Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

[Peacock]

I asked about him as well back in December and the answer at that point was "I would like to see Nostos again and explore his worth further. Right now I am focused on other Italians though!"

Thanks for replying Calvin, good to know that Fran is aware and it’s not a complete impossibility!

I and I agree with Michael that it would be nice to see at least Man of Marble and Man of Iron together, again I’m surprised they haven’t come out in the UK on Blu yet, maybe they are more expensive to licence than some of the other Polish titles SecondRun etc have put out.

[MichaelB]

It's not that surprising when you consider that Polish films were pretty much unavailable from 2015-22 on account of decidedly unrealistic revenue expectations. And only Second Run and Radiance are handling them in any kind of quantity in the UK - but because they have other interests, their output is very low single figures per year.

In fact, let's tot up the exact figures, as I'm interested myself:

2022
Second Run: A Generation, Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds

2023
BFI: Identification Marks None, Hands Up!, EO
Eureka: The Third Part of the Night, The Devil, On the Silver Globe
Second Run: Walkover, Barrier, Interrogation
Radiance: War of the Worlds: Next Century, O-Bi, O-Ba The End of Civilisation, Ga-Ga Glory to the Heroes

2024
Second Run: Pharaoh

2025
Second Run: Golem
Radiance: Essential Polish Animation, Through and Through

2026
Second Run: Knights of the Teutonic Order
Radiance: The Dancing Hawk, The Hourglass Sanatorium

So there's a sudden flood after Polish back-catalogue titles suddenly became licensable again, but since then we're talking a mere trickle. Although at least the 2026 total won't be three (although it could conceivably be only four...).

[Calvin]

Second Run's Man of Marble is from the same HD master as the Polish Blu-Ray but I believe it predates when they first started releasing BD discs. I don't think there's been a newer restoration but I could see them upgrading it if they got their hands on Man of Iron as well

[rapta]

So there's a sudden flood after Polish back-catalogue titles suddenly became licensable again, but since then we're talking a mere trickle. Although at least the 2026 total won't be three (although it could conceivably be only four...).

I'm assuming the fourth will be Has' The Saragossa Manuscript, most likely in 4K like The Hourglass Sanatorium. I imagine both the upcoming Borowczyk and Żuławski titles will be from both directors' French output (unless they have plans for Szamanka).

Second Run have at least four more Polish titles planned (The Last Stage, Night Train, Mother Joan of the Angels, Passenger) but no way of telling whether they'll be released this year, next year or the year after as they tend to tease stuff years in advance.

[MichaelB]

Or decades in the case of the Skolimowskis! I think they were teasing Barrier way back in 2009, and it finally came out in 2023. Although a big chunk of that involved waiting for it to be properly restored; had they gone ahead in 2009, it would have looked as bad as the very worst of the early Second Run DVDs.

Anyway, I'm personally aware of (and am involved with) one unannounced Polish project that's very likely to be released this year, but I haven't been tipped off even casually about anything else.