RADIANCE FILMS ANNOUNCES TEN NEW TITLES FOR 2023!
Ten new releases are announced and full details are available on the Radiance website including packaging close-ups.
Each Radiance limited edition release comes with a removable OBI strip that allows the outer packaging to be completely free of markings and text. Mastered from the finest available materials, each release is accompanied by new and archival bonus features with those who made the films and experts on them, in illuminating interviews, documentaries, commentaries, visual essays and more. Additionally, each release is accompanied by an extensive booklet and sleeves are reversible, often with original or alternative artwork.
Bo Widerberg's stunning The Man on the Roof brings the iconic officer Beck to the big screen in this tense thriller influenced by The French Connection's gritty verité style. (UK)
The Man on the Roof (1976)
Police officer Stig Nyman is murdered by an unseen assailant brandishing a bayonet. His colleagues Beck, Rönn and Kollberg pick up the case quickly, keen to solve the crime on one of their own. Investigating Nyman and drawing up a list of potential suspects leads the team to discover he was a lousy cop who abused his power with a history of brutality. As their search draws closer they are caught unaware by a rooftop assassin with a sniper rifle, picking off every cop he can. The Man on the Roof was adapted from the novel by celebrated writers Sjöwall and Wahlöö, whose Martin Beck character has been realised in multiple films and recent TV series Beck. Influenced by The French Connection's gritty vérité style, celebrated director Bo Widerberg created an incredible spectacle here that would become legendary in Sweden and remains the greatest crime film from the heart of Scandi noir.
Limited Edition Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Introduction by Bo Widerberg
- Scene-select audio commentary by critic and genre expert Peter Jilmstad
- With a View to Realism (2004, 82 mins) documentary by Markus Strömqvist on the making of The Man on the Roof
- Bo Widerberg (1977, 39 mins) an intimate portrait of the filmmaker in which Widerberg discusses his films and approach to filmmaking
- Bo Widerberg interviewed during the shooting of The Man on the Roof for the SVT - TV show "Rapport"
- Original trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- Limited edition booklet with contributions from Widerberg biographer and critic Marten Blomkvist, archival writing by Widerberg, Anders Marklund on genre filmmaking in Sweden, Daniel Brodén on the film and society, contemporary reviews and film credits
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Extras subject to change
Year: 1976
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD009BDLE
EAN: 5060974680160
Release date: TBC
Palme d'Or winner The Working Class Goes to Heaven sees Gian Maria Volonté as a factory worker on the verge of a nervous breakdown in Elio Petri's savage takedown of industrial corruption. (UK)
The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971)
Gian Maria Volonté (A Fistful of Dollars), stars in one of provocative filmmaker Elio (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) Petri's most politically charged films as factory worker Lulu: a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown, following an accident at work. Too tired to sleep with his girlfriend, cut out of his son’s life by his ex, humiliated and disrespected, The Working Class Goes to Heaven is an oftentimes surreal and darkly comic look at the life of an everyday Italian trying to find a sense of purpose in a world where he is only allowed to be a tool for industry. A savage takedown of capitalism and industrial corruption, the film was recipient of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or and features a gloriously unhinged, award-winning performance from Volonté, accompanied by an exceptional score by Ennio Morricone and stunning cinematography by Luigi Kuveiller (Deep Red).
Limited Edition Special Features:
- 2K restoration of the film
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
New and improved English subtitle translation
- Archival interview with Elio Petri from the Cannes Film Festival
- Career-encompassing archival interview with Gian Maria Volonté from French TV
- Archival interview with actor Corrado Solari
- Appreciation of Gian Maria Volonté and the film by filmmaker Alex Cox
- A visual essay by scholar Matthew Kowalski on Petri and politics
- The Working Class Goes to Heaven - Background to a Film Shot in Novara (2006), by Serena Checcucci and Enrico Omodeo Salé; an unconventional making-of documentary, exploring the real-life factory location where the film was shot and the story behind the film’s production there, as told by the staff, film extras and crew
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Eugenio Renzi, Elio Petri Investigation of a Filmmaker author Roberto Curti on Petri and Volonté's collaborations and relationship, archival writing and reviews to be confirmed
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Extras subject to change
Year: 1971
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD001BDLE
EAN: 5060974680009
Release date: 02/01/23
Sundance Award winner Welcome to the Dollhouse sees Todd Solondz's celebrated coming-of-age film arrive in the UK for the first time and includes brand new special features. (UK)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
Junior high school student Dawn “Wiener-dog” Wiener is perpetually teased by her classmates and tormented by the school bully, Brandon. All she wants is to be popular and that would certainly help her emerging crush on the lead of her brother’s garage band. Todd (Happiness) Solondz’s celebrated coming-of-age comedy won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and young star Heather Matarazzo was awarded Best Debut Performance at the prestigious Independent Spirit Awards. Perfectly capturing the growing pains of youth and suburbia with startling intensity, Welcome to the Dollhouse was widely praised on release with Janet Maslin of the New York Times describing it as a “mordantly hilarious suburban comedy - excruciatingly funny.”
