New Yorker

[Michael Kerpan]

The image quality of the French C&J disc seems noticeably better -- and it has better extras (albeit only in French -- just like the film itself)..

[What A Disgrace]

Klassenverhältnisse / Class Relations, by Straub and Huillet, will be released March 17.

[kekid]

Klassenverhältnisse / Class Relations, by Straub and Huillet, will be released March 17.

I do not like to be pessimistic, but I will believe it when I see it. I just got an e-mail from Amazon that "Moses and Aaron" has been delayed yet again, this time with no expected date.

[Metropolisforever_2]

Does anyone know who owns the rights to The Mother and the Whore? Is it being sat on by New Yorker?

[justeleblanc]

Does anyone know who owns the rights to The Mother and the Whore? Is it being sat on by New Yorker?

yes ](*,)

[MichaelB]

Klassenverhältnisse / Class Relations, by Straub and Huillet, will be released March 17.

I do not like to be pessimistic, but I will believe it when I see it.

Just buy the Filmmuseum version - that has one of the best black-and-white transfers I've ever seen (sourced from the original camera negative under Danièle Huillet's supervision), and loads of good extras too.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Does anyone know who owns the rights to The Mother and the Whore? Is it being sat on by New Yorker?

yes ](*,)

That just about sums it up. Those clips on Youtube aren't satisfying me like they used to. I think we should send a petition to New Yorker en masse and let them how much we want it.

[kekid]

Klassenverhältnisse / Class Relations, by Straub and Huillet, will be released March 17.

I do not like to be pessimistic, but I will believe it when I see it.

Just buy the Filmmuseum version - that has one of the best black-and-white transfers I've ever seen (sourced from the original camera negative under Danièle Huillet's supervision), and loads of good extras too.

Does it have English subtitles? Where can it be oredered from? Thanks.

[Awesome Welles]

I do not like to be pessimistic, but I will believe it when I see it.

Just buy the Filmmuseum version - that has one of the best black-and-white transfers I've ever seen (sourced from the original camera negative under Danièle Huillet's supervision), and loads of good extras too.

Does it have English subtitles? Where can it be oredered from? Thanks.

It can be ordered here. English subs are listed. Are the extras subtitled?

[foggy eyes]

It can be ordered here. English subs are listed. Are the extras subtitled?

Yes, everything, and I'd go as far as to say that this is probably one of the best DVDs ever (the only thing missing is a copy of Amerika). JPC have it a little cheaper than Amazon.

[Telstar]

For those still keeping score, new street date for MOSES AND AARON is March 3.

[drdoros]

End of the Road for New Yorker Films, Legendary Distributor of “Difficult” Cinema

[justeleblanc]

Consider Moses and Aron delayed again.

[tavernier]

OK, so who gets their titles?

[justeleblanc]

RIP: New Yorker Films

[GringoTex]

RIP: New Yorker Films

Good.

Worst print distributor in the U.S.

[Barmy]

again?

[justeleblanc]

I assume the rights to their library titles have reverted back to the original rights holders, making it easier for Criterion and other North American distribution houses to finally license them.

First, did Studio Canal originally have the rights to any of New Yorker's catalog. I assume this might mean that Lionsgate would release it onto DVD at some point.

Second, is it worth contacting Criterion about the state of certain films like Eustache's The Mother and the Whore or a re-release of Godard's Week-End? Do we actually know why Week-End went out of print in the first place? Did the license expire or did New Yorker do it to cut costs?

Third, does anyone have any contacts at other North American labels to see if they would be picking up some of the titles (Kino, Koch, Facets, Zeitgeist, Palm, Lionsgate, etc)?

[Matt]

is it worth contacting Criterion

NYer just went out of business, like, 2 hours ago. Have some patience, man.

[HerrSchreck]

This bodes ominous... this fucking witch of an economy, claws extended. Keep your schadenfreude tucked in. I was no great fan of NY'er either, but I have fine memories of finally catching A Man Escaped & Un Femme Douce on VHS back innna day, so semisweet yet outdated memories.

Saying "good" is understandable... but we may now not see certain titles at all... blechhh.

[Gregory]

OK, so who gets their titles?

This is what I want to know. Patience? Ha. I've been waiting for some of these films to be released for over 10 years. Presumably bidding and the rest of the licensing process involving could take a considerable amount of time.

I won't be dancing on New Yorker's grave because I know this is a sign of bad times for small distributors in general, but I think there could be silver linings here regarding some of their films. However, the rights to a lot of the old New Yorker titles were transferred to Home Vision/Image years ago and yet they still haven't seen the light of day, so I think Schreck's fears are certainly warranted for that reason alone.

[Scharphedin2]

Surely the members of a forum like this one will only be the poorer for the loss of any label dedicated to "difficult"/foreign/art/classic cinema . New Yorker released many excellent films on DVD that I am fairly certain we would never have heard of otherwise. Yes, we may see one or two, or even a handful of the titles that New Yorker held rights to released within the next five years by other labels, but the rest? Would Criterion, or any other American label for that matter, have released several films by the like of dos Santos, Straub & Huillet, and Sembene? Would Criterion have released more Bresson or Godard than they already have, given the rights to a few more of these directors' films? And, even if they had, what other films would we not have seen from Criterion as a result? There is just so much fascinating cinema out there -- too much for a dozen Criterions to handle. Too bad that there is one label less to bring us these films.

[Antoine Doinel]

I would imagine New Yorker have been quietly been getting licensing arranged or reverted where necessary as I'm sure they've seen the writing on the wall. They didn't just throw up their hands today and then issue a press release. As Matt said, patience. I'm sure in the coming weeks we're going to learn more where certain titles have landed.

That said, New Yorker did not help themselves at all. I remember contacting them a few years ago trying to open a direct account for an online reseller I was working for. Even the smallest labels have their catalogs available in spreadsheets with UPCs, title names etc (needed for database use/integration for online resellers) and they are usually updated at least weekly as new titles are released etc. They didn't have one they updated regularly with new titles and I got the distinct impression their operation was extraordinarily barebones and stuck a few years behind the times.

[Cash Flagg]

So, should I snatch up the Project X titles on my wish list right away, or will they probably be available for a while (i.e. until the May sale) ?

[ptmd]

Good.

Worst print distributor in the U.S.

No, this is absolutely not good. I know everybody bitches about their DVDs (with some justification) and many of their prints are in bad shape, but New Yorker has also been extremely reliable and borderline indispensable on the non-theatrical circuit. College campuses, rep organizations, etc. use them all the time and this leaves an absolutely enormous hole there. They've made some stupid business decisions lately and I think their decision to let their licenses expire on major titles is unfortunate, but whatever positive side-effects this might possibly have long-term in the DVD world, this is a horrible day for theatrical and non-theatrical film culture. The fact that the Filmmakers Co-op, another venerable institution that hasn't always been managed as well as it could have been, is also in trouble is really scary. In the current global economy, it's hard to imagine someone else coming in and taking the place of these companies so the real fear, for me, is that this is going to make it extremely difficult to have a meaningful film culture outside of home theaters and a handful of well-endowed, mostly museum-based institutions.

Whatever New Yorker's failings in recent years may be, their overall contribution to American film culture is enormous. Only Janus has had a comparable impact. Who else would have given proper distribution to films by people like Straub, Akerman, and Oshima? Back in the 70s and 80s, nobody else was willing to take those sorts of chances and it's easy to forget that now.