even or money losing titles... I'm not so sure about that-- not anymore. Once upon a time maybe. (The Sean Wright Anderson days..?)

It's all left to speculation and hunches, so I can't really say much more. I'm sure Criterion sells more copies of its obscure releases than Kino does of theirs because there are many more people blind-buying CC titles because of brand loyalty or collector compulsivity, but I think Criterion also has more costs to recoup. They have more high-profile titles than Kino, but that probably means higher licensing costs. They also spend more time cleaning things up and tinkering with the transfers than Kino, I would wager, so that's more overhead to risk not recouping. But again, without access to the company's books this is just intuition and hunches, so probably not of much value. But I still can't believe that Criterion doesn't release a lot of titles that will lose money in the long run. I think to some extent they plough money they make from their top-selling titles back into a lot of less-lucrative ones. This kind of dedication to lesser-celebrated films is part of what's earned them their special reputation. Kino and Milestone deserve the same.
Back to Milestone, and just to illustrate how hard it is at times to estimage how well things are selling: I wouldn't have expected relatively large numbers of people to shell out for a semi-pricey release of I am Cuba (great though it is), especially when it's not a new-to-DVD-title. I recognize the limitations of the earlier edition but I think many people would not. It does deserve to sell well, of course. Anyway, I spoke with Overstock.com, just one retailer, and they told me that just at this moment they have 450 copies of it in stock. This seems pretty amazing considering some of the MoC and similar kinds of releases have sold in the hundreds.

I think what Shreck is getting at here is that he isn't seeing the marginal artistic return from the sales of major Criterion titles. 2007 was a banner year in many ways for Criterion, but a lot of money was also poured into titles of dubious necessity: Robinson Crusoe on Mars and Days of Heaven being major culprits. The thinking on criterionforum has long been: "Criterion releases these movies so they can make money for smaller releases," but such groupthink hasn't actually proven true.

In other words, what kinds of "less celebrated" titles has Criterion released in 2007? And where are daring releases like more Naruse or Mizoguchi? And what of silents? Say what you will about Kino's transfer quality, but they're a company with the balls to put out some of the most important silents ever made. Get back to me when Criterion releases their own edition of Sir Arne's Treasure. Honestly, I love the work Criterion does, and I'm thankful to own titles by Naruse and Mizoguchi in high-end transfers with stellar production values, but their release schedule in the past year is hardly what I would call daring or a financial risk. Far from. It's certainly their prerogative to do whatever the hell they want, but they're certainly not immune from the criticism of either Schreck or myself.

Now, I really don't think Criterion can be attacked for a lack of daring in 07. Paul Robeson, the US debut of Mikio Naruse, Overlord, Martha Graham, Raymond Bernard, the two Makajevs and Ichikawas, The Two of Us, and the packed DVDs of Under the Volcano and The Threepenny Opera...sure, I'd rather have The Way to the Stars, Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo, Kagaaz ke Phool, The Boys of Paul Street or some other movie I've never seen, but that's only because I've now seen the films listed previously. It hasn't all been La Haine and Bicycle Thief this year; Criterion *has* been putting out their fair share of obscure films, and they haven't been treated especially shoddy. This has been a great year for those things, even if it wasn't exactly what I was hoping to see.

Silents, now, that *is* an area that Criterion is shamefullly lacking in, and even their Eclipse line hasn't shown immediate signs of fulfillment (though we did get the lovely Paramount news, and Ozu Silents seem to be on the way). I'd sooner expect Flicker Alley, Milestone or Kino to release The Life Story of David Lloyd George, Limite, Hearts of the World, Chronicles of the Grey House, Miracle of the Wolves, Keisatsukan, L'Inhumaine, or something else on my radar.

Any recommendations from the New Yorker catalog? Seems to me they release movies that even Criterion considers too un-commercial.

Mai Zetterling's the Girls

CYCLO- Save many of their higher profile films, this is probably my favorite film in the entire catalog (of which, like most of their titles, I hope get a new and worthy edition in the future).

Beyond that, all the Milestones and Project X releases seem a given, as they're all class.

And avoiding all the films they have by obvious names (Herzog, Godard, Rivette, Fellini, Imamura, Bresson), I'd also recommend Hana-Bi, Maborosi, Underground, Woman Is the Future of Man, The War Zone, Beau Travail, and the Jia Zhang-ke films (Platform and Unknown Pleasures) as those I'd vouch for.

Although the transfer is slightly cropped versus the sublime AEye Complete Vigo, I like the subs in the NYer L'Atalante better. They capture the humor, and the AE leaves some spots untranslated that the NYer does not. And it has its own perfectly charming documentary by Eisenschitz and co that is not on the AE (but at all costs get the AE for, at very least, all the rest of the Vigo canon!)

The Eisenschitz doco is also on the gorgeous French Vigo Coffret of course (without subs.)

I second Hana-Bi.

Is there more than one they've put out? As much as I appreciate a Platform release, it's a sorry disc. Having faces melt into blobs in longer shots isn't cool, especially such shots make up half of the film.

But I do second the recommendation of the film.

Now that I think of it, The World is Zeitgeist, so its really only two films: this and Unknown Pleasures.

And as is often the case with New Yorker, their DVD leave a lot to be desired. If there's a better release out there, by all means go for it, but I'm not aware of any.

And I've always assumed that the AE was miles ahead of the New Yorker as far as L'Attalante goes, but regardless of which disc, by all means, everyone should see this movie.

In the case of both Platform and Unknown Pleasures, the Artificial Eye discs are markedly superior (the AE disc of Unknown Pleasures also includes Jia Zhang-ke's remarkable first feature, Xiao Wu). Both of the AE Jia discs are regularly available at heavy discounts from Amazon.uk, so, given New Yorker's pricing scheme and the unavailability of their discs at most online retaielrs, they'll probably end up costing you less. In any case, I can't recommend the films highly enough.

Speaking of multi-region DVDs, it is my understanding that the Region 3 Korean DVD and the Region 2 Japanese DVD of Hana-bi are better than the New Yorker disc. The Japanese disc is quite expensive, but, assuming it's in print, the Region 3 Spectrum DVD should cost the same amount.

As far as New Yorker titles, the one that I would recommend most is Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet's "Chronicle of Anna Magdelana Bach" which is not available with subtitles in any other region. The film is a masterpiece and the disc is perfectly acceptable.

Seconding the accolades for the Straub-Huillet disc.

Also, the NYer DVD of Kiarostami's ABC Africa is worth getting.