Limited Edition Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer of the film
- Uncompressed stereo PCM audio
- Newly filmed interview with Solondz
- Visual essay by critic and author Hannah Strong on the film and its place within Solondz's work
- Audio commentary by BJ and Harmony Colangelo of the This Ends at Prom podcast
Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by A. S. Hamrah, Molly Lambert and archival writings to be confirmed
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Extras subject to change
Year: 1995
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD003BDLE
EAN: 5060974680047
Release date: TBC
In Amy Seimetz's celebrated She Dies Tomorrow a group of people have the contagious sensation their death is imminent which sends them into a spiralling nightmare. Mixing existential dread with absurdist humour to startling effect the film has drawn comparisons with work by David Lynch. (UK)
She Dies Tomorrow (2020)
When Amy is suddenly stricken by the random idea she will die tomorrow, a bizarre phenomena starts passing through her social circle, where each and every person is eventually hit by the same realisation they will not last until the next sunrise, despite there being no obvious reason to believe this. Rather than riffing on the notion of contagion as conventional plague Amy Seimetz’s She Dies Tomorrow takes an abstract route into the subject, one which recalls films such as Pulse, where contagion features a strong existential element, in its sometimes absurdly comic, yet deeply unsettling, exploration of a group of people facing imminent unexplained death. As such, the film fits neatly into the stable of Lynchian horror, which seeks to explore genre by breaking down boundaries, as well as enhancing sensory elements such as the use of hallucinatory colour and dreamlike sequences.
Limited Edition Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer
5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Audio commentary by critic and programmer Anna Bogutskaya
- A 'Making of' featurette with Seimtez and cinematographer Jay Keitel
- Newly filmed interviews to be confirmed
- A visual essay on contagion in modern horror by critic Anton Bitel
- Behind-the-scenes image gallery
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Isabel Millar
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Extras subject to change
Year: 2020
Cert: 15
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD007BDLE
EAN: 5060974680122
Release date: TBC
A new wave-influenced serial killer film that presents its narrative in an almost true crime approach yet focuses on the psychological aspect with echoes of Polanski and Franju, set to a discordant, jazzy score, A Woman Kills was embroiled in a complicated distribution history that had it unseen for more than 40 years. (UK/US/CA)
A Woman Kills (1968)
A series of prostitute murders disturb the public with the thought of a serial killer on the loose. Hélène Picard, a prostitute, is sentenced and executed for the murders, but shortly thereafter similar crimes continue. Executioner Louis Guilbeau meanwhile develops a relationship with the investigating officer, Solange, who soon learns Louis may not be who he says he is. Filmed in the tumultuous events of May 1968, Jean-Denis Bonan's A Woman Kills never found distribution due to controversy around the director's first film and producer Anatole Dauman (The Beast, Hiroshima mon amour) was unable to find distribution for the film for 45 years until Luna Park Films brought it back to life in a new restoration. Now released on Blu-ray for the first time anywhere, audiences outside of France can finally experience this utterly singular film, a new wave-influenced serial killer film that presents its narrative in an almost true crime approach yet focuses more on the psychological aspect with echoes of Polanski and Franju, set to a discordant, jazzy score.
Limited Edition Special Features:
- 2K restoration of the film from the original 16mm elements
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Audio commentary by critics Kat Ellinger and Virginie Sélavy
- Introduction by Virginie Sélavy
- On the Margin: The Cursed Films of Jean-- Denis Bonan (Francis Lecomte, 2015/2022, 37 mins) - a newly updated documentary programme featuring director Jean-Denis Bonan, cinematographer Gérard de Battista, editor Mireille Abramovici, musician Daniel Laloux, and actress Jackie Rynal
- Short films by Jean-Denis Bonan: The Short Life of Monsieur Meucieu (1962, 13 mins), A Love Crime (1965, 7 mins), rushes of an incomplete film narrated by Bonan; The Sadness of the Anthropophagi (1966, 24 mins), Crazy Mathieu (1967, 17 mins), A Season with Mankind (1967, 19 mins)
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntm
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and scholar Catherine Wheatley, writer and musician Richard Thomas on the short films, writing on gender identity tropes in A Woman Kills and the horror film, an interview with Francis Lecomte, the French distributor who rescued the film, newly translated archival reviews and film credits
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- Also available in USA/Canada from our partners MVD, Diabolik, Grindhouse
Extras subject to change
Year: 1968
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD008BDLE
EAN: 5060974680146
Release date: 06/02/23
Alec Baldwin is brilliant as an unhinged criminal in Miami Blues, directed by George Armitage (Grosse Pointe Blank) who perfectly balances humour and violence in this singular crime comedy that bears the quirky influence of producer Jonathan Demme (Something Wild). (UK)
Miami Blues (1990)
George Armitage (Grosse Pointe Blank) adapted celebrated noir author Charles Willeford’s novel Miami Blues for the screen with new star Alec Baldwin in the lead role as Frederick J. Frenger, Jr., a sociopathic criminal. Arriving in Miami fresh out of jail he commits one crime after another when he meets young hooker Susie (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Single White Female) who he starts to build a pseudo-married life with, including the home cooking and the white picket fence. As Frederick tries to juggle domesticity with his mounting crimes, dogged cop Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward, Tremors) threatens to put his freedom in jeopardy. Baldwin is brilliant as the unhinged criminal tearing through Miami while Armitage perfectly balances the humour and violence in this singular crime comedy that betrays the quirky influence of producer Jonathan Demme (Something Wild, Married to the Mob).
