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Matt wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:14 pm Did Fran already list the failed licenses of 2025, or is this Discord AMA the equivalent of that?

See here

Matt wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:14 pm I’m glad someone is at least trying to get The Spider’s Stratagem out.

Did Fran already list the failed licenses of 2025, or is this Discord AMA the equivalent of that?

Failed Licensing 2025 can be found on p. 48-49 of the Members’ Annual zine. (With one anomaly: The list of “ten films” on 48 includes LA FEMME PUBLIQUE, but the discussion on 49 substitutes POLA X. Don’t know whether that means one or the other made it back into the list of possibilities.)

BLUES HARP
SHOLAY
TANGE SAZEN AND THE POT WITH A MILLION RYO
Films by ARTURO RIPSTEIN
LITTLE OTIK
LE CHAT
DREAM OF LIGHT
LIFESIZE
THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE
LA FEMME PUBLIQUE / POLA X

Calvin wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:10 pm - Sales not up to scratch to attempt any Deville or Manoel De Oliveira

Bummer but not surprising. We’ll prob have to wait til the studio runs out of BB films to get her Deville film restored and then there will at least be that (and it’s one of his best films, so it would be fine for it to go down like that)

I'm in no position to challenge Fran's knowledge in the area, but I was actually somewhat surprised as I would not have thought that a Deville would be an obviously harder sell than a Rozier (or a bunch of the other lesser-known titles that Radiance have put out). Some that have been restored, such as Ce soir ou jamais or La Femme en bleu, also have a reasonably big star as well.

Yeah, a lot of Deville is pretty accessible mainstream stuff. Not arthouse at all. I guess name value is really a maker and breaker.

I thought he was referring to the notion of Radiance restoring some rarer Devilles for release that was previously shared out. There are def some options out there already with HD masters that would fit Radiance perfectly, but I guess I don’t understand either. I refuse to believe UK audiences knew that much about Mocky and they still put out a whole box set there

I don't understand what "Sales not up to scratch" means when they haven't previously released anything from these directors in order to gauge sales, and when they release plenty of films from more obscure directors than these

Maybe the cost to license them is higher than some similar films they’ve released and they don’t think they can make the cost vs. potential sales work.

POLA X is on the road to being a lost film at this point.

Matt wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 11:30 pm Maybe the cost to license them is higher than some similar films they’ve released and they don’t think they can make the cost vs. potential sales work.

I suppose

Calvin wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:10 pm - There is an Italian film from 1964 coming up

Perhaps this is for Marriage Italian Style?

Matt wrote:
POLA X is on the road to being a lost film at this point.

It looks like there's a 4K restoration coming out in Japan soon, somehow

Fran, if you release a Deville, I will street team the shit out of it for you gratis

domino harvey wrote: Wed Dec 24, 2025 12:59 am Fran, if you release a Deville, I will street team the shit out of it for you gratis

As will I, I’ve been shouting his name in any film forum I can find and more, begging for more people to discover his genius. But alas, as of now it seems all for naught unless we were to get a Christmas miracle. Speaking of which, does anyone know what happened to the planned Blu-Ray of La Petite Bande, I can’t seem to find it anywhere online and I’m scared that it’s gotten quietly canned.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 11:34 pm

Calvin wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:10 pm - There is an Italian film from 1964 coming up

Perhaps this is for Marriage Italian Style?

Could be (there's a teaser clue "MAR") but AFAIK, Cult Films still have the rights.

My thought was either Bebo's Girl (Comencini) or Seduced and Abandoned (Germi).

rapta wrote: Wed Dec 24, 2025 2:05 am My thought was either Bebo's Girl (Comencini)

Your lips to God’s ears

rapta wrote: Wed Dec 24, 2025 2:05 am

yoloswegmaster wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 11:34 pm

Calvin wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 9:10 pm - There is an Italian film from 1964 coming up

[/b][/b]Perhaps this is for Marriage Italian Style?

