Radiance Films Announces April Releases
HomeRadiance Films Announces April Releases
Posted January 7, 2026 06:32 AM by Webmaster
Radiance Films has announced its April slate of releases. They are: Confessions of a Police Captain (1971), Romancing in Thin Air (2012), Matador (1986), Time to Play: Films by Jacques Rozier (1962-2001), and Highway to Hell (1991).
Confessions of a Police Captain
In Palermo, Sicily, seasoned police captain Bonavia (Martin Balsam, 12 Angry Men) orders the release of a criminally insane inmate – then watches him set out to assassinate a local construction magnate. When the plan backfires, Bonavia faces the scrutiny of young and idealistic district attorney Traini (Franco Nero, Django, The Day of the Owl). Neat conceptions of justice, corruption and madness shatter in this hard-hitting investigative thriller from Damiano Damiani (The Day of the Owl, How to Kill a Judge). Balsam and Nero's face-off is complemented by a striking supporting cast and an innovative jazz, pop, and electric guitar score by Riz Ortolani (Cannibal Holocaust).
Special Features and Technical Specs:
UK STREET DATE: APRIL 20.
Romancing in Thin Air
Movie star icon Michael (Louis Koo, Throw Down) sinks into a depression after being publicly dumped at the altar by his former fiancée. After embarking on a drunken bender, he is found in a mountain forest, lost and barely responsive, by Sue (Sammi Cheng, Internal Affairs), who runs the local guesthouse and is still grieving the loss of her husband, who mysteriously disappeared in the woods several years prior. As Sue slowly nurses Michael back to health and the pair learn more about their shared pasts, they embark on a journey to find catharsis in each other. While best known for his crime and action films, legendary director Johnnie To (Election, Drug War) also directed over a dozen romantic melodramas, and Romancing in Thin Air is one of the very best in its genre: a powerful and moving meditation on loss, grief, and the power of cinema itself. Special Features and Technical Specs:
UK STREET DATE: APRIL 20.
Matador 4K Blu-ray
When a young torero confesses to a series of violent crimes he hasn't committed, secret kinks and desires come to light, sparking dangerous new connections between a bullfighting teacher, a powerful female lawyer, an overprotected actress, and a well-meaning psychiatrist. Love and death shockingly intertwine in Pedro Almodóvar's heady mix of baroque romance, grizzly horror, and pitch-black comedy. Inspired by King Vidor's epic western of sensual passion Duel in the Sun, Matador is among the Spanish director's sexiest, most provocative films, a striking look at the roots of lust and violence. Special Features and Technical Specs:
Time to Play: Films by Jacques Rozier
One of the most original, self-assured, yet undersung voices of the French New Wave, Jacques Rozier crafted across a career spanning five decades a cinema attuned to the beauty and heartbreak of chance encounters, improvised days and spontaneous play. This box set presents the UK Blu-ray premiere of his five feature films and several of his short films across five discs.
In Adieu Philippine (1962), two girls and a young man spend an idyllic few days in Corsica, his upcoming military service in Algeria looming on the horizon. Also abandoning Paris for the seaside, three girlfriends enjoy a languorous late summer break in Near Orouët (1971). A promised Robinson Crusoe experience in the Caribbean turns into something much more chaotic in The Castaways of Turtle Island (1976). Maine-Ocean Express (1986) follows strangers on a wild adventure across the language barrier. In the backstage comedy Fifi Martingale (2001), a superstitious theatre makes catastrophic changes to a successful play.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Highway to Hell
When Charlie (Chad Lowe, Apprentice to Murder) and Rachel (Kristy Swanson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) decide to elope to Las Vegas, their decision to take a desert shortcut via an abandoned Nevada backroad proves to be a fateful one: they are ambushed by the Hellcop (C. J. Graham, Friday the 13th), who abducts Rachel on behalf of Satan, snatching her through a portal to hell with the intention of making her the bride of the Satan himself. In hot pursuit via a supernatural car from a local gas station attendant (Richard Farnsworth, The Straight Story), Charlie must dodge demons while keeping Rachel and the Hellcop in his sights in order to rescue his kidnapped fiance and battle his way out of Hell!
