Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Is there any possibility that the Taviani's Allonsonfon is one of the Italian catches? I was hoping for this one following the Arrow box set but unfortunately that wee stream dried up.

[MichaelB]

I'm not aware of a restoration, and I'm sure the Italians will get round to it eventually - there are too many big names involved (the Tavianis, Mastroianni, Morricone) for it to be buried and forgotten.

I'd love it to get a good Blu-ray, but it's such a ravishing-looking film that it needs to be done properly.

[domino harvey]

Just to recap, are we really at nine pages for a label that has yet to confirm a single actual title?

[hearthesilence]

There are other forums out there that will rack up 100, maybe even 200 pages of comments on specific releases before they even come out...I hope we don't get within shouting distance of that standard!

[ryannichols7]

in fairness the label's founder was a very active user of this forum before and clearly has a pretty established reputation/following. he even tweeted the link to this very thread and asked us to post in it, so I don't find it unreasonable at all. there's clearly demand for the kinds of films they look to be releasing (as indicated by Fran's comments)

[What A Disgrace]

I hope the first few releases are disappointing to everyone but me.

[spectre]

Should be called Rorschach Films given the amount of projection going on

[MichaelB]

It's going to be very interesting reading this thread years hence.

Not least because it's yet to go through the inevitable stages of disappointment at the opening slate (I'm sure it'll be objectively great, but someone always moans), followed by months of usually inaccurate speculation as to what kind of label it's shaping up to be.

For instance, Indicator started off being perceived as an 80s cult/horror label (thanks to the first two releases being Christine and Body Double), which rapidly turned into a studio back-catalogue label (thanks to the next releases being Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? and To Sir, With Love), and now people are complaining that it's not enough of a studio back-catalogue label thanks to all of the niche British stuff. But the niche British stuff was part of the game plan from the start - it just took longer to get off the ground because such projects demanded greater upfront investment, and so the label needed to be on a firmer financial footing than it would have been in its early stages.

Oh, and I still see people - not least round these parts - thinking that Indicator's some kind of arthouse label and fruitlessly recommending Godard titles and the like. I'm really not sure where that's come from - occasional releases like The Passenger and The Pillow Book, perhaps (although they're pretty anomalous), or the arthouse track record of many of the people involved with the label - but it just goes to show how hard it is to firm up a brand identity in the face of people who are determined to think that it's something else.

And of course labels also change as a by-product of unexpected early success: Second Run didn't set out to be the UK's leading eastern European specialist, but those titles sold much better than other inaugural releases by Ron Peck, Nicolas Philibert and Jim McBride, so it became a bit of a no-brainer. (They still do other stuff, of course, but their catalogue is massively slanted in one particular geographical direction - not that this is remotely a complaint, of course.) Similarly, I don't think anyone a decade ago would have foreseen the huge amount of attention that Eureka would end up devoting to Hong Kong films, but it's easy enough to see why that happened.

[Radiance]

Is there any possibility that the Taviani's Allonsonfon is one of the Italian catches? I was hoping for this one following the Arrow box set but unfortunately that wee stream dried up.

I am afraid not. I've gone after Allonsanfan and other Taviani's before but the co-producer doesn't own UK rights and I can't seem to find (or get out of them) who does.

[Radiance]

Just to recap, are we really at nine pages for a label that has yet to confirm a single actual title?

Sorry about that but I'm aiming to confirm ten titles in the coming month or so. Some will be available for pre-order some won't be. Extras are in progress so it'll be a lot of TBCs with them but hopefully it'll give an indication of where we're headed.

[Radiance]

I hope the first few releases are disappointing to everyone but me.

Bracing for lots of disappointment! The slate is a real mix (as the label will be ongoing) but for those who know the films or who are open to discoveries and taking risks will hopefully find it to be rewarding!

[Radiance]

It's going to be very interesting reading this thread years hence.

