We've got a suggestions thread for Criterion and MoC, so why not for the new kids as well?

Given the strong presence of Eastern European cinema so far, I'd love to see more in this area, including:

Any and all Jancso
Jakubisko's The Deserters and the Nomads
Herz's The Cremator
Other Czech New Wave films - Schorm, Nemec, etc.
Istvan Gaal
Borowczyk shorts collection

And how about a complete Svankmajer shorts box set somewhere down the line?

If In the Land of the Deaf does well, more Philibert would be welcome. Louvre City and Animals would make a nice double feature.

OK, but why not email them those suggestions? They won't do much good here.

I can tell you they definitely won't be doing the Svankmajers.

Whether they can produce a large selection remains to be seen. I emailed but got no real response. My list was like Zedz's but includes the Yugoslavian New Wave as well as Skolimowski. I love Gaal's FALCONS, that would be a welcome addition as also would Husarick's SZINBAD.

Like Solent, I adore Gaal's 'Falcons'. I am constantly amazed at the depth of knowledge exhibited on this forum for little known films scattered around the globe.
Actually I spent 8 months on a remote bird observatory ringing birds (for scientific reasons I might add) in my late teens, hence the appeal of this particular film.

However keeping on topic
I concur with Narsthy's comment, but would add perhaps rather than individuals bombarding Secondrun with personal wishlists, we as a forum send best wishes to them with a modest list of collective members thoughts on what they would like to see on this new exciting label. If you help me compile a list of say 10 - 15 titles I'll do the necessarys

Wojciech Has comes to mind. The Saragossa Manuscript and The Hourglass Sanatorium would be amazing additions.

Agreed, but in the case of The Saragossa Manuscript I think it's unlikely: their site says that they're currently only going to release films "which, crucially, have never before been available anywhere in the world on DVD" but I assume they mean available anywhere in the world on DVD with English subtitles as In The Land Of The Deaf has been available in France (unsubbed).

I have just got back from Poland and Czech Republic. In the former, news is that there is a comprehensive digital restoration of Has films going on-so there they're may be scope for SR to pick up some titles there-(This is not chit chat but in process in Lodz post production house).In the latter I picked up a copy of The Cremator on DVD with english subtitles in the Czech Golden collection (Zlata Kolekce Ceskych Filmu) www.bontonfilm.cz

Great news. Please let us know about the quality when you've had a chance to watch it.

Anyone know enough Czech to give instructions how to order from that website? I'd love to buy Cremator...

Second Run seems like the people who could release some of Jiri Weiss's films. I've seen Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (1960) and Murder Czech Style (1967), and it looks like Facets had held the rights to them in the U.S.

There's also Ildiko Enyedi's My Twentieth Century (1988): a highly entertaining and dreamlike film that won a prize at Cannes I believe.

After reading the recent statement from Second Run I have revised my wish list. There seems to be enough evidence to suggest that more forgotten gems from Czechoslovakia & Hungary will emerge so any specific suggestions are probably pointless since SR are already in the know. It's all down to copyright or public domain situations I suppose but in these things I am as ignorant as the next film buff.

Three ignored countries interest me in particular due to the scarcity of video transfers of their films.

[1] SWEDEN. The Swedish New Wave of the 60s is only represented by Bergman's middle-period works and by I AM CURIOUS by Sjoman. What I would like to see are more of Sjoman's films [491, MY SISTER, MY LOVE] plus films by Donner [ADVENTURE STARTS HERE], Troell [HERE IS YOUR LIFE] and Cornell [HUGS AND KISSES].

Whether SR can legally release films from this country is the point.

[2] YUGOLSLAVIA. Makavejev is not the best 60s New Waver from this country but he seems to be the only one anyone has been exposed to in a wide sense. Films by Petrovic [THREE, I EVEN MET HAPPY GYPSIES], Pavlovic [WHEN I AM DEAD AND WHITE] and Mihic [THE CROWS] are forgotted gems in my opinion.

[3] BULGARIA. I've never seen these films from the Bulgarian New Wave of the 60s but I have read of them and I wouldn't hesitate to buy blind: Radev's THE PEACH THIEF (1964), Stoyanov's SIDETRACKED (1967), BIRDS AND GREYHOUNDS (1969) and Dinov's IKONOSTASIS (1969).

Just a few suggestions and keep up the good work, we are looking forward to 2006.

