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Crescendo House is a new boutique distribution company that aims to reinvigorate the American film landscape with an alternative model for distribution. We aim to elevate the role of multicultural works of art for younger generations and highlight their value in shaping the creativity, empathy, and taste of future generations.

The current, traditional framework often fails those works that defy easy categorization and as such, our nation's diversity is improperly measured by one-sided discourses that present assimilative points of view. International art, regardless of entertainment value, virtue, or even star power, is viewed as "unmarketable" simply and are ignored by larger corporations simply because of the view that subtitles are too "challenging" (and thereby, unprofitable). Despite many exceptions to this condescending attitude making waves at the box office, this line of thought is maintained and there has been little opportunity for the market to develop any further.

The double-edged sword of streaming has also shifted this relationship. More international films are directly accessible online, but unless you know what to look for, they are generally well hidden. Instead, algorithms that track your viewing habits fill your home page with movies that are the most similar to what you have just seen, as if rejecting the sense of curiosity that makes us more unique as individuals.

The big joke is on all of us as a national collective - these works of art may be different or out of sync with cultural norms, but they are not as entangled with class as they are often misrepresented to be. The goal is not to conform your taste with ours, but rather to make these kinds of films more visible in mainstream cultures so that general audiences will at least be familiar of their options when they decide which movie to catch at the cinema.

CrH will initiate the life of a film with a limited edition, collector's home video run. Each carefully curated film will feature unique artwork, packaging, and hours of special features, in an effort to match the value each film contains as a unique and different work of art. This initial run will serve as a new form of patronage; as they sell out, we will be proving to exhibitors that there is in fact an audience for different works of art and solidifying wider, more film-specific theatrical and VOD release strategies.

We hope you connect with each film with the same enjoyment that the experience of watching your favorite films provides but recognize that that is an unreasonable expectation; regardless, we hope you appreciate the chance to see something new and different symbolically. Here is a chance for liberation by way of taste!

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 1:42 am I sort of thought the same thing, unfortunately. I get the sentiment, but not sure if a vampire comedy with Marxist ideology is the first film I’d promote after writing a screed like that. They could also use a copy writer!

Filming in his hometown of Onomichi for the first time in 20 years, director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's new film invites us into an intoxicating cinematic world. Against a backdrop that traces the history of Japan’s wars, Labyrinth of Cinema shapeshifts between styles and genres, drawing influences from silent films, talkies, action flicks, musicals, and more - and creates something triumphantly unique in the process.

Ôbayashi, with a boundless optimism, showcases the raw energy within the medium and the power for cinema to enact real change, as three youths are transported through time into the projected world, fated to cross paths with three heroines through disparate timelines and settings within the silver screen.

Special Features:

HD digital transfer, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack.
Notes from the Labyrinth, a 60-minute documentary featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Ôbayashi and the cast during the making of the film.
Video Interview with wife and long-time producer Kyôko Ôbayashi, moderated by independent film programmer Aiko Masubuchi.
Short Video Introduction by Kyôko and daughter Chigumi Ôbayashi.
"Dreaming Together in a Cinematic Labyrinth," Exclusive Essay by award-winning author Eiko Ikegami.
Eight poems by Chuya Nakahara from the film, with new English translations.
Four newly-designed lobby card inserts.
US & Japanese Trailers.
New Cover Art by Jess Fang.