A wild and witty fusion of Highway '66 iconography, pop-culture Satanism and the Odyssey, Highway to Hell was written by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) and directed by Ate De Jong (Drop Dead Fred). With fantastically creative uses of claymation and visual effects from supervisor Steve Johnson (Species) and Randall William Cook (Lord of the Rings), and a stacked supporting cast (including cameos from Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, rocker Lita Ford and Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler), Highway to Hell is a deliriously entertaining, nitro-boosted slice of pure 90s excess. Long languishing in cult obscurity, Transmission presents this film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Confessions of a Police Captain
In Palermo, Sicily, seasoned police captain Bonavia (Martin Balsam, 12 Angry Men) orders the release of a criminally insane inmate – then watches him set out to assassinate a local construction magnate. When the plan backfires, Bonavia faces the scrutiny of young and idealistic district attorney Traini (Franco Nero, Django, The Day of the Owl). Neat conceptions of justice, corruption and madness shatter in this hard-hitting investigative thriller from Damiano Damiani (The Day of the Owl, How to Kill a Judge). Balsam and Nero's face-off is complemented by a striking supporting cast and an innovative jazz, pop, and electric guitar score by Riz Ortolani (Cannibal Holocaust).
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- 2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
- ORIGINAL ENGLISH AND ITALIAN AUDIO TRACKS
- Interview with actor Franco Nero (2026)
- Interview with actor Michele Gammino (2026)
- Interview with editor Antonio Siciliano (2026)
- Trailer
- Newly improved English subtitle translation for Italian audio and English SDH subtitles for English audio
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by film scholar Mark Shiel and an archival interview with Damiano Damiani
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- REGION A/B "LOCKED"
UK STREET DATE: APRIL 20.
Romancing in Thin Air
Movie star icon Michael (Louis Koo, Throw Down) sinks into a depression after being publicly dumped at the altar by his former fiancée. After embarking on a drunken bender, he is found in a mountain forest, lost and barely responsive, by Sue (Sammi Cheng, Internal Affairs), who runs the local guesthouse and is still grieving the loss of her husband, who mysteriously disappeared in the woods several years prior. As Sue slowly nurses Michael back to health and the pair learn more about their shared pasts, they embark on a journey to find catharsis in each other. While best known for his crime and action films, legendary director Johnnie To (Election, Drug War) also directed over a dozen romantic melodramas, and Romancing in Thin Air is one of the very best in its genre: a powerful and moving meditation on loss, grief, and the power of cinema itself. Special Features and Technical Specs:
- High-definition digital transfer
- Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 audio tracks
- Newly recorded interview with screenwriter Ryker Chan
- New audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Dylan Cheung
- New visual essay on Johnnie To's romantic melodramas by Sean Gilman
- Extended behind-the-scenes footage
- Making-of featurette
- Theatrical trailer
- Newly translated English subtitles by Dylan Cheung
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Jake Cole
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- REGION A/B "LOCKED"
UK STREET DATE: APRIL 20.
Matador 4K Blu-ray
When a young torero confesses to a series of violent crimes he hasn't committed, secret kinks and desires come to light, sparking dangerous new connections between a bullfighting teacher, a powerful female lawyer, an overprotected actress, and a well-meaning psychiatrist. Love and death shockingly intertwine in Pedro Almodóvar's heady mix of baroque romance, grizzly horror, and pitch-black comedy. Inspired by King Vidor's epic western of sensual passion Duel in the Sun, Matador is among the Spanish director's sexiest, most provocative films, a striking look at the roots of lust and violence. Special Features and Technical Specs:
- TWO-DISC (4K BLU-RAY/BLU-RAY) COMBO PACK RELEASE
- 4K RESTORATION approved by Pedro Almodóvar
- Uncompressed stereo PCM audio
- Interview with Almodóvar expert José Arroyo (2026)
- 'Jonathan Ross Presents For One Week Only' episode on Almodóvar's cinema, featuring interviews with Pedro Almodóvar, producer Agustín Almodóvar, stars Antonio Banderas and Carmen Maura, and more (1991, 54 mins)
- Trailer
- Newly improved English subtitle translation
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Guy Lodge and an archival interview with Almodóvar
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Time to Play: Films by Jacques Rozier
One of the most original, self-assured, yet undersung voices of the French New Wave, Jacques Rozier crafted across a career spanning five decades a cinema attuned to the beauty and heartbreak of chance encounters, improvised days and spontaneous play. This box set presents the UK Blu-ray premiere of his five feature films and several of his short films across five discs.
