Label description: Legendary fantasy filmmaker Aleksandr Ptushko's sweeping, visual F/X-filled epic is one of his most enchanting achievements: a stunning Cinemascope ballad of heroic medieval knights, ruthless Tugar invaders, wind demons and three-headed fire-breathing dragons. The film stars Boris Andreyev as the bogatyr (warrior) Ilya, a mythic figure in the Kyivan Rus' culture that pre-dated both modern Ukraine and Russia (much of the film's action is set in Kyiv, and Ilya's relics are held today in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery). Based on a series of famous byliny (oral epics), the film follows Ilya as he wages a decades-long battle against the Tugars who threaten his homeland, kidnap his wife and raise his own son to fight against him.
Director Ptushko began his career in the 1930s and went on to become a combination of Walt Disney, Ray Harryhausen and Mario Bava for his dazzling, bejeweled fantasies including THE STONE FLOWER, SADKO, SAMPO and RUSLAN & LUDMILA.
The first Cinemascope film produced in the Soviet Union, ILYA MUROMETS was released in a truncated, dubbed version in the U.S. at the height of the Cold War as THE SWORD & THE DRAGON, downplaying the epic poetry and lyricism of the original. The film has been restored in 4K for its first-ever official U.S. release in its original form by Deaf Crocodile, in association with Seagull Films. In Russian with English subtitles.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
EXCLUSIVE NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
Audio commentary track by Steve Bissette
Remembering Russian Film Scholar Alan Upchurch by Dennis Bartok
Russian Fantastika Part One by Alan Upchurch
The Making of The Sword and the Dragon by Aleksandr Ptushko (translated by Alan Upchurch)
New restoration trailer
English SDH subtitles
REGION-A "LOCKED"
FROM PARTNER LABEL CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES:
Label description: Two unforgettably cinematic journeys through '60s Canada! Directed by: John Spotton, Eugene Boyko.
BUSTER KEATON RIDES AGAIN - In the fall of 1964, just over a year before his death, Buster Keaton traveled to Canada to make The Railrodder, a silent short that would turn out to be one of his final films. Documenting this mobile production in fascinating and unexpected detail, Buster Keaton Rides Again offers a rare glimpse of the comedy legend's temperament, philosophies, hobbies, marriage (his third), and occasionally combative creative process. Canadian International Pictures fondly presents this intimate look at one of cinema's most enduring legends. In addition, this disc includes The Railrodder and six other shorts by director – and Buster Keaton Rides Again co-star – Gerald Potterton (The Rainbow Boys, Heavy Metal).
HELICOPTER CANADA - Made in celebration of the Canadian centennial, this Oscar-nominated documentary offers a stunning aerial exploration of the country's vast and varied landscape. Featuring impressive widescreen cinematography by director Eugene Boyko, amusingly irreverent commentary, and even a cameo by The Beatles, this enchantingly oddball time capsule brings Canadiana to new heights. In honor of the film's debt to the sprawling Cinerama travelogues of the '50s, this disc also includes a presentation of Helicopter Canada in the Smilebox format, simulating the effect of a curved screen.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATIONS FROM 35MM INTERPOSITIVES
Alternate 2.76:1 and Smilebox presentations of Helicopter Canada
Audio commentary with Gerald Potterton and David De Volpi on Buster Keaton Rides Again and The Railrodder
Additional shorts:
Hors-d'oeuvre (1960, 7 min.)
My Financial Career (1962, 7 min.)
Christmas Tree Decoration (1963, 5 min.)
The Ride (1963, 7 min.)
The Railrodder (1965, 25 min.)
The Quiet Racket (1966, 7 min.)
The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones (1983, 8 min.)
Bonus short: Canada the Land (1970, 8 min.)
