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Hopefully some of their titles come back in print soon. Camp de Thiaroye is going for $300!

Just got this on a film programmers email list:

We are pleased to announce: The "new" New Yorker Films!
Some of you have already received my 'mass e-mail' about this, but for those who
haven't:

New Yorker Films will resume operations in April, from new facilities at the
address in my signature below.

The entire staff will return to our previous positions, and we look forward to
again serving you in your programming of excellent films!

At present, we're mostly just able to clear rights (i.e., no media to ship yet)
on most titles we had at the time of our closure last February, but we do have
some 35mm available for shipping now. (For titles, please inquire via e-mail.)

By mid-April, we expect be able to rent/ship a good deal more 35mm prints, and
to have our old contact information available for use again—tel: 212-645-4600...

In the meantime, please use this e-mail address—[email protected] —to
contact me. For those of you who worked primarily with Linda Duchin in the past,
you can reach her for the time being at [email protected]

For my part, I'm pleased to have the chance to work with you all again, and will
update the list as more information becomes available.

p.s. This is NOT an April Fool's joke!

Best,

Jonathan
--
Jonathan Howell
New Yorker Films
220 E. 23rd St., Suite 409
New York, NY 10010
[email protected]

Jonathan told me that their first DVD release will be Moses and Aaron. Sadly, no blu-rays in the pipeline...

Manohla catches up with Dan Talbot at Cannes.

Thanks for that TH

Manohla Dargis wrote:New Yorker Films shut down in 2009 after selling its library of 400 or so titles. (The newly reconfigured company, which he doesn’t run, recently released “Octubre” and “My Dog Tulip.”)

I didn't realize NY had sold everything.... I thought someone had bought the company, or given them a cash injection so they only sold some stuff. Which possibly explains the multiple New Yorker titles slowly appearing from Criterion. And it means the Apu Trilogy, Straubs, Oshimas and Rivettes are that much more likely...

NYer initially defaulted on the rights to their library, and after trying to auction off the films (this part is the fuzziest) a third company took control of the rights. At this point several of the films were either sold or licensed off, but Aladdin Distribution bought NYer and at that point I think they bought back the rights to NYers catalog. It seems there are also less resistant to other distributors released their titles, including Criterion.

I'm unsure of the policy NYer had toward Criterion before they went into receivership, but several NYer titles did show up as Criterions (some of the Ozu's and Bertoluccis). These titles may have also simply been titles for which NYer lost the rights. There was a moment in 2008 when many NYer DVDs went out of print, including the Bressons, Weekend, My American Uncle. The theory was that NYer chose to not renew the rights to these from the international agents, as it was too expensive and NYer was trying to recover from their massive debts. I think Criterion has swooped these titles up. As for their two Rivette titles (CELINE & JULIE and BELLE NOISEUSE), these were NYer properties at the time of their defaulting, so if Criterion were to have picked this would have happened at a different point in time as Weekend and the Bressons. We shouldn't necessarily use the Janus release of Weekend or the hulu.com addition of L'Argent as a sign that Criterion has been licensing directly from NYer.

Just two cents...

Very helpful post, thanks j.
I was also considering the Life and Times of Harvey Milk + L'Atalante - but absolutely, it's very possible NYer lost the rights prior to their defaulting.

The Ozu films passed out of New Yorker's catalog (due to license expiration) _before_ these got licensedd by Criterion from Shochiku.

So, are we to assume that New Yorker will regain the rights to a lot of the titles they used to have (excluding whatever Criterion picked up)? They had a ton of gems of world cinema that were only released on VHS (on top of the more obvious OOP DVD titles).

Ha, Criterion has finally cleared up all the New Yorker talk on Facebook:

Criterion wrote:The magazine?

swo17 wrote:Ha, Criterion has finally cleared up all the New Yorker talk on Facebook:

Criterion wrote:The magazine?

Burn.
Rimshot.

that was my bad. I guess writing "The" gave them a way out.

Criterion wrote:The magazine?

Criterion wrote:Ok here's a serious answer: Not sure where you are getting your info, but as far as we know New Yorker still has many of its catalog rights, but we're keeping our eyes open for opportunities where great auteur films may be becoming available.

Bu-bu the article?

Criterion wrote:We saw this too. While it's true that New Yorker shut down for a while, the sale of the company and its library was by its creditors to a group of investors backing the reconstituted company, which is being run by essentially the same staff that was running it when it shut down. Meaning, yes, they went out of business, until they got a backer who helped them get back into business (although Dan is no longer involved). So the catalog rights were not, as the article seemed to imply, scattered to the four winds or sold off wholesale. The rights that had not expired remain with the company. I hope that clears things up a bit.

^Well I got more out of that post than I thought. So that wraps it up a little and we'll just see what they previously got from them (Weekend, etc) in the future.

Has anyone compiled a list of Criterion films that were released by NYer on VHS or DVD? Did NYer release other Oshima's aside from A CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH?

Yes, they also released The Sun's Burial.

Quite a few New Yorker VHS titles ended up with Criterion. In addition to what's been mentioned:
Elevator to the Gallows
Zazie dans le Metro
Fire Within
The Lovers
Sans Soleil
Woman in the Dunes
Antonio Gaudi
Pickpocket
Vivre Sa Vie
2 or 3 Things I Know about Her
Masculin, Feminin
Le Samourai
Fear Eats the Soul (and other Fassbinder -- part of BRD Trilogy I believe)
The Idiot

CJG wrote:Yes, they also released The Sun's Burial.

...and Taboo as well.

Marriage of Maria Braun was the other Criterion Fassbinder that New Yorker put out on VHS. I think that about covers it.

Moses and Aaron is finally being released on November 8, after a 2-year delay...

The Straub/ Huillet right? I guess they are back and hopefully better.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but New Yorker Films will release Celine and Julie Go Boating on Blu-ray Spring 2012.

First I heard of it. Great news.

Now if only they would sell it under $40 even when discounted.

I was very confused before I looked at the last page. Great news, and hopefully a sign that there will be other OOP titles being re-released in HD.

I don't think they ever actually released it on DVD