I've confined my list to international films without an obvious English-language DVD distributor, which are critically acclaimed, but risk being forgotten due to their relative obscurity:

You Are Not Alone/Du er ikke alene (Ernst Johansen/1978/Denmark)
China Is Near/La Cina è vicina (Marco Bellocchio/1967/Italy)
Manila in the Claws of Light/The Nail of Brightness (Lino Brocka/1975/Philippines)
Mexican Bus Ride/Subida al cielo (Luis Buñuel/1952/Mexico)
The Young One/Island of Shame/La Joven (Buñuel/1960/Mexico)
One Man's War/La Guerre d'un seul homme (Edgardo Cozarinsky/1982/France)
A Matter of Honor/Seduced and Abandoned/Sedotta e abbandonata (Pietro Germi/1964/Italy)
Sleeping Beauty/Some Call It Loving (James B. Harris/1973/USA)
The Chasers/Jakten (Erik Løchen/1959/Norway)
Wanda (Barbara Loden/1971/USA)
Diamonds of the Night (Jan Nemec/1964/Czechoslavakia)
End of Innocence/The House of the Angel/La Casa del ángel (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson/1957/Argentina)
The Coward/Kapurush (Satyajit Ray/1965/India)
The Hero/Nayak (Satyajit Ray/1966/India)
Distant Thunder/Asani Sanket (Satyajit Ray/1973/India)
The Home and the World/Ghare Baire (Satyajit Ray/1984/India)
The Stranger/Agantuk (Satyajit Ray/1991/India)
The Hunt/La Caza (Carlos Saura/1966/Spain)
The Death of Maria Malibran/Der Tod der Maria Malibran (Werner Schroeter/1972/West Germany)
The Marathon Family/Maratonci trce pocasni krug (Slobodan Sijan/1982/Yugoslavia)
Strangler vs. Strangler/Davitelj protiv davitelja (Slobodan Sijan/1984/Yugoslavia)
The Great Adventure/Det Stora äventyret (Arne Sucksdorff/1953/Sweden)

You have reminded me of other hard-to-find German [New Wave] classics like Kluge's YESTERDAY GIRL [1966], ARTISTS AT THE TOP OF THE BIG TOP DISORIENTATED [1967] & OCCASIONAL WORK OF A FEMALE SLAVE [1973].

Added to this are films by lesser known directors like: HUNTING SCENES FROM LOWER BAVARIA [1966], LINA BRAAK [1975], THE LEFT-HANDED WOMAN [1977] & THE SECOND AWAKENING OF CHRISTA KLAGES [1977].

Heh, Sijan is actually my Film Directing professor.
All of his movies save one are available in Serbia, though he says that the colors are way off. Also, the releases are mostly Pan and Scan, with very few being non-16X9 widescreen.

Apart from him, you can`t go wrong releasing any Petrovic, Pavlovic, Makavejev, Babac, Rakonjac (my personal favorite), Kadijevic, Mica Popovic, Paskaljevic, Karanovic and many, many others.

Focussing on British cinema from the sixties onwards, any of the following would be hugely welcomed:

Anything by various collective: Cinema Action, Sankofa Film & Video, Black Audio Film Collective, Sheffield Film Co-Op, Amber Films

Bill Douglas: primarily the 'My...' trilogy, though 'Comrades' would be just as nice.

'Rapunzel Let Down Your Hair'

Chris Newby's 'Anchoress'

Various Laura Mulvey/Peter Wollen titles: 'Riddles of the Sphinx', 'Crystal Gazing', 'Friendship's Death'

Franco Rosso's 'Babylon'

Pat Murphy's 'Maeve' and 'Anne Devlin'

Horace Ove's 'Reggae' documentary and 'Playing Away'.

Romanian Films

Recollections From Childhood (1964, Elisabeta Bostan)
Forest of the Hanged (1964, Liviu Ciulei)
Reconstruction (1968, Lucian Pintilie)
Michael the Brave (1970, Sergiu Nicolaescu)
Then I Sentenced Them All to Death (1971, Sergiu Nicolaescu)
With Clean Hands (1972, Sergiu Nicolaescu)
A Police Inspector Calls (1973, Sergiu Nicolaescu)
The Immortals (1974, Sergiu Nicolaescu)
Revenge (1978, Sergiu Nicolaescu)
Why Are the Bells Ringing, Mitica? (1981, Lucian Pintili)
The Moromete Family (1988, Stere Gulea)

None of these films have ever been released on any home video format. I have not seem any of them, but have longed to see any Sergiu Nicolaescu film.

This one's pretty obvious, but how about some Makavejev? WR or Switchboard Operator?

I'll second the call for Watkins' The Freethinker, and add Edvard Munch (both cuts) to that too please.

Also, I'd love to see the following from Second Run (or, hell, even MoC):

Kinoautomat: One Man and His House


Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Spill Hot Tea Over Myself, a supposedly excellent pitch-black Czech comedy from 1977 concerning time travel, identical twins, and the resurrection of Hitler.

Yellen


Lemonade Joe

Until the End of the World

The Complete Films of Juraj Jakubisko

You can scratch Kinoautomat from my previous post; it's coming to DVD at Easter (complete with a 100-page accompanying book!), courtesy of Chris Hales and Alena Cincerova of http://www.kinoautomat.org/. I watched it tonight, and, whilst the DVD's image quality does leave something to be desired, it's the best one can realistically hope for, and the film itself is wonderful.

In its place I would like to put forward Rolf Lyssy's comedy The Swiss-Makers, from 1978.

