Zeitgeist Films

[Tribe]

Guy Maddin's Cowards Bend the Knee announced for this Summer on Zeitgiest.

Tribe

[htdm]

Thanks for that great news about Cowards Bend the Knee, Tribe!
I've been wanting to see this.

[mingus]

Finally a companion to "Elephant", "Napoleon Dynamite" , ...

Chain Camera [DVD]
[Z1069]

A film from Kirby Dick

Award-winning director Kirby Dick (Sick, Derrida, Twist of Faith) presents a radical experiment in documentary filmmaking. Ten students at Los Angeles' John Marshall High School (the location for the “high schoolsâ€

[peerpee]

Did anyone else think that DERRIDA (out in the UK on ICA Projects DVD) was one of the worst documentaries in recent years? --- I felt 10 years older when it ended. It was mind-numbingly put together.

[mingus]

Did anyone else think that DERRIDA was one of the worst documentaries in recent years?

It certainly wasn't very inspired and served no other purpose than to glance a bit into the man's private life. Not very much information was put across, and the issue of acting instead of "real" living in front of a camera was repeated to often.

If you watch it like every other mindless home-movie of a person of interest to you, i think it has it's purpose and it's value.

"Sick" is Kirby's most effective home movie, because of the long time he was able to spent with Flanagan; if he would have had that chance with Derrida it surely would also have grown in depth.

[Cinéslob]

Zeitgeist has the theatrical distribution rights to Jia's The World. There's a little bit about it on their website, although they don't have any release dates yet. The "Buy Home Video or DVD" subsection states that Zeitgeist will be releasing it on DVD and VHS "some time after our 2005 theatrical release." Not sure that's really worth mentioning here (since there's no actual DVD details as of yet), but I was just excited to hear it has a U.S. distributor and it didn't seem worth starting a brand-new thread.

Almost a year on, and lo and behold!

Here's hoping that Zeitgeist pull out all the stops for this one; I for one have been desperate to see this for some time now.

[backstreetsbackalright]

Zeitgeist has the theatrical distribution rights to Jia's The World. There's a little bit about it on their website, although they don't have any release dates yet. The "Buy Home Video or DVD" subsection states that Zeitgeist will be releasing it on DVD and VHS "some time after our 2005 theatrical release." Not sure that's really worth mentioning here (since there's no actual DVD details as of yet), but I was just excited to hear it has a U.S. distributor and it didn't seem worth starting a brand-new thread.

Almost a year on, and lo and behold!

Here's hoping that Zeitgeist pull out all the stops for this one; I for one have been desperate to see this for some time now.

This is my favorite film of the year, and I recommend it whole-heartedly. I'm not sure what sort of special features would benifit this release. Maybe a short documentary about the World Park and an interview with Jia? But as long as it's a good transfer of a good print, we have much to be happy about!

[Alain3000]

dvdplanet lists Greenaway: The Early Films, The Falls, and The Shorts coming from Zeitgeist on April, 11th.

[denti alligator]

Two disc for the Early Films? The bfi disc is single-layered, so they'd really have to dig up lots of obscure stuff to fill another layer and part of another disc.

[spencerw]

This is my favorite film of the year, and I recommend it whole-heartedly. I'm not sure what sort of special features would benifit this release. Maybe a short documentary about the World Park and an interview with Jia? But as long as it's a good transfer of a good print, we have much to be happy about!

There's a bit more info now on the Zeitgeist site:

DVD Special Features
- Gorgeous new 16:9 transfer, created from hi-def elements
- Video interview with film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
- Original theatrical trailer
- On-set photo gallery
- Character sketches and an essay on the real World Park
- Production notes by director Jia Zhangke
- Optional English subtitles

Running time: 139 mins
Color
In Mandarin and Shanxi dialect with English subtitles
CinemaScope aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Not Rated

[FilmFanSea]

DVD Talk recently reviewed The World.

[kazantzakis]

I am glad someone is releasing the Greenaway films in the US. THE FALLS, in particular, is a monument in cinema history. But I would much rather have seen them release the Tulse Luper trilogy and his earlier films (Macon etc). Besides the Spanish DVD of the Moab Story, has anyone seen releases of the other two films in the TL trilogy anywhere in the world?

[benm]

is there a canadian version for zeitgeist or is it just a coincidence that the rights to the movies i was interested in are all not available for canada?