Booklet featuring a new interview with Gerald Potterton
Label description: When a small-town Australian soda maker refuses to convert his factory to Coca-Cola production, the parent company sends in its whiz kid "troubleshooter" Becker (Eric Roberts, The Pope of Greenwich Village and Star 80) to resolve the issue. The previously unflappable Becker, however, finds his own resolve challenged by Australia's unique character and characters—namely Terri (Greta Scacci, The Player and White Mischief), his beautiful and very eccentric secretary, and McDowell (Bill Kerr, Gallipoli and Razorback), the stubbornly independent soft drink entrepreneur. Serbian auteur Dušan Makavejev (Montenegro and W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism) brings his celebrated off-kilter and boundary-pushing sensibilities to this classic screwball comic set-up, so that the narrative remains refreshingly unpredictable, unconventional and subversive throughout.
Becker, Terri and McDowell originate in the short stories of award-winning Australian writer Frank Moorhouse, who adapted them for the film's screenplay. The film's attractive primary locations—cosmopolitan Sydney and the stunning Blue Mountains region—are stylishly shot by Mad Max cinematographer Dean Semler. The original songs, including the incredibly catchy "Coca-Cola Jingle," come from Tim Finn, founding member of popular New Zealand rock band Split Enz. For this worldwide Blu-ray premiere, The Coca-Cola Kid has been restored in 2K from its 35mm interpositive.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 2K RESTORATION FROM THE 35MM INTERPOSITIVE
Theatrical trailer
Newly recorded audio commentary by film programmer Lars Nilsen and Fun City Editions' Jonathan Hertzberg
"Dark and Bubbly," a newly filmed video interview with star Eric Roberts
"The Real Thing," an archival video interview with star Greta Scacchi and producer David Roe
Label description: Seven criminals, prisoners, and slaves are sent down to Earth to hunt for "the ball," and hunt each other for it! The all-powerful creatures who rule the galaxy watch these Games of Survival for sport. The winner of the games will be granted their freedom. Which of these seven deadly men will secure the ball and survive until noon?
Special Features and Technical Specs:
FULLY RESTORED
Introduction to the film by director Armand Gazarian
Full-length commentary with director Armand Gazarian
Interview with cinematographer Bruce Hensius
Interview with actor Johnnie Saiko
Restoration comparison
Municipal Waste "Slime and Punishment" music video (2018) featuring Johnnie Saiko as his Games of Survival character
Culture Shock Releasing trailers
English SDH subtitles
REGION-FREE
FROM PARTNER LABELS AMERICAN GENRE FILM ARCHIVE (AGFA) AND SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO:
Label description: No one will ever make movies like Doris Wishman made movies. One of the most prolific women filmmakers in the history of American cinema, writer-director-editor Wishman created collisions between surrealism and exploitation that feel like they materialized from an alternate universe. THE FILMS OF DORIS WISHMAN: THE TWILIGHT YEARS surveys the last major era of Wishman's career. From DEADLY WEAPONS and DOUBLE AGENT 73 (crime epics starring the iconic Chesty Morgan) to LET ME DIE A WOMAN (a semi-documentary about transgender people), AGFA + Something Weird are honored to present these triumphant DIY treasures in dazzling new restorations.
Content and Technical Specs:
DISC ONE: DEADLY WEAPONS (1974) and DOUBLE AGENT 73 (1974)
NEW 2K RESTORATIONS from the original 35mm camera negatives
DEADLY WEAPONS: Commentary with Doris Wishman biographer Michael Bowen
DEADLY WEAPONS: Commentary with Bleeding Skull's Annie Choi and Joseph A. Ziemba
DOUBLE AGENT 73: Commentary with filmmaker Frank Henenlotter
Theatrical trailers
Booklet with writing from Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci and a vintage Doris Wishman interview by artist Peggy Ahwhesh
English SDH subtitles
REGION-FREE
DISC TWO: THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT (1970) and LET ME DIE A WOMAN (1977)
NEW 2K RESTORATIONS from the original 35mm camera negatives
LET ME DIE A WOMAN: Commentary with artist and porn performer Carta Monir
Theatrical trailers
"Twilight Years" photo gallery
English SDH subtitles
REGION-FREE
DISC THREE: THE IMMORAL THREE (1975), KEYHOLES ARE FOR PEEPING (1972), and LOVE TOY (1971)
NEW 2K RESTORATIONS from the original 35mm camera negatives
THE IMMORAL THREE: Commentary with film programmer Lars Nilsen and AGFA's Bret Berg
Label description: Inspector Ike, New York City's greatest police detective, finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse after the conniving understudy of an avant-garde theater group knocks off the star actor. A "lost TV movie" from the 1970's, INSPECTOR IKE mixes visual gags, slapstick, gross food, and heartfelt emotion. Think COLUMBO meets THE NAKED GUN, featuring a rogue's gallery of NYC's best comedians.
