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Calvin wrote:

Hladnik wrote:It would also be fantastic to have the tv-films of Kieslowski with english subtitles.

Talking of TV films, I'd love to see a Second Run release of Haneke's Lemmings. I've read nothing but great things but, sadly, only Part 1 is on youtube.

I had the chance to see a hand full of Haneke's tv films including both parts of the Lemminges and Die Rebellion at the LIFFE film festival a few years ago and they are brilliant.

So i definitely second that suggestion !!!

None of Hong Sang-soo's films seem to be available on digital format in the UK (and only four of them are available in the states in presentable condition). Is there any chance that Second Run has their eyes on one or two of his films? I've only seen those four statewide releases, and he's quickly becoming a favorite.

Seeing all the new Czech/Slovak titles, I was wondering... Is there any chance of the "Czech Méliès" - Karel Zeman - making it into the collection? For what it's worth, the first three of his films - Journey to Prehistory, The Fabulous World of Jules Verne and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen - have received brand new 2K transfers recently (done by the Czech UPP - the people behind the fabulous Marketa Lazarova restoration). (Also, I'm in touch with some, um, interesting people who think very highly of Karel Zeman, and would be glad to provide introductions or even a commentary for his films to help them get the recognition they deserve. In case, drop me a PM...)

Bikey, do you know if Second Run has ever planned or tried to get anything by Darezhan Omirbaev? His films are frustratingly hard to get on DVD, and almost totally unavailable in English-friendly editions (the French double release of Kairat and Kardiogramma seems to have English subs, but I think that's all). I was watching Mia Hansen-Løve's Father of My Children, and the excerpts from Jol reminded me I really need to see his other films - I should think some of them would fit beautifully in the catalogue!

I was very surprised to find no threads on him at all, and only two references in other threads - surely a severe symptom of the unavailability of his films!

Have I mentioned the fabulous Russian two parter from the Seventies, Moscow Cassiopeia and Teens in the Universe? If not, I recommend them. And if I have, I still recommend them.

RossyG wrote:Have I mentioned the fabulous Russian two parter from the Seventies, Moscow Cassiopeia and Teens in the Universe? If not, I recommend them. And if I have, I still recommend them.

Both on the same DVD from Russian Cinema Council with English subtitles.

But currently unavailable.

How about Kim Longinotto's pre-"Shinjuku Boys" films?

Only place I've seen that sells them is Women Make Movies, bit expensive though.

Any chance?

Any Longinotto, actually. Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go is a fantastic film, and I don't think it's had a DVD release.

In the same vein, Heddy Honigmann is a master documentary filmmaker who deserves a much higher profile, and any of her films would be a great fit for Second Run. If Crazy ever had a DVD release, it seems to be long OOP.

Elyer Ishmukhamedov's Tenderness (Nezhnost') and unofficial sequel, The Lovers (imdb incorrectly lists Tenderness as a title for the second film).

Nezhnost would be excellent. The link I had bookmarked was recently booted off YouTube. Would love a proper release.

I've been meaning to post some Eastern European titles on my wish list:

Angi Vera (1979) Pal Gabor
Time Stands Still (1982) Peter Gothar
Private Vices and Public Virtues (1976) Miklos Jancso
Hungarian Rhapsody (1979) Miklos Jancso
Allegro Barbaro (1979) Miklos Jancso
The Shivers (Dreszcze) (1981) Wojciech Marczewski
The Big Run (aka The Big Race) (1981) Jerzy Domaradzki
The Conductor (1980) Andrzej Wajda
Sweet Emma, Dear Bobe (1992) Istvan Szabo
The Boys of Paul Street (1969) Zoltan Fabri
Paw (1959) Astrid Henning-Jensen
The Contract (Kontrakt) (1980) Krzysztof Zanussi
The Fiancee (1980) Gunter Reisch & Gunther Rucker

Time Stands Still and Sweet Emma, Dear Böbe are both out in Hungary, while Shivers and The Conductor are out in Poland - in all cases with English subtitles. Private Vices Public Virtues is out in the US, but it's a lousy transfer (and dubbed into English), so I wouldn't recommend that one, but I don't recall anything especially untoward about the others (The Conductor is a bit ropey quality-wise, but it's insanely cheap).

I've read that there's a Hungarian DVD available for Péter Bacsó's The Witness. Does anyone know if it includes English subtitles, and if it's still in print? Either way, it would be a great pick for Second Run as well.

Don't know about its in-print status, but it definitely had English subtitles.

Doing a little more research, I'm actually seeing a couple of releases. One, a fairly old release with a cover shown here. And then another, perhaps more recent release (available here) that appears to have been put out by Magyar Nemzeti Filmarchívum, which did that great recent edition of The Red and the White. Which edition are you referring to? If not the MNF edition, can anyone confirm whether that one has English subs? Several of their releases seem to have that option.

swo17 wrote:One, a fairly old release with a cover shown here.

That was released by Mokep several years ago which is no longer available if I'm not mistaken. Only the feature film is subtitled in English.

swo17 wrote:And then another, perhaps more recent release (available here) that appears to have been put out by Magyar Nemzeti Filmarchívum...

It seems it was released yesterday. Hopefully this is a new restoration.

L.A. wrote:It seems it was released yesterday. Hopefully this is a new restoration.

Oh wow, I had no idea. I can also see now that that site lets you view the back cover, which does indeed promise "angol" subtitles. I think I'll have a go at this and report back.

I have virtually all the MNF discs bar the most recent ones, and every single one has English subtitles on the main feature.

They don't always offer English subs on the extras, but this sometimes happens - most gratifyingly on The Red and the White, whose documentaries are frankly worth the purchase price on their own, never mind what is easily the best transfer of the film to date. (Sadly, the Hungarians don't really seem to have got into Blu-ray to any great extent, and I daresay the economic situation makes this unlikely to change.)

Just a pity there isn't a great place to buy from Hungary, is there? Shipping was so high on lira.hu.

Really? To the U.S., my whole order was under $13 including shipping.

Looks like it has gone down then I guess. I was getting charged a ridiculous amount for Mephisto to be shipped to the UK.

One of the reasons I have so many of the MNF discs was to keep postage down on a per-disc basis!

Will cost me 2,500 Ft in postage for one disc, 5,000 for six. Think I might pull the trigger. Can you give us some recommendations, MichaelB? Mephisto and The Red and the White are there. Also getting the two other Szabós that Second Run haven't released. Swo's recommendation looks interesting too. I have Szindbád already. What else would you put forward?

I see that Magyar Nemzeti Filmarchívum has released Ludas Matyi (1950) - Hungary's first color film - on DVD (the old Mokep disc has most likely been OOP for quite some time now). I recommend this.