Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

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dda1996a
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:14 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2076 Post by dda1996a » Tue Dec 24, 2019 7:47 am

Great news! (Judging by being a non - US resident enjoying Cohen's films on Kanopy)

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AidanKing
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 12:22 pm
Location: Cornwall, U.K.

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2077 Post by AidanKing » Sat Jan 18, 2020 2:13 pm

Unfortunately, I suspect that the takeover by Cohen is unlikely to be good news and is likely to have the effect of further diminishing the range and quality of foreign-language films that get released in the UK. From the recent advertisements for the considerably-delayed release of 'Parasite', which only mention distribution by Curzon, it looks like the sale might effectively herald the end of Artificial Eye as well, which isn't a surprise as, based on the trade press coverage, it looks as if the press release announcing the news mainly mentioned Curzon and didn't really refer to the, in my opinion, much more significant history of Artificial Eye as a distributor. I only hope that New Wave may have the resources to continue picking up the distribution rights to more radical films, as they appear to be trying to do now, or there is likely to be an increasing number of significant films that fail to get UK distribution at all.

I suppose, on a more positive note, the films released by Curzon in future are less likely to get DVD-only releases if the practice of Cohen in the US is followed.

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2078 Post by TMDaines » Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:20 am

Looks like the black levels or gamma are wrong on Les Amants. Can’t believe the Gaumont logo on the opening credits is supposed to be dark grey in contrast to the black bars. Anyone else check theirs?

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2079 Post by tenia » Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:26 am

The Gaumont disc was problematic in this regard too. Actually, many Eclair B&W restorations done then have blacks way too elevated, and I'm quite certain some older Gaumont (though it'd be their white Découverte collection rather than the Classiques one) have the improper RGB range setup.

I've received Mouchette (from Potemkine), it's a 2014 Eclair restoration : blacks are stuck around 14-16, with the digital restoration opening text with blacks at 10.

nitin
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:49 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2080 Post by nitin » Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:03 am

TMDaines wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:20 am
Looks like the black levels or gamma are wrong on Les Amants. Can’t believe the Gaumont logo on the opening credits is supposed to be dark grey in contrast to the black bars. Anyone else check theirs?
Yes they are. I changed my colour input to RGB on my Oppo and apart from some parts of the night scene towards the end looking a little black crushed (and that may have been by intention, not 100% sure), the rest seemed much better after that change.

Same applies for at least Le Feu Follet and I think Elevator to the Gallows (my go to is the Criterion anyway because of the AR).

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2081 Post by TMDaines » Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:21 am

It’s quite problematic in this film given the extended night scene. I turned the brightness down five or so notches and shifted the gamma from 2.1 to 1.6 to compensate. Changing the colour space didn’t seem to help for me, because the black bars seem to be the right black, it’s just the video content inside of the letterboxing that is wrong.

nitin
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:49 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2082 Post by nitin » Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:39 pm

I am not sure about the technicalities but there are plenty of discs where the black bars are proper black but the video within is still in the wrong colour space.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2083 Post by Adam X » Sun Jan 26, 2020 3:17 am

That's because with Blu-Ray, and anamorphic DVDs, the black bars are player generated (that's my understanding, anyway).

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The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2084 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Sun Jan 26, 2020 3:39 am

On DVD, this was the case if you watched anamorphic content on a 4:3 display or a 4:3 content on a 16:9 display. On Blu-ray, all HD video is encoded as a 16:9 stream (4:3 is only supported at SD resolutions), so any black bars are part of the actual video unless you're watching 4:3 SD content (usually just extras) on a non-4:3 display, or 16:9 content on a non-16:9 display.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2085 Post by Calvin » Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:12 pm

Curzon are distributing the 4K restoration of Sátántangó in the UK with some theatrical screenings and a Blu-Ray release.

I know they released it on DVD, but I'm actually surprised they picked up the new restoration. Especially considering they're recently been more selective with what new releases they put on Blu-Ray.

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2086 Post by senseabove » Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:48 pm

I'm surprised about it because they just got bought by Cohen and some of their existing BDs seem to be going out of print. I just snapped up a couple of older ones I'd been putting off whose prices had started rising, and I figured things would be on hold for at least a little while. I wonder if this was one of the last pre-acquisition projects or something...