[tavernier]

Two disc for the Early Films? The bfi disc is single-layered, so they'd really have to dig up lots of obscure stuff to fill another layer and part of another disc.

Zeitgeist is releasing only two discs of Greenaway's early films: they look to be ports of the BFI discs. They are releasing them as both a two-disc set and separately, which may account for DVD Planet's three listings.

[Arn777]

On their Website Zeitgeist states that The World is not for sale in Canada. However, Playusa.com which gets dvds from Canada is listing it (Amazon Canada also lists it). Anybody knows if another company (like Alliance) is distributing it in Canada? Will the transfer, etc be the same?

[tavernier]

Zeitgeist press release:

[quote]New York, August 1, 2006 -

Zeitgeist Films is pleased to announce two special DVD projects in the works for 2007: the US commercial debut of 2005 Venice Silver Bear winner Regular Lovers (Les Amants reguliers), directed by Philippe Garrel; and The Cabinet of the Quay Brothers: the definitive, remastered collection of 13 short films by famed twin animators Stephen and Timothy Quay (Institute Benjamenta, upcoming theatrical release The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes).

*****

REGULAR LOVERS
An official selection of the 2005 New York Film Festival, Regular Lovers is a rapturous paean to the young revolutionaries of May '68. The film also stars Garrel's son, hot young French actor Louis Garrel (Ma Mere, The Dreamers). As he did in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial 2004 film set in the same era, Garrel the younger plays a student grappling with the tumult – and the doomed romance – of the infamous Parisian riots.

Zeitgeist is ecstatic about bringing Garrel's film to a US audience beyond the festival circuit. “Regular Lovers was one of the best films we saw last year, and we were very surprised that it was not picked up for theatrical distribution. When the DVD and educational rights became available, we were immediately interested,â€

[backstreetsbackalright]

Go Zeitgeist!

[Matt]

It looks like there have been some changes (for the better) at Zeitgeist recently (or at least since the last time I looked at a Zeitgeist DVD, which was probably back when Cowards Bend the Knee came out). I took a look at the packaging and specs for Ballets Russes and thought to myself, "Gee, except for the pull quotes on the front cover, this looks almost like a Criterion," and then I opened the booklet (which includes some lovely photographs and an essay and production notes and is printed on very nice paper) and saw a nice little block of DVD production credits with "DVD Producer - Shannon Attaway" at the top.

Shannon Attaway (the name may ring a bell) is a former Criterion producer (All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, um... Hard Boiled) who is now head of DVD production at Zeitgeist. The extras are Criterionesque in their scope and depth, and even the back of the DVD cover looks like a Criterion.

I'm not saying Zeitgeist is ripping off Criterion (it's not like they're putting a wacky Z in the top left corner of every cover), but rather they have been inspired by Criterion to raise their already excellent quality to a parallel level.

[criterionsnob]

April 24: Phantom Museums: The Short Films of The Quay Brothers

Also, there's a page up for Institute Benjamenta, but no info yet.

[denti alligator]

Svankmajer's Lunacy looks fantastic. Too bad the Beaver didn't review it. Anyone see any online reviews? I recommend it highly! Great film, wonderful looking DVD.

[Lino]

Here is one review for the US DVD and another for the czech one.

[Pinakotheca]

April 24: Phantom Museums: The Short Films of The Quay Brothers

Does this contain all the same stuff as the BFI?

[Tribe]

Just received the new Phantom Museums. I had grown accustomed to watching the Kino release and it's like watching all the Quay Bros. shorts for the first time: pristine new transfers and beautiful colors. All I can see is "Wow!" This is breath-taking.

And there is a note on the second disc of Phantom Museums that Zeitgeist will be releasing Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract and A Zed and Two Noughts later in 2007.

Tribe

[tavernier]

Zeitgeist will be releasing Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract and A Zed and Two Noughts later in 2007.

Ports of the BFI releases, undoubtedly.

[Tribe]

Zeitgeist will be releasing Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract and A Zed and Two Noughts later in 2007.

Ports of the BFI releases, undoubtedly.

Sort of makes sense, right? Zeitgeist is also supposed to be releasing Derek Jarman's Caravaggio and Wittgenstein, which will likely be ports from the BFI releases.

Tribe