I would love to see Klos and Kadar's Adrift... that seems like it would fit in with what you're offering, and it's a fantastic film.

I have this insane film in DVD-r from Super Happy Fun, ripped from the Czech DVD. It's completely nutty, yet very witty, unpredictable and the ending is simply sublime.

Oldrich Lipský's, 1970 film, I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen is another great Czech time-travel comedy. The Czech DVD does not have english subtitles, though. Anything by Lipský would be most appreciated, in fact, especially, Joachim, Put It in the Machine (which I have DVD-r) or Marecek, Pass Me the Pen!.

I, too would love to see The Swiss-Makers on DVD.

I've been wanting to make recommendations for quite a while but there are just too many films. I'll break it up over time and in geographical groups. Eastern Europe:
A Walerian Borowczyk/Jan Lenica shorts collection
Jerzy Bossak and Waclaw Kazimierczak
Warzawa 1956 (Warsaw 1956) Poland, 1956
Zbynek Brynych
Transport Z Raje (Transport from Paradise) Czechoslovakia, 1962
...A pátý jezdec je strach (...And the Fifth Rider is Fear) Czechoslovakia, 1964
Bahrudin Cengic
Uloga moje porodice u svetskoj revolucii (The Role of My Family in the World Revolution) Yugoslavia, 1971
Anything currently unavailable by Vera Chytilová
Borivoj Dovnikovic shorts collection
Nedeljko Dragic shorts collection
Juraj Jakubisko
Zbehovia a pútníci (The Deserters and the Nomads) Czechoslovakia, 1968
Vtáckovia, siroty a blázni (Birds, Orphans, and Fools) Czechoslovakia/France, 1969
Miklos Jancso... just keep it coming please!
Pavel Juracek and Jan Schmidt
Postava K Podpirani (Josef Killian) Czechoslovakia, 1963
Vlado Kristl anything
Jan Lenica shorts collection
Aleksandar Marks and Vladimir Jutrisa shorts collection
Antonín Mása
Kazdy den Odvahu (Everyday Courage) Czechoslovakia, 1964
Bloudení (Wandering) Czechoslovakia, 1966
Andrzej Munk
Pasazerka (The Passenger) Poland, 1963
Jan Nemec
O slavnosti a hostech (Report on the Party and the Guests) Czechoslovakia, 1966
Demany noci (Diamonds of the Night) Czechoslovakia, 1964
Sergei Paradjanov Tini zabutykh predkov (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors) USSR, 1965
Borislav Sajtinac shorts collection Stefan Schabenbeck shorts collection
Ewald Schorm
Fararuv konek (End of a Priest) Czechoslovakia, 1969
Kazdý den odvahu (Ordinary Courage) Czechoslovakia, 1964
Jerzy Skolimowski
Na samym dnie (Deep End) Poland, 1971
Rysopis (Identification Marks: None) Poland, 1964
Walkover, Poland, 1965,
Wladyslaw Slesicki anything
Jan Spata anything
Daniel Szczechura shorts collection
Andrzej Wajda
Czlowiek z zelaza (Man of Iron) Poland, 1981
Niewinni czarodzieje (Innocent Sorcerers) Poland, 1960 ... or almost anything else unavailable would be great to see.
Ante Zaninovic shorts collection
Zelimir Zilnik
Tako se kalio celik (The Way the Steel was Tempered) Yugoslavia, 1988
Lipanjska gibanja (Student Strike) Yugoslavia, 1968,
Rani Radovi (Early Works) Yugoslavia, 1969

I'm embarrassed to confess I have neither heard of any of the titles nor the names you mentioned, Gregory. Is there one or two titles you would recommend over the others? Are all of these films on the gloomy side, btw?

No cause for embarrassment. Some of them are pretty rare. I haven't seen all the films I listed; with some titles I've become convinced of their importance by reading about them and want to have the opportunity to see them. It's hard to discuss such a broad and varied cinematic output (and I wouldn't want to try it here) let alone pick favorites. Jancso, Paradjanov, and Wajda are probably the most widely respected and known names on my list, but I'm definitely in favor of broadening canons and getting availability (and thus recognition) for under-appreciated films, and I'm grateful Second Run has stepped forward to take on these tasks. There's a mountain of Eastern European cinema to be issued on DVD, and the above are just a few of the titles I'd most like to see. I have a penchant for political themes and subtexts, but not all such works are gloomy. Some are quite exhuberant, such as Chytilova's work and many of the animators'.

Pretty impressive list Gregory. Can we add Schorm's RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON, Yugoslavian classics like TRI, I EVEN MET HAPPY GYPSIES, WHEN I'M DEAD & WHITE, THE CROWS, plus my usual must haves [to replace worn out videos] of Gaal's THE FALCONS & Husarick's SZINBAD. I've mentioned these before but it doesn't hurt to do so again since your list was so impressive & deserved recognition.

P.s. Some 60s German classics by Kluge & other obscure directors wouldn't hurt. I suppose copyright is the issue here.