Special Fetaures and Technical Specs:
Audio Commentary with director Graham Mason
All Thirteen Episodes of "Words With Ike" Season One
Short Film - The Photos of Ana
Original Trailer
Booklet with an Inspector Ike episode guide, an essay by Graham Mason and a word search by Ikechukwu Ufomadu
Label description: A young man's ability to surreally "be one" with and speak to cars sparks a revolution that could save his community. When his invention inadvertently accelerates the underlying problems of the community, our hero's quest must grow bigger than his own personal ambitions and a fight for survival ensues with the zombies of capitalism.
Label description: Medieval nuns Alessandra (Alison Brie), Fernanda (Aubrey Plaza), and Ginevra (Kate Micucci) lead a simple life in their convent. Their days are spent chafing at monastic routine, spying on one another, and berating the estate's day laborer. After a particularly vicious insult session drives the peasant away, Father Tommasso (John C. Reilly) brings on new hired hand Massetto (Dave Franco), a virile young servant forced into hiding by his angry lord. Introduced to the sisters as a deaf-mute to discourage temptation, Massetto struggles to maintain his cover as the repressed nunnery erupts in a whirlwind of pansexual horniness, substance abuse, and wicked revelry. Loaded with comedic talent and written with an off-kilter, yet knowing touch, The Little Hours is an immensely charming romp. Writer/director Jeff Baena's riotous follow-up to Sundance Film Festival favorites Life After Beth and Joshy has transferred the nervy comedic energy from his earlier work to the Middle Ages with hilarious results.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
New Commentary track with director Jeff Baena and cast members Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Dave Franco and Kate Micucci, recorded in 2022
New Commentary track with director Jeff Baena and director of photography Quyen Tran, production designer Susie Mancini and costume designer Natalie O'Brien, recorded in 2022
Interview with director Jeff Baena
Interview with actress Kate Micucci
Interview with production designer Susie Mancini
Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza & Dave Franco read from The Decameron at the Strand Bookstore
Q&A from Strand Bookstore
Behind the Scenes footage
Teasers
Green Band Trailer
Red Band trailer
Blooper Reel
Two Prayer Cards, designed by Alessa Kreger, made exclusively for this release
Label description: Houston, Texas. Sometime in the near future. In the aftermath of the catastrophic collapse of America's governmental and financial infrastructures, Dij is a pink-haired, crank-snorting, cyber-alchemist performing high priced hacks for hire from his fully mobile, holstered laptop. Dij navigates through a dystopian urban jungle, evading the ire of rival "government" street gangs and wielding his itinerant PC like a futuristic gunslinger, erasing phone bills and shutting down life support systems for a bounty of drugs, floppy discs, and cash. When Dij is hired by would-be terrorists to obtain a high-risk, weaponized computer virus, he instead finds himself involuntarily becoming the carrier of a far more insidious cargo – the fallout from which may lead to war, or even the end of all humanity as we know it.