This and the other forum thread do contain many titles I'm going after, in discussion on or would love to release. So it'll certainly be relevant in the years to come and as you go on to say, the label trajectory will also be interesting. I am certainly aiming to push the boundaries as much as I can. Some of the more outlandish collections I produced at Arrow I have plans to either revisit or continue the spirit of.

[Berzeli]

I'm hoping that Radiance's Swedish acquisition(s) aren't Bergman - between the US and UK he's already got 6 Blu-Ray box sets to his name! While I'd certainly snap up the TV cut of Face to Face, it'd be far more exciting if we got some Hasse Ekman or Bo Widerberg.

It would be incredibly nice for me to have my years of whinging about Widerberg in the yearly Arrow survey pay off. He has had as much, if not more of an influence on Swedish cinema as Bergman.
Lots of good to great restorations available, some even hitting an hd format with English subtitles (even if I understand that importing can be a pain).

Ekman would be another terrific choice, Girl with Hyacinths hit blu a short while back, alas no English subtitles.

Would throw in Mai Zetterling for contention as well.

[therewillbeblus]

The current Zetterling set is fantastic but a blu-ray upgrade would be great. Also, it feels more necessary than ever given that many upgraded players- especially UHD -don’t play these DVDs well. I wrote about it last year in some thread and Eddie Larkin was kind enough to respond in depth, but I wound up keeping the blu ray player I was going to give away when upgrading because the UHD player wouldn’t play the Zetterling subs correctly.

So, basically, if Radiance’s brand could be a label that upgrades all my precious region 2 DVD sets ie Rozier, Moullet, Widerberg, Zetterling to blu, that’d be great

[Stefan Andersson]

Another wish list:
Mahabharata, Peter Brook
Lovin´ Molly, Lumet

Selections from American Film Theatre:
The Iceman Cometh, Frankenheimer
The Homecoming, Peter Hall
Butley, Pinter
The Maids, Christopher Miles
In Celebration, Lindsay Anderson
A Delicate Balance, Richardson

Victor Nunez Box Set - Ruby in Paradise recently restored: https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/ ... n-paradise
Nunez has a new film out in 2023, Rachel Hendrix, starring Lori Singer

Films of Eugène Green: Le pont des Arts, La Sapienza, A Religiosa Portuguesa, Le fils de Joseph

A Portuguesa, Rita Azevedo Gomes, from a Musil novel; the trailer has a strong Manoel de Oliveira/Marquise von O vibe: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi609729049/ ... _=tt_ov_vi
A Vinganca de Uma Mulher, Rita Azevedo Gomes, based on a Barbey d´Aurevilly short story

+1 vote for Allonsanfan
I haven´t seen Tu ridi, and cannot comment on it -- is it anywhere close to the achievement of Kaos?

[Quote Perf Unquote]

Victor Nunez Box Set - Ruby in Paradise recently restored: https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/ ... n-paradise
Nunez has a new film out in 2023, Rachel Hendrix, starring Lori Singer

I second, third and fourth this

P L E A S E

And his first two I don't believe even had DVD releases

[diamonds]

Another vote for Nunez, if it matters. Ruby in Paradise is a very good film, one whose relative obscurity today is difficult to understand. Great news that he's finished shooting a new film!

[Quote Perf Unquote]

I was going to reiterate that all four of his films are great, but glancing at his filmography on Wiki, I see he's made about twice that many? Seems a mix of shorts, docs and a couple fiction features I wasn't aware of.

"Gal Young'un," "Ruby," and "Ulee" are wonderful. "A Flash of Green" is like a lost John Sayles picture, highly recommended.

[spectre]

Just to recap, are we really at nine pages for a label that has yet to confirm a single actual title?

Sorry about that but I'm aiming to confirm ten titles in the coming month or so. Some will be available for pre-order some won't be. Extras are in progress so it'll be a lot of TBCs with them but hopefully it'll give an indication of where we're headed.

Exciting news. Can't wait to see the list!

