Debbie Rochon Discusses Independent Filmmaking And Her First Film As A Director — Model Hunger

Exclusive by Chris Tribbey

With nearly 250 films under her belt, nearly all of them of the horror variety, it’s not a reach to call actress Debbie Rochon a scream. Now she can add the title director to her resume as well.

The 47-year-old Canadian will see her first film behind the camera, Model Hunger, released by Wild Eye Releasing on DVD and Digital HD July 12.   The film — which has pulled down honors at the Macabre Faire Film Festival, the FANtastic Horror Film Festival and the Crimson Screen Horror Film Fest — follows a former pinup girl who’s been tossed aside by the heartless modeling industry … and she doesn’t react well. 

Her new neighbors begin to put two and two together, tying the disappearance of several women to the former model. And what she’s doing with the missing young women down in her basement isn’t pleasant.

Rochon took the time to chat with the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report about her first time directing a film, her thoughts on independent films and film festivals, and what’s next on her plate.

Release Report: After all these years, what is it like seeing the movie business from behind the camera?

Rochon: While I have often been involved with many creative elements behind the camera besides my own character, and involved with press as well, it was certainly a different ride than you imagine it to be. 

Quite simply, your ideas can run pretty wild and how you envision things and have creative manipulation and control over the script, which I was afforded, is an unparalleled experience.  I loved the script so the ideas themselves were not in question but the execution was. 

I had to work both what I saw in my mind's eye and what budget allowed in reality to merge somewhere.  I love working with actors.  I love creating on all levels so that part is really natural and invigorating for me. 

I love details as well. Tiny small details that the majority of the audience will likely never see, nor does it matter for the overall story, but I know it's there. Details are so much fun.  Many filmmakers don't think in small details (set or character or writing) and the audience needs details to complete the experience even subconsciously.  So that was the goal. To be as detailed as possible with time and money stacked against you.

Release Report: Have you gained any insight into the business regarding how films are promoted and sold?

Rochon: Not a whole lot seeing I have been actively involved with helping filmmakers get their films sold and have experienced the process with quite a few projects before.  

I think one of the more interesting elements of handing over your first born is holding your breath when you know someone else is going to be deciding the artwork or even a title change. 

We didn't have to worry about the artwork as it turned out, I am very pleased with it.  I am most grateful Wild Eye Releasing kept the title.  It's a gamble keeping a title like Model Hunger because it doesn't spoon feed the audience as to what the movie is about, but in this case it is very important for the movie in my opinion. 

I hope it attracts a lot of people but it will have to without having a title like The Cat, The Chair or a combo of an animal with a weather disaster.  Lots of these types of movies can be fun and they make bank for the distribution folks.  I think Model Hunger is fun too, but it's like a rich chocolate cake that you should see a couple of times as opposed to a prefab Twinkie that you don't feel like a second watch is necessary.

Release Report: What are your thoughts on the current state of the Film Festival circuit?

Rochon: I love it. The demise of indie films being booked in theaters plus we're almost to the point of not seeing any indie or mainstream films on a brick and mortar housed DVD shelves, film fests are one of the last places a director and their cast and crew can go to see the film on a big screen with an audience and get some sort of a social experience out of it. 

This is important for filmmakers I think. While there are a whole lot of film festivals now, on multiple tiers, I think it's good.  Keep the experience social and not simply make a movie that gets up on Amazon and that's the beginning and end of it.   Having your film committed to disk at all, though, is something I am glad I will get to see with Model Hunger.

Our future is streaming, digital downloads and non-physical product.  Kind of like it just lives out there in space.  Having the opportunity to see your film at a festival is rewarding.  I loved the festival experience.  The feedback was fascinating too.  What people get out of your film and what you intended can be the same or completely different. Either way it's pretty amazing to just get people talking about it.

Release Report: What are your thoughts on the current state of the independent horror scene?

Rochon: I'm happy to see horror in the theaters.  I think horror awareness and fandom is what keeps the genre alive.  Sometimes it can become frustrating to see the remakes when the originals were so spot on, but studios have been remaking movies since day one.  It's nothing new, if anything it might make the younger viewers search out the originals. 

With indie horror I think we saw a gutted market with less than par product and then the distribution folks couldn't afford to pay advances to the filmmakers anymore.  It became the perfect storm for many filmmakers to leave the business or at least change what genre they worked in. 