Limited Edition Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer
- Original uncompressed stereo PCM audio
Interviews with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh (2015)
- David Jenkins looks at Miami Blues and Jonathan Demme’s role in the production (2022)
- Pulp crime expert Maxim Jakubowski discusses the character of Hoke Moseley in both Miami Blues and Willeford’s novels in which he is a recurrent character (2022)
Behind-the-scenes and promotional image gallery
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited Edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Glenn Kenny, an interview with George Armitage by critic Nick Pinkerton, critic Leila Latif on Alec Baldwin in comedy, an archival feature on Fred Ward and an overview of reviews
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Extras and artwork subject to change
Year: 1990
Cert: 15
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD005BDLE
EAN: 5060974680085
Release date: 06/02/23
A buddy road movie meditation on friendship and masculinity that takes in the length of France, Fill 'er up with Super was workshopped by the cast giving the film a naturalistic quality that pre-figures Richard Linklater's similar approaches by some decades. (UK/US/CA)
Fill 'er up with Super (1976)
Klouk (Bernard Crombey) is a car salesman who has to miss a family holiday to deliver a luxury Chevrolet station wagon to his boss' wealthy client. He decides to take his friend Philippe (Xavier Saint-Macary) along with him for the ride across the length of France from Lille to the Cote d'Azur. On the way they give a lift to hitchhiker Charles (Etienne Chicot) who also brings along his friend Daniel (Patrick Bouchitey). A buddy road movie that came together from genuine friendship developed throughout the months-long script workshop giving the film a casual and naturalistic quality that pre-dates Richard Linklater's similar approaches by some decades. A meditation on friendship and masculinity, this was one of the last films Alain Cavalier made before approaching more experimental forms of filmmaking but prefigures his later breaking down of fiction and documentary barriers with the freewheeling approach of Fill ‘er up with Super .
Limited Edition Special Features:
- 2K restoration of the film from the original negative
- Original uncompressed stereo PCM audio
Archival interviews with the cast
- More extras TBC
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film and archival writing to be confirmed
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- Also available in USA/Canada from our partners MVD, Diabolik, Grindhouse
Extras subject to change
Year: 1976
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD010BDLE
EAN: 5060974680184
Release date: TBC
In The Sunday Woman, a high society wife (Jacqueline Bisset, Day for Night) and her gay best friend (Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist) are the key suspects in a murder with commissioner Santamaria (Mastroianni, 8 1/2) investigating closely. (UK/US/CA)
The Sunday Woman (1975)
An odious architect is beaten to death and a high society wife (Jacqueline Bisset, Day for Night) and her gay friend (Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist) are the key suspects with a discarded letter implicating them in the crime. Commissioner Santamaria (Marcello Mastroianni, Fellini’s 8 ½) is assigned to the case and tries to uncover the murder suspect in upper-class Turin. With a murder mystery narrative worthy of Agatha Christie, The Sunday Woman is also a sharp critique of Turin’s upper crust. The screenplay, by the celebrated duo Age & Scarpelli, famed for their masterpieces in the Commedia all’Italiana boom including Big Deal on Madonna Street and The Organizer, is a whip-smart adaptation of the best-selling novels by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini with the lead character of Santamaria inspired by the real-life head of the Flying Squad. The much-heralded director Luigi Comencini (Misunderstood) often worked in a combination of comedy and drama, finding humour in tragedy, and is only waiting to be rediscovered as a master of post-war Italian cinema.
