criterionforum.org

Hopefully that Blu of Profit motive and the Downey, Sr. films are still in the works as well.

The Sergei Dvortsevoy is supposed to be done by Spring 2010. great films - short docs like "Bread Day."

I was given that date too, but it's now been a year and a half and there's no news. I worry that their release schedule was too ambitious.

FWIW Watchmaker licensed Dvortsevoy's "In the Dark" for the "One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich" DVD. Word from Watchmaker is that the Dvortsevoy DVDs/Blu-Rays are on hold while Dvortsevoy works on his new feature.

Does anyone know where I can buy the Whole Shootin' Match DVD? I recently picked up the set randomly from the library and I really liked The Whole Shootin' Match quite a bit. I want to support Watchmaker Films by buying the DVD, but it looks like they aren't active anymore. I'm guessing I shouldn't hold out much hope for that blu ray release.

EDIT: I emailed Watchmaker about this, and the response I got is that the DVD will soon re-appear on Amazon and elsewhere. No word about the blu-ray, though.

Wow, that really has disappeared, hasn't it? It's still available to rent from Netflix and BB but I wish I'd purchased one, because it it a great movie. Even more, I wish the plans to rerelease Last Night at the Alamo had come to fruition.

In late November, they cleared out their website and listed these films as being in their catalogue:

Eggshells - Tobe Hooper | The Whole Shootin' Match - Eagle Pennell | Profit motive and the whispering wind - John Gianvito | Afraid of Everything - David Barker | Mississippi Chicken - John Fiege | Los Niños Abadonados - Danny Lyon | The King of Texas - Rene Pinnell & Claire Huie | The Soldier's Tale - Penny Allen | George Bataille: Story of the Eye - Andrew Repasky McElhinney | A Chronicle of Corpses - Andrew Repasky McElhinney | Attack of the Bat Monsters - Kelly Greene | Four short films - Sergey Dvortsevoy | The Children's Film Unit

Unfortunately, despite a promise to provide some content within "a week," the site hasn't been updated. This seems par for the course. Not only are most of their DVD releases out of print (and consequently stuff like the John Gianvito films and The Whole Shootin' Match fetch very heavy prices even though they were only released a few years ago) but they've been promising those Dvortsevoys for years. Those films should really be in circulation and if Watchmaker can't muster the funds to release them, I hope they can be licensed by somebody else...

I have two copies of the Watchmaker DVD of Profit Motive and the whispering wind by John Gianvito waiting to be sold at LA Filmforum, sitting on our table most show nights. The person who runs Watchmaker ran Filmforum before me, and we got five DVDs when we showed Gianvito's film. Sold three copies in 3 or 4 years, 2 remain. If anyone is interested in buying one, email me. The money will go to Watchmaker.

But since you can see the rampant sales potential in that title, you can see why no other larger label picked it up.

Need to show "Far from Afghanistan" soon, by lots of folks, but organized by Gianvito.

They were also trying to acquire Jacques Rozier's films for US release back when they first appeared on the scene. Hopefully sanity has prevailed and Criterion wound up with them.

The Rozier films are great, but the existing transfers are very iffy. Criterion would probably want to start from scratch, which would make it a very expensive prospect relative to the likely market.

I thought the ones I saw via the French DVD s(Turtle Island and the shorts) looked fine on a medium-sized plasma -- but, yes, I'm sure you're right that a old-ish PAL source, even a decent one, wouldn't enthuse Criterion much at this point.

I think Turtle Island was the best of the bunch, but Du cote d'Orouet was pretty weak, and Adieu, Phillipine has an atrocious glitch that renders a whole reel (at least) in poor YouTube resolution.

You can see screens I made here

domino harvey wrote:You can see screens I made here

Ouch! Du cote d'Orouet looks much worse than I remember. But since I remember it as one of the greatest films of the French New Wave, it's no wonder I'd gilded that transfer in my memory.

It doesn't look too bad in motion, really. Just super-grainy. I think you're 90% crazy (and it's no doubt mutual), but Du cote d'Orouet'll be #1 on my 70s List

You have to cherish those moments when this world and the Bizarro World magically coincide.

Well, this company seems semi-officially kaput. It's a shame that nothing in their ambitious restoration/release schedule seems to have been realized.

whaleallright wrote:Well, this company seems semi-officially kaput. It's a shame that nothing in their ambitious restoration/release schedule seems to have been realized.

Although Arrow used their restoration of Eggshells for the limited edition of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

Now that Dvortsevoy has finally finished his new feature (11 years after the first one), perhaps he can help jumpstart the release of his documentaries. I'm not going to hold my breath, though.