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2087 Post by Calvin » Wed Feb 19, 2020 2:44 pm


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Roscoe
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
Location: NYC

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2088 Post by Roscoe » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:04 pm

So I placed my order from amazon.uk for the SATANTANGO yesterday, and got a confirmation, and now the link says that the item isn't available, and I'm hoping that my order is still valid, because they're still listing it on my account....

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2089 Post by kekid » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:22 pm

Satantango is back on Amazon.co.uk for preorder. Order previously placed is intact.

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2090 Post by kekid » Sat Apr 25, 2020 12:32 am

Amazon UK is not shipping to USA at this time. Does anyone know who can ship "Satantango" to USA?

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swo17
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Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2091 Post by swo17 » Sat Apr 25, 2020 12:45 am

Apparently base.com is still shipping internationally

nitin
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:49 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2092 Post by nitin » Sat Apr 25, 2020 1:32 am

Same with zavvi

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modernmalaise
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 10:12 pm

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2093 Post by modernmalaise » Sat Apr 25, 2020 2:36 am

I received the newest Arrow Kieslowski set this past Tuesday via Amazon UK and I'm in the States, however I did select the global priority shipping option. I know I can't place orders there now, but my pre-order was placed back in February. I assume if you pre-ordered before the restriction went into effect, then it should be dispatched, possibly today. Mine shipped last Saturday.

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swo17
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Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2094 Post by swo17 » Sat Apr 25, 2020 2:41 am

Yes, I've still been receiving things I preordered from Amazon UK as well

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2095 Post by kekid » Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:45 pm

I had pre-ordered MoC Limited Edition Rio Grande. It just sat on Amazon system, unreleased. I chatted with customer service to ask why. They just said "sorry" and asked me to re-order it, not even realizing that they no longer take orders for US customers. Utterly frustrating. I ordered it directly from MoC subsequently.
But I don't know where else to go for Satantango. Assuming that Amazon screws up that order as well (it was pre-ordered when it was first announced), what are my options? Who else supplies AE/Curzon titles to US?

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2096 Post by Ribs » Sat Apr 25, 2020 4:01 pm

I would just be patient - the orders are still shipping but there’s a backlog for obvious reasons. Even in normal times I will usually get .co.uk Amazon orders that don’t ship until a week after release for no discernible reason.

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2097 Post by kekid » Sat Apr 25, 2020 5:47 pm

Ok. Thanks.

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chatterjees
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 6:08 pm
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Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2098 Post by chatterjees » Sat Apr 25, 2020 10:01 pm

I understand that it's a crazy time we are all going through, but the situation with amazon is bizarre. Most frustrating thing the fact that we can't place any orders anymore. The 2nd thing is the pre-orders I already had with them. Yes, they are just sitting there unmoved. I would definitely suggest not to cancel any orders. The only good thing that is happening is that they are randomly selecting one or two items from my orders based on availability and sending them to me by DHL. Therefore, instead of waiting for weeks to show up, I am actually received one or two items when received in 2 days. I am kind of happy with it. At least they are not cancelling my orders. My problem is that I am not being able to place anymore new orders for more than a month now. My estimated delivery date range for Zu Warrior and Rio Grande (was part of a big order) is Friday, 1 May 2020 - Wednesday, 6 May.
The release date for Sátántangó was changed to April 27. My estimated delivery date changed accordingly to 9 May-14 May.
It's not only amazon.co.uk, our very own amazon.com is also going through the crazy phase. I don't like their decision, but to them movies are not essential products. I am a prime member. A lot of pre-orders I had that became available but was not delivered to me. In most cases, amazon didn't even receive them from the distributors.

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2099 Post by kekid » Sun Apr 26, 2020 3:48 pm

Apart from minor delays, I have experienced no problems with Amazon.com.
I think it is not good for the consumer if a product is only available from one source. Thus I like the fact that I have an option of going to the MoC, Indicator, or Arrow directly to get their products, and do not like the fact that I don't have an alternative source for AE/Curzon items.
I understand that what I want (DVDs) is not, and should not be, a priority for Amazon in these difficult times. I accept that they are doing the right thing. I just wish the makers of DVDs would work out some alternate distributor.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

#2100 Post by Adam X » Mon Apr 27, 2020 8:47 am

That might be the first time anyone's said anything like that about Amazon.

Curzon might not have their own webstore, but there are several online UK retailers that'd happily sell you AE discs instead of them.

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