In Adieu Philippine (1962), two girls and a young man spend an idyllic few days in Corsica, his upcoming military service in Algeria looming on the horizon. Also abandoning Paris for the seaside, three girlfriends enjoy a languorous late summer break in Near Orouët (1971). A promised Robinson Crusoe experience in the Caribbean turns into something much more chaotic in The Castaways of Turtle Island (1976). Maine-Ocean Express (1986) follows strangers on a wild adventure across the language barrier. In the backstage comedy Fifi Martingale (2001), a superstitious theatre makes catastrophic changes to a successful play.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- 4K RESTORATIONS Near Orouët and Maine-Ocean Express
- 2K RESTORATIONS of Adieu Philippine, The Castaways of Turtle Island, and Fifi Martingale
- 2K RESTORATIONS of the short films Blue Jeans (1958, 24 mins), Paparazzi (1963, 22 mins), Le parti des choses (1963, 11 mins)
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio for each film
- New interview with celebrated arthouse distributor Robert Beeson about the reception of the French New Wave in the UK (2026, xx mins)
- Archival trailer for Adieu Philippine (1962, 7 mins)
- Interview with Adieu Philippine star Yveline Céry (2024, 11 mins)
- Interview with Jean-François Stévenin, assistant director on Near Orouët (2008, 9 mins)
- Interview with frequent Rozier collaborator, actor Bernard Ménez (2008, 19 mins)
- Interview with The Castaways of Turtle Island star Jacques Villeret (2008, 7 mins)
- Jacques Rozier: From One Wave to Another - a feature length documentary by Emmanuel Barnault tracing Rozier's unusual career and his lasting influence, rich in interviews and footage of the director at work; exclusive to this Limited Edition
- Newly improved English subtitle translation for each film
- Reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing by Caitlin Quinlan, plus writing by and interviews with Rozier
- More TBC
- REGION-B "LOCKED"
Highway to Hell
When Charlie (Chad Lowe, Apprentice to Murder) and Rachel (Kristy Swanson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) decide to elope to Las Vegas, their decision to take a desert shortcut via an abandoned Nevada backroad proves to be a fateful one: they are ambushed by the Hellcop (C. J. Graham, Friday the 13th), who abducts Rachel on behalf of Satan, snatching her through a portal to hell with the intention of making her the bride of the Satan himself. In hot pursuit via a supernatural car from a local gas station attendant (Richard Farnsworth, The Straight Story), Charlie must dodge demons while keeping Rachel and the Hellcop in his sights in order to rescue his kidnapped fiance and battle his way out of Hell!
A wild and witty fusion of Highway '66 iconography, pop-culture Satanism and the Odyssey, Highway to Hell was written by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) and directed by Ate De Jong (Drop Dead Fred). With fantastically creative uses of claymation and visual effects from supervisor Steve Johnson (Species) and Randall William Cook (Lord of the Rings), and a stacked supporting cast (including cameos from Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, rocker Lita Ford and Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler), Highway to Hell is a deliriously entertaining, nitro-boosted slice of pure 90s excess. Long languishing in cult obscurity, Transmission presents this film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- High definition digital transfer
- DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
- Newly recorded interview with director Ate de Jong
- New audio commentary with critics Kim Newman and Sean Hogan
- Archival director's commentary with Ate de Jong
- Archival interview with actor C.J. Graham
- Archival interview with Steven Johnson
- Production stills and behind-the-scenes gallery
- Theatrical trailer
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited Edition booklet featuring original storyboards, archival correspondence and new writing from Sean McGeady
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in and full-height Scanavo packaging with O-card and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- REGION-B "LOCKED"