Seeing it became so 'easy' to make a horror movie, not easy to make a good one, just easy to make one period, the distribution companies would grab up movies from filmmakers who just wanted to see their movies out there at all.  Who could blame them?  But this became another factor for the indie horror film market to be a losing proposition financially. 

Everything just spiraled.  Unless you don't care about if the movie makes money, you have to make a movie for less and less and less.  The actor's are asked to work for less and so many people don't get paid.  It's a tough road.  I couldn't tell you the future really, streaming is the future but how much can a filmmaker bring in having their movie stream?  

I have seen some very talented indie horror directors end up creating TV series. TV seems to be a highly creative place now, so many great writers, directors and actors have moved over to television and cable it's really the place to be it seems.

Release Report: Do you feel there is a strong enough voice for women in horror film production (directing, producing)?

Rochon: The voice itself is very strong, but there isn't a lot of voices!  I completely understand why an actress would direct a film where she stars in it, it's a smart way to create a vehicle for yourself if that's your goal, but as far as female directors creating content that horrifies?  They are out there, but we could use more. 

Woman have just as a frightening grasp on what scares an audience as men do so I would love to see the numbers multiply.  Plus if they have a different take on the macabre that would be a great creative shot in the arm for horror.

Release Report: What led to your decision to get behind the camera and do a feature film?

Rochon: The script.  I never wanted to direct a film unless the material was something I felt extremely passionate about.  When I read James Morgart's script I immediately felt like this was a story I could get behind, build on and relate to. Something I could envision, have a strong sense of its vision and equally important it was the material I wanted to live with for the multiple years that you live with a film from start to finish. 

It never really finishes as it's with you for life.  This was the script that I wanted to take my important first chance on and I couldn't be happier that it ended up being Model Hunger.  Warts and all, I am deeply proud of this film.  Deeply proud of the people in it and involved with it.

Release Report: Do you think Hollywood's current 'tent pole' model for films in general is leaving out the horror genre?

Rochon: Hollywood's comic book movies are sort of a rich entitled cousin to the horror genre.  I enjoy some of these movies, that wasn't a put down but indeed horror is not considered 'serious' by most. 

This always has made me laugh because it's very difficult to make a good horror film.  It looks easy but it's not.  With that said, I think there are more horror movies in theatres than there ever before.  Not indie films, but big budget horror films.  I think the genre is fairly represented in the big budget world.

Release Report: And what's next?  Any more projects in the pipeline?

Rochon: Always a lot in the works! There are a few films coming out this year; Solid State (sci-fi), Killer Rack (comedy-horror) The Hospital 2 (brutal-horror), Death House (horror, based on the late Gunnar Hansen's original story) and more.  I continue to write for Videoscope magazine, my Model Hunger part four article will be seen in the next issue of Fangoria and I have started writing for ShockTillYouDrop.com.

Debbie Rochon, Independent Filmmaking And Wild Eye Releasing's July 12 DVD Debut Of Her Directing Debut — Model Hunger

Exclusive by Chris Tribbey

With nearly 250 films under her belt, nearly all of them of the horror variety, it’s not a reach to call actress Debbie Rochon a scream. Now she can add the title director to her resume as well.

The 47-year-old Canadian will see her first film behind the camera, Model Hunger, released by Wild Eye Releasing on DVD and Digital HD July 12.   The film — which has pulled down honors at the Macabre Faire Film Festival, the FANtastic Horror Film Festival and the Crimson Screen Horror Film Fest — follows a former pinup girl who’s been tossed aside by the heartless modeling industry … and she doesn’t react well. 

Her new neighbors begin to put two and two together, tying the disappearance of several women to the former model. And what she’s doing with the missing young women down in her basement isn’t pleasant.

Rochon took the time to chat with the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report about her first time directing a film, her thoughts on independent films and film festivals, and what’s next on her plate.

Release Report: After all these years, what is it like seeing the movie business from behind the camera?

Rochon: While I have often been involved with many creative elements behind the camera besides my own character, and involved with press as well, it was certainly a different ride than you imagine it to be. 

Quite simply, your ideas can run pretty wild and how you envision things and have creative manipulation and control over the script, which I was afforded, is an unparalleled experience.  I loved the script so the ideas themselves were not in question but the execution was. 