Limited Edition Special Features:
- 2K restoration of the film from the original negative
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Newly filmed and archival interviews to be confirmed
- A visual essay on the career of Jean-Louis Trintignant’s career in Italy by critic and author Tim Lucas (2022)
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- Also available in USA/Canada from our partners MVD, Diabolik, Grindhouse
Extras subject to change
Year: 1975
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD004BDLE
EAN: 5060974680061
Release date: TBC
An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue from the writer of Battles Without Honour and Humanity starring Tomisaburo Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub), Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the yakuza genre, Paul Schrader called it the richest and most complex film of its type, while novelist Yukio Mishima hailed it as a masterpiece. (UK/US/CA)
Big Time Gambling Boss (1968)
Tokyo, 1934. Gang boss Arakawa is too ill and a successor must be named. The choice falls on Nakai, but being an outsider he refuses and suggests senior clansman Matsuda instead. But Matsuda is in jail and the elders won’t wait for his release, so they appoint the younger and more malleable Ishido to take the reins. Clan honour and loyalties are severely tested when Matsuda is released, resulting in an increasingly violent internal strife. An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity) and starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, (Lone Wolf and Cub, The Bounty Hunter Trilogy) and genre legend Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the yakuza genre. Paul Schrader called it the richest and most complex film of its type, while novelist Yukio Mishima hailed it as a masterpiece. Radiance Films is proud to present this crucial re-discovery for the first time ever on Blu-ray.
Limited Edition Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer of the film
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Visual essay by genre expert Chris D on the film and its place within the period and genre (2022)
- Ninkyo 101: A masterclass with Mark Schilling, author of The Yakuza Movie Book (2022)
Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntm
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Stuart Galbraith IV, and critic Hayley Scanlon
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- Also available in USA/Canada from our partners MVD, Diabolik, Grindhouse
Extras subject to change
Year: 1968
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD012BDLE
EAN: 5060974680221
Release date: TBC
Thomas takes refuge in his ex-girlfriend's apartment, a commune-like arrangement where the girls vow to kill their boyfriends after five days. Will Thomas realise before it's too late? A pop fantasy compared to a comic strip by Wim Wenders, Red Sun is an art-genre collision that is both brilliantly bizarre and provocative. (UK/US/CA)
Red Sun (1970)
Thomas (Marquard Bohm, Kings of the Road) gets a ride to Munich where he finds his ex-girlfriend Peggy (counter culture activist and model Uschi Obermaier) who takes him in. In her flat he finds Peggy and her roommates have a commune-like lifestyle where they kill the men in their lives after five days, but will Thomas realise in time? A pop fantasy focused on the post-’68 and women's liberation movements, Red Sun was compared to a comic strip by Wim Wenders and is a beautiful art-genre collision that is both brilliantly bizarre and provocative. Director Rudolf Thome was an emerging talent in the New German Cinema alongside Wenders, Fassbinder and Herzog, but received little international distribution and fell into international obscurity despite a consistent career covering six decades. Radiance Films is proud to present Red Sun to English-speaking audiences for the first time in a restoration overseen by Thome.
Limited Edition Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer overseen by director Rudolf Thome
- Select scene commentary with Thome and Rainer Langhans, Obermaier’s boyfriend and Kommune 1 member who served as inspiration for the film and was on set for the shoot
- New interviews and visual essays to be confirmed
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original artwork
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Samm Deighan, newly translated archival letters by Wim Wenders, screenwriter Klaus Badekerl, critic Enno Patalas and the German Film Evaluation Office on the film’s official submission, newly translated archival interview with Rudolf Thome and contemporary reviews by Wenders, Patalas and others
- Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
- Also available in USA/Canada from our partners MVD, Diabolik, Grindhouse
Extras subject to change
Year: 1970
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD006BDLE
EAN: 5060974680108
Release date: TBC
We are offering a very limited (just 50 in the UK, 50 in the US/CA) number of chances to buy a 3-year subscription style package to all future Radiance Limited Edition releases. Purchase of this package will include Blu-rays, exclusive merchandise and other products as well as additional benefits including a Radiance tote bag and other items as curated for Radiance Gold Package buyers.
Buyers will also have access to a private Discord group where each Member will have direct access to future releases, suggest and discuss title selections, previews of extras-in-creation, participate in polls and more in direct discussion with Radiance Films.
Each month Members will see their releases and benefits, where applicable, confirmed here.
Available in the UK here: Buy Now! (https://radiancefilms.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=568bf7f11d3f37b8e429f1e54&id=7c160877d4&e=46ffd78583)
Available in the US/CA: coming soon to https://radiancefilms.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=568bf7f11d3f37b8e429f1e54&id=25f2e6a979&e=46ffd78583
JANUARY RELEASES BUNDLE
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AVAILABILITY WATCH
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Keep an eye on this section for future low stock availability of our Limited Editions!
See you next month for updated details and even more release announcements!