[Finch]

from twitter:

If the launch slate goes the way I think it might, it could be a little heavy on the 1970s, but don't worry there are other decades in the catalogue!

[What A Disgrace]

I hope the teases for the upcoming slate become increasingly more obscure and eccentric. Like, what if "a lot of the movies are from the 70s" is just a prelude to "one of the movies has a funny lizard with a hat" and "two of the films feature game shows that go out of control for different reasons".

[beamish14]

Another wish list:
Mahabharata, Peter Brook
Lovin´ Molly, Lumet

Selections from American Film Theatre:
The Iceman Cometh, Frankenheimer
The Homecoming, Peter Hall
Butley, Pinter
The Maids, Christopher Miles
In Celebration, Lindsay Anderson
A Delicate Balance, Richardson

Victor Nunez Box Set - Ruby in Paradise recently restored: https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/ ... n-paradise
Nunez has a new film out in 2023, Rachel Hendrix, starring Lori Singer

Films of Eugène Green: Le pont des Arts, La Sapienza, A Religiosa Portuguesa, Le fils de Joseph

A Portuguesa, Rita Azevedo Gomes, from a Musil novel; the trailer has a strong Manoel de Oliveira/Marquise von O vibe: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi609729049/ ... _=tt_ov_vi
A Vinganca de Uma Mulher, Rita Azevedo Gomes, based on a Barbey d´Aurevilly short story

+1 vote for Allonsanfan
I haven´t seen Tu ridi, and cannot comment on it -- is it anywhere close to the achievement of Kaos?

All of the American Film Theatre titles you mentioned are still with Kino.

Lovin’ Molly is an underrated film, and I’m always happy to see more Lumet on Blu-Ray, and I think it’s still with Sony. It got an R2 DVD ages ago

[Stefan Andersson]

Another wish list:
Mahabharata, Peter Brook
Lovin´ Molly, Lumet

Selections from American Film Theatre:
The Iceman Cometh, Frankenheimer
The Homecoming, Peter Hall
Butley, Pinter
The Maids, Christopher Miles
In Celebration, Lindsay Anderson
A Delicate Balance, Richardson

Victor Nunez Box Set - Ruby in Paradise recently restored: https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/ ... n-paradise
Nunez has a new film out in 2023, Rachel Hendrix, starring Lori Singer

Films of Eugène Green: Le pont des Arts, La Sapienza, A Religiosa Portuguesa, Le fils de Joseph

A Portuguesa, Rita Azevedo Gomes, from a Musil novel; the trailer has a strong Manoel de Oliveira/Marquise von O vibe: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi609729049/ ... _=tt_ov_vi
A Vinganca de Uma Mulher, Rita Azevedo Gomes, based on a Barbey d´Aurevilly short story

+1 vote for Allonsanfan
I haven´t seen Tu ridi, and cannot comment on it -- is it anywhere close to the achievement of Kaos?

All of the American Film Theatre titles you mentioned are still with Kino.

Lovin’ Molly is an underrated film, and I’m always happy to see more Lumet on Blu-Ray, and I think it’s still with Sony. It got an R2 DVD ages ago

Hi beamish14,
many thanks for your reply, especially for pointing me towards the R2 DVD of Lovin´ Molly, I wasn´t aware of that one.
I am aware of Kino ´s AFI Blurays, but I´m currently not equipped for region free players. I selected the titles based on UK-name recognition (Pinter, Hall, Anderson, Richardson, various English stars), plus the strong lineup of Frankenheimer, O´Neill, Marvin, March, Ryan and a young Jeff Bridges. Does Kino have world rights to the AFI titles?

[Finch]

Another tweet:

Anticipated announcement sched:
Sep TBC: soft launch 10 titles With minimal details
Oct (and every first ish Wed of the month): Jan releases confirmed
Nov: Feb releases confirmed

[criterionsnob]

And in the comments to that Tweet, someone asked about a yearly subscription model and Radiance replied “We are planning something along those lines!”