I had to work both what I saw in my mind's eye and what budget allowed in reality to merge somewhere.  I love working with actors.  I love creating on all levels so that part is really natural and invigorating for me. 

I love details as well. Tiny small details that the majority of the audience will likely never see, nor does it matter for the overall story, but I know it's there. Details are so much fun.  Many filmmakers don't think in small details (set or character or writing) and the audience needs details to complete the experience even subconsciously.  So that was the goal. To be as detailed as possible with time and money stacked against you.

Release Report: Have you gained any insight into the business regarding how films are promoted and sold?

Rochon: Not a whole lot seeing I have been actively involved with helping filmmakers get their films sold and have experienced the process with quite a few projects before.  

I think one of the more interesting elements of handing over your first born is holding your breath when you know someone else is going to be deciding the artwork or even a title change. 

We didn't have to worry about the artwork as it turned out, I am very pleased with it.  I am most grateful Wild Eye Releasing kept the title.  It's a gamble keeping a title like Model Hunger because it doesn't spoon feed the audience as to what the movie is about, but in this case it is very important for the movie in my opinion. 

I hope it attracts a lot of people but it will have to without having a title like The Cat, The Chair or a combo of an animal with a weather disaster.  Lots of these types of movies can be fun and they make bank for the distribution folks.  I think Model Hunger is fun too, but it's like a rich chocolate cake that you should see a couple of times as opposed to a prefab Twinkie that you don't feel like a second watch is necessary.

Release Report: What are your thoughts on the current state of the Film Festival circuit?

Rochon: I love it. The demise of indie films being booked in theaters plus we're almost to the point of not seeing any indie or mainstream films on a brick and mortar housed DVD shelves, film fests are one of the last places a director and their cast and crew can go to see the film on a big screen with an audience and get some sort of a social experience out of it. 

This is important for filmmakers I think. While there are a whole lot of film festivals now, on multiple tiers, I think it's good.  Keep the experience social and not simply make a movie that gets up on Amazon and that's the beginning and end of it.   Having your film committed to disk at all, though, is something I am glad I will get to see with Model Hunger.

Our future is streaming, digital downloads and non-physical product.  Kind of like it just lives out there in space.  Having the opportunity to see your film at a festival is rewarding.  I loved the festival experience.  The feedback was fascinating too.  What people get out of your film and what you intended can be the same or completely different. Either way it's pretty amazing to just get people talking about it.

Release Report: What are your thoughts on the current state of the independent horror scene?

Rochon: I'm happy to see horror in the theaters.  I think horror awareness and fandom is what keeps the genre alive.  Sometimes it can become frustrating to see the remakes when the originals were so spot on, but studios have been remaking movies since day one.  It's nothing new, if anything it might make the younger viewers search out the originals. 

With indie horror I think we saw a gutted market with less than par product and then the distribution folks couldn't afford to pay advances to the filmmakers anymore.  It became the perfect storm for many filmmakers to leave the business or at least change what genre they worked in. 

Seeing it became so 'easy' to make a horror movie, not easy to make a good one, just easy to make one period, the distribution companies would grab up movies from filmmakers who just wanted to see their movies out there at all.  Who could blame them?  But this became another factor for the indie horror film market to be a losing proposition financially. 

Everything just spiraled.  Unless you don't care about if the movie makes money, you have to make a movie for less and less and less.  The actor's are asked to work for less and so many people don't get paid.  It's a tough road.  I couldn't tell you the future really, streaming is the future but how much can a filmmaker bring in having their movie stream?  

I have seen some very talented indie horror directors end up creating TV series. TV seems to be a highly creative place now, so many great writers, directors and actors have moved over to television and cable it's really the place to be it seems.

Release Report: Do you feel there is a strong enough voice for women in horror film production (directing, producing)?

Rochon: The voice itself is very strong, but there isn't a lot of voices!  I completely understand why an actress would direct a film where she stars in it, it's a smart way to create a vehicle for yourself if that's your goal, but as far as female directors creating content that horrifies?  They are out there, but we could use more. 

Woman have just as a frightening grasp on what scares an audience as men do so I would love to see the numbers multiply.  Plus if they have a different take on the macabre that would be a great creative shot in the arm for horror.

Release Report: What led to your decision to get behind the camera and do a feature film?