A highly inventive and virtually undiscovered SOV masterpiece shot guerrilla style on the streets of Houston in 1992, No Resistance was the brainchild of Lunatic Fringe Productions, a Texas based film collective spearheaded by visionary director Tim Thomson and his equally imaginative writing & acting partners David Rains and Irving Cutter. A prophetic, futuristic knockout with a kinetic industrial noise rock soundtrack by Houston's Pain Teens, it stands apart in the echelon of shot on video features by dwelling unabashedly in the realms of both action & science fiction. Like a dime-store Blade Runner by way of Yojimbo and filtered through the gritty lens of Deadbeat at Dawn, No Resistance remains one of the '90s most iconoclastic, cyberpunk, neo-noir sagas.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Audio commentary with writer / director Tim Thomson, producer Michael Schneider Jr., writer / actor David Rains & writer / actor Irving Cutter
Audio commentary / music track with writer / director Tim Thomson, producer Michael Schneider Jr., & musician Scott Ayers of Pain Teens
"Cyberpunk Yojimbo" -an interview with director Tim Thomson
"No Re:" -pitch trailer for the proposed No Resistance original TV series (w/ optional audio commentary)
"Coral Kiss" -Pain Teens music video by Tim Thomson (w/ two optional audio commentaries)
"White Bunnies" -Truth Decay music video by Tim Thomson (w/ optional audio commentary)
Label description: No other filmmaker better embodied the spirit of the gay liberation movement than Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. (Buddies, Gay USA). A true pioneer of queer cinema, his films fearlessly blurred the boundaries between the artistic, the erotic, and the cinematic — and never so clearly as with his first two narrative films, the critically-acclaimed Passing Strangers and Forbidden Letters. Altered Innocence and the Bressan Project are proud to present these two landmarks of early queer cinema, newly restored in 2K from their original film elements and with a host of new bonus features.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Audio commentary on Passing Strangers by Elizabeth Purchell, K.J. Shepherd, and Tyler Thomas of Ask Any Buddy
Audio Commentary on Forbidden Letters by queer trans film critic Caden Mark Gardner and Elizabeth Purchell of Ask Any Buddy
On-Stage Q&A with star Robert Adams and queer film historian Jenni Olson at the San Francisco PornFilmFestival
Five early Super 8 shorts by Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. (New HD Restorations)
Print materials & original photos gallery
Original theatrical trailers for both films (New 2K Restorations)
Double bill trailer
Other trailers
20-page booklet with writing by Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. and an essay by Caden Mark Gardner
English SDH subtitles
Spanish subtitles
REGION-FREE
FROM PARTNER LABEL KANI:
Label description: Named after Yasujiro Ozu's custom-made, tatami-level, crab-like tripod, Kani is a new home video label dedicated to leveling the gaze and furthering the understanding of Asian cinema in North America. Focused on genre-defying films, Kani aims to expand the canon, bolster up-and-coming filmmakers and reintroduce repertory classics in context. Vinegar Syndrome's sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing this diverse and unique home video line!
Ai (a superbly laconic Tomona Hirota) haunts the streets of Osaka dressed as a mascot. After going home with a stranger, she wakes up to find footage of their intimate encounter uploaded to a porn site. As all systems of recourse and remedy fail her, her sense of dislocation and alienation intensifies and Ai resorts to a strange solution.
Following the rap-inflected drama YAMATO (CALIFORNIA) and the globe-trotting TOURISM, Daisuke Miyazaki unveils another potent subversion of the so-called monolith of Japanese culture. VIDEPHOBIA unfolds as paranoid techno-thriller about identity, set on the backstreets of an industrial and multicultural Osaka captured here in beautiful, stark black-and-white. Concerns with obsessive image-making and issues of surveillance and consent in the digital age are embodied in the plight of a young woman from the city's Koreatown; in an eerie film about the self – watching us as much as we watch it.
Paired here with the newly commissioned, companion short I'LL BE YOUR MIRROR, starring Tomona Hirota and Sumira Ashina.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
High Definition Presentation
Video Introduction by Director Daisuke Miyazaki
Newly Commissioned Short Film, "i'll Be Your Mirror" (2022, 9mins)
Videophobia MV by Baku Feat. Jin Dogg, Nunchaku (Tatsuro Mukai, Kumi), Tomy Wealth
Japanese Theatrical Trailer
Optional English, Japanese, and Chinese Subtitles
1 Transparent Sticker
New Cover Art
English SDH subtitles
An illustrated booklet featuring an interview with the director by Justine Smith and behind-the-scenes photographs