Could be (there's a teaser clue "MAR") but AFAIK, Cult Films still have the rights.

My thought was either Bebo's Girl (Comencini) or Seduced and Abandoned (Germi).

Cult Films also has Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, which was also released in 1964. Both blus were released in 2017, so it's perhaps too early for an upgrade (2027 maybe?)

Criterion hasn't released il Boom (Janus), but it also came out at the end of 1963 in Italy.

BFI's Red Desert is still in print.

Seduced And Abandoned DVD is OOP in both US & UK.

Radiance has released Risi, so maybe il Giovedi or il Gaucho (il Successo, La marcia su Roma, & i Mostri all seems to be 1963). Perhaps the box didn't sell well enough to do another, bigger box for 1963-1964.

Let's Talk About Women would probably not be their first Ettore Scola

The Italian film from 1964 may well be Antonio Pietrangeli's IL MAGNIFICO CORNUTO (The Magnificent Cuckold) which screened at this year's Venice Classics in a new restoration...

Restoration:
Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna in collaborazione con Compass Film
Laboratory: L’Immagine Ritrovata

Stars Claudia Cardinale & Ugo Tognazzi - original trailer...

domino harvey wrote: Wed Dec 24, 2025 12:59 am Fran, if you release a Deville, I will street team the shit out of it for you gratis

In my bleary-eyed morning state I read that as "stream the shit out of it for you gratis" and thinking "well, that's going to kill Deville releases stone dead".

But then I re-read it.

andyli wrote:I wonder what material issues prevent A Pot Worth a Million Ryo getting released, since the Japanese blu-ray has been out for what, two years?

(Only seeing this now) It has been restored in 4k, a restoration I saw theatrically 2 years ago. It's not perfect, but it'd be adequate for a BD release and in line with lots of silent movies' restorations.

2026 Title Teaser Advent Calendar

A gothic mystery

tenia wrote: Wed Dec 24, 2025 10:19 am

andyli wrote:I wonder what material issues prevent A Pot Worth a Million Ryo getting released, since the Japanese blu-ray has been out for what, two years?

(Only seeing this now) It has been restored in 4k, a restoration I saw theatrically 2 years ago. It's not perfect, but it'd be adequate for a BD release and in line with lots of silent movies' restorations.

I was the one who asked him about it on the Discord. His response was "The base materials are clearly challenged so that doesn't help but, without me checking my notes and my memory is hazy, on top of this there's been more digital tinkering than we'd find acceptable I think because the studio has that challenge to overcome and often that's combated by quick (cheaper) digital fixes unfortunately."

Preparing my finances for those Radical Japan boxes.

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote: Wed Dec 24, 2025 10:47 pm Preparing my finances for those Radical Japan boxes.

I'm happy with the MOC/Eureka Imamura box, but if it were upgraded to UHD or expanded upon by Radiance, I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade.
I'd also be just as excited to spring for a Teshigahara box to replace my Criterion dvds.

Arrow's Yoshida box had me less enthusiastic about seeking out more from him.

Criterion & BFI would be most likely outlet for release of a Shinoda (along with Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizogchi or Naruse) box, but there's probably too many copyright stragglers for the comprehensive box we would like for him (not too mention the others too).

Expanding concept of radical beyond just new wave, Suzuki & Fukasaku probably have too many individual releases across different labels in print to cobble together a comprehensive box.

I'd also love a non-Godzilla Ishihiro Honda box, but rights for those are probably all over the place too.

I’d love a Kobayashi box myself

Lowry_Sam wrote: Wed Dec 24, 2025 3:56 am Radiance has released Risi, so maybe il Giovedi or il Gaucho (il Successo, La marcia su Roma, & i Mostri all seems to be 1963). Perhaps the box didn't sell well enough to do another, bigger box for 1963-1964.

Fran in the AMA said there was no Dino Risi coming out in 2026.