ianungstad wrote:Brady Corbet's directorial debut Childhood of a Leader also has no dvd/blu solicited from anyone...might be worth keeping an eye on that title.
ianungstad wrote:Phantom page for Kelly Reichardt alludes to Criterion releasing Certain Women.
If recent history (Boyhood and 45 Years) is any indication, Certain Women will get mass distribution from Paramount if it garners Oscar buzz, which I expect will happen.
Barry Jenkins was at the Criterion offices. His first feature, Medicine for Melancholy, is with IFC. So, I guess there's a chance Criterion could release this. Haven't seen it. Is it worth seeing?
FrauBlucher wrote:Barry Jenkins was at the Criterion offices. His first feature, Medicine for Melancholy, is with IFC. So, I guess there's a chance Criterion could release this. Haven't seen it. Is it worth seeing?
Similar to Linklater's Before Sunrise in that it follows two twenty-somethings who have just met each other through one day and night - here, the locale is San Francisco and the characters are African-American. Race is part of the conversation, but the interpersonal relationship is at the forefront. Despite the film's title, Wyatt Cenac's lead character is suffering more from ennui than melancholy; he doesn't seem to have enough passion for the latter. Nothing in the film feels manipulative; it's an easy-going, at times charming, first feature, but must still feel slight next to the emotional heft of Moonlight.
IFC films has acquired the rights to Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin. Wouldn't be surprised if the film makes it's debut at Cannes. Criterion obviously plans to release In The Loop. Maybe they'll end up doing both. They apparently outbid A24 for the rights.
Ribs wrote:IFC Midnight picked up a doc that was getting quite a bit of attention at Sundance called 78/52 that's a feature-length discussion solely focused on the shower scene from Psycho. Seems like something I can imagine Criterion exercising their option on some time down the line.
domino harvey wrote:It would be a novel way for Criterion to produce extras on Psycho without licensing it (since I doubt Universal would part with it)
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but there are three wings of IFC distribution: IFC Films, Sundance Selects, and IFC Midnight. From what I understand, IFC Midnight content only gets home video distribution through Scream Factory, while everything else is on the table for the Criterion Collection. Am I wrong?
My impression was everything goes through a number of channels, first being offered to Paramount, then to Criterion, then to Scream, then to MPI, and so on. So just because we haven't gotten a Midnight release yet doesn't necessarily rule it out.
Ribs wrote:My impression was everything goes through a number of channels, first being offered to Paramount, then to Criterion, then to Scream, then to MPI, and so on. So just because we haven't gotten a Midnight release yet doesn't necessarily rule it out.
So you're saying there's still a chance that we get a Human Centipede boxset?
Scream Factory has exclusive home video rights to all IFC Midnight releases. It does seem that they've declined to release several of the foreign language titles and passed those on to MPI.
I watched Private Fears in Public Places and thought it was terrific. It was originally released as an IFC film but the DVD I viewed was from The Weinstein Company. Does anyone know what this arrangement was/is? This is definitely a Criterion type of release if available.
Weinstein Company used to distribute their films on DVD before IFC's current distribution system. They had this weird arrangement, though, where you could only rent the titles at Blockbuster Video and nowhere else, which obviously worked out well for everyone involved!
Here's a list of Blockbuster exclusives someone made, though these include a lot of the Weinstein discs and other companies. https://letterboxd.com/watchmoremovies/ ... xclusives/. Several of these have since been released (Gomorrah, Che, and A Christmas Tale while the deal still existed, I think). My Winnipeg was long MIA. The Breillat, Chabrol, and Rivette's Ne touchez pas la hache/Duchess of Langeais are probably the biggest titles still lost.
Besides In the Loop, at least one other "lost" IFC/TWC release (Flight of the Red Balloon) is on Filmstruck's Criterion channel, so it may be in line for a rescue—hopefully along with Three Times, which was released before the Blockbuster deal but has also been OOP since the end of IFC's alliance with the Weinsteins. The Boss of It All was another one released during the Blockbuster exclusivity period.
I also maintain serious doubt, despite the phantom pages, that (m)any of these IFC titles will actually come on BD and aren't just this odd, seemingly meaningless double listing for Filmstruck - they just don't seem to really have much commercial appeal at all, aside from a few exceptions. There's a page up on Filmstruck now under the Criterion Channel for the Wind that Shakes the Barley, which is another one that I could actually imagine having a release, especially considering Loach's other Palme-winning movie is probably coming soon.
IFC Films is releasing the documentary City of Ghosts on behalf of Amazon Studios this June. It was one of the more acclaimed films at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
