RADIANCE FILMS: new blu ray boutique label coming in the UK (1 Viewer)

[titch]

In the November 2022 issue of Sight & Sound, there's news and an advert for a new boutique UK blu-ray label:

"After 12 years as director of content at cult video label Arrow, Francesco Simeoni has stepped out on his own to found Radiance Films. With the aim of offering something new to the burgeoning boutique label market, Radiance, who have announced a slate of ten titles, will release two films a month. It will start in January with yakuza film specialist Yamashita Kösaku's Big Time Gambling Boss (1968) and politically active Italian director Elio Petri's Palme D'Or-winning The Working Class Goes To Heaven (1971), a pair of films indicative of the label's MO.

Simeoni explains: "I really want to go back to the days where I'd pick up films on DVD by directors I'd never heard of from periods of a country's cinema that were underexplored. I wanted to bring that back. I don't know how much people know about the films I've announced, because they are quite obscure, but that was what was exciting to me... wanting to get back to that sense of discovery."

Further discoveries range from A Woman Kills (1968), Jean-Denis Bonan's serial killer drama, available outside France for the first time ("Virtually nobody knows that film, but that was exciting to me", says Simeoni), to a more recent offering in Amy Seimetz's eerie lo-fi thriller She Dies Tomorrow (2020). As for the future of Radiance, Simeoni hopes that the frequency of releases will increase as time goes on, adding: "Radiance is going to host other labels." He'll collaborate with international companies to bring releases here that are unavailable in the UK, respecting the work that they have already done, rather than duplicating it.

I noticed that Married To The Mob, which Vinegar Syndrome released in the US, is coming as the first release after the New Year and will be half the price.

Radiance Films :: Classic, Cult and Arthouse films

Collector’s edition Blu-rays of your new favourite films

www.radiancefilms.co.uk

 

[bujaki]

Great news and a very interesting slate of releases. I've been trying to see The Working Class...again since I saw it in '71.

 

[Capt D McMars]

In the November 2022 issue of Sight & Sound, there's news and an advert for a new boutique UK blu-ray label:

"After 12 years as director of content at cult video label Arrow, Francesco Simeoni has stepped out on his own to found Radiance Films. With the aim of offering something new to the burgeoning boutique label market, Radiance, who have announced a slate of ten titles, will release two films a month. It will start in January with yakuza film specialist Yamashita Kösaku's Big Time Gambling Boss (1968) and politically active Italian director Elio Petri's Palme D'Or-winning The Working Class Goes To Heaven (1971), a pair of films indicative of the label's MO.

Simeoni explains: "I really want to go back to the days where I'd pick up films on DVD by directors I'd never heard of from periods of a country's cinema that were underexplored. I wanted to bring that back. I don't know how much people know about the films I've announced, because they are quite obscure, but that was what was exciting to me... wanting to get back to that sense of discovery."

Further discoveries range from A Woman Kills (1968), Jean-Denis Bonan's serial killer drama, available outside France for the first time ("Virtually nobody knows that film, but that was exciting to me", says Simeoni), to a more recent offering in Amy Seimetz's eerie lo-fi thriller She Dies Tomorrow (2020). As for the future of Radiance, Simeoni hopes that the frequency of releases will increase as time goes on, adding: "Radiance is going to host other labels." He'll collaborate with international companies to bring releases here that are unavailable in the UK, respecting the work that they have already done, rather than duplicating it.

I noticed that Married To The Mob, which Vinegar Syndrome released in the US, is coming as the first release after the New Year and will be half the price.

Radiance Films :: Classic, Cult and Arthouse films

Collector’s edition Blu-rays of your new favourite films

www.radiancefilms.co.uk

Nice, and a hopeful welcome to all in the Radience lable. But my one question is to Francesco's wanting to get back to exploring the unexplored in video. For me, many other boutique lables like, Vinegar Syndrom, Criterion, Flicker Alley, even KIno are offering a steady stream of many lesser known international and domestic film titles that were lesser know, or at least to many collectors.
My question is, how are their offering going to seperate them from the rest of the pack?

 

[cineMANIAC]

Nice, and a hopeful welcome to all in the Radience lable. But my one question is to Francesco's wanting to get back to exploring the unexplored in video. For me, many other boutique lables like, Vinegar Syndrome, Criterion, Flicker Alley, even KIno are offering a steady stream of many lesser known international and domestic film titles that were lesser know, or at least to many collectors.
My question is, how are their offering going to seperate them from the rest of the pack?

I wish them well but I wonder if there's room for yet another purveyor of obscure indie arthouse cinema. There's already a glut of specialty labels with the same mission statement, many of which are currently focusing on chopsocky martial arts and Asian genre films. Personally, I've got one eye on the Franco Nero set but none of their other announced titles appeal to me. Hopefully the films in the Nero box are straightforward crime films without any hint of artsy fartsy-ness

 

[Worth]

 

[titch]

I wish them well but I wonder if there's room for yet another purveyor of obscure indie arthouse cinema. There's already a glut of specialty labels with the same mission statement, many of which are currently focusing on chopsocky martial arts and Asian genre films. Personally, I've got one eye on the Franco Nero set but none of their other announced titles appeal to me. Hopefully the films in the Nero box are straightforward crime films without any hint of artsy fartsy-ness

It will be interesting to see how they fare. Obviously Simeoni has considerable experience from Arrow, which has done incredibly well since he started there. There are a lot of boutique labels flourishing because - hey, this is what collectors and film lovers really enjoy. The limited runs sell out.

Believe me, I seldom find anything worthwhile to watch on the five streaming channels I subscribe to. But every time I go up to my loft to find something, I find dozens of strange titles I'd rather watch.

 

[Carl David]

He's a brave man.

My fingers are crossed for him.

 

[Capt D McMars]

It will be interesting to see how they fare. Obviously Simeoni has considerable experience from Arrow, which has done incredibly well since he started there. There are a lot of boutique labels flourishing because - hey, this is what collectors and film lovers really enjoy. The limited runs sell out.

Believe me, I seldom find anything worthwhile to watch on the five streaming channels I subscribe to. But every time I go up to my loft to find something, I find dozens of strange titles I'd rather watch.

Amen, eventually, once you've powered through all the titles in your watchlist, most streaming services have little to offer in the way of new films that you want to see. This is the reason why I collect and maintain my phisical library, all catagorized by genre and alphabetized for fast easy access. I enjoy some streaming serives, foor conveyance sake, but it's nice having such a large collection to choose from, that is larger than most of theirs!!