Rochon: The script.  I never wanted to direct a film unless the material was something I felt extremely passionate about.  When I read James Morgart's script I immediately felt like this was a story I could get behind, build on and relate to. Something I could envision, have a strong sense of its vision and equally important it was the material I wanted to live with for the multiple years that you live with a film from start to finish. 

It never really finishes as it's with you for life.  This was the script that I wanted to take my important first chance on and I couldn't be happier that it ended up being Model Hunger.  Warts and all, I am deeply proud of this film.  Deeply proud of the people in it and involved with it.

Release Report: Do you think Hollywood's current 'tent pole' model for films in general is leaving out the horror genre?

Rochon: Hollywood's comic book movies are sort of a rich entitled cousin to the horror genre.  I enjoy some of these movies, that wasn't a put down but indeed horror is not considered 'serious' by most. 

This always has made me laugh because it's very difficult to make a good horror film.  It looks easy but it's not.  With that said, I think there are more horror movies in theatres than there ever before.  Not indie films, but big budget horror films.  I think the genre is fairly represented in the big budget world.

Release Report: And what's next?  Any more projects in the pipeline?

Rochon: Always a lot in the works! There are a few films coming out this year; Solid State (sci-fi), Killer Rack (comedy-horror) The Hospital 2 (brutal-horror), Death House (horror, based on the late Gunnar Hansen's original story) and more.  I continue to write for Videoscope magazine, my Model Hunger part four article will be seen in the next issue of Fangoria and I have started writing for ShockTillYouDrop.com.

Wild Eye Releasing Picks July 26 As The DVD Debut Date For Director Brandon Scullion’s Consumption

Independent filmmakers, with terrific ideas, are always faced with money issues.  That is just the way of the world. 

Hang in there, there is a new release announcement coming.  We are not deliberately burying the lede, but we want to make a point first before getting to the nuts and bolts of Wild Eye Releasing’s latest DVD pronouncement.  

It begins like this, the “Hollywood” studios green light multi-million budget films that can be best described as nothing more than repetitive drivel.   Ouch!  Yes, they are beautiful to look at and well-produced, but when the film in question is nothing more than a “connecting” entry in a franchise series — when two hours-plus has to be filled with CGI nothingness — it is not only a cheat (rip-off), but it is downright cynical.   

There are plenty of examples, but it would be in poor taste to barf them up here (it is so tempting … oh so tempting). 

In the indie world, the entire film budget could be the amount of money spent feeding the cast and crew for just one day of a “Hollywood” production.   It is really night and day — two very different worlds.

But, what makes this fascinating is that indie filmmakers can deliver — on micro budgets — engaging, effective and entertaining films that can be just as “good” (we use quotes there to emphasis that it is relative) as their well-healed brethren.  

You have to harken back to the days of Johannes Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press.   Only the elites of the day could afford it, which meant they controlled the means of information decimation.

These days, anyone can write and print a book on their desktop computer.   It doesn’t mean that the book is worth reading — it might not be Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” (from the days of Gutenberg) — but that it can be done by anyone.  

That’s the point, the same holds true for filmmaking.  Which brings us full circle back to the “Hollywood” mega-budget productions and the indie world.   

Indie filmmakers can make engaging, effective and entertaining films that can rival, admittedly on different levels, the films of those with the seemingly unlimited financial resources to make their “blockbusters.”  That scares people in Hollywood half to death — an indie filmmaker does a feature film for under $10,000 and they do one for $100,000,000 … and they both take up just as much time to watch (and, presumably, enjoy).   Humans only have so much time. 

On July 26 you have a prime example being released on DVD.   This would be director Brandon Scullion’s Consumption, which began its long and torturous path to the world of home entertainment back in 2013/14 as Live-in Fear.

The film begins with your standard “victim pool,” which is a group (varying in sizes) of young and attractive teens or college-aged kids going off somewhere alone for a period of time (weekend, week, whatever).   Most, if not all, will end up dead by film’s end.  

In the case of Consumption, the victim pool is Mallory (Arielle Brachfeld) Seth (David Lautman), Eric (Chris Dornan) and Becca (Sarah Greyson), two couples out for some fun in the wintery mountains of Utah.   

There are a couple of early signs that things will not go well.   First, they are alone — anyone familiar with mountain resort areas in Utah during the winter knows that one of the hardest things up there is finding a damn place to park.   No problem for our fun-lovers, the place they are going to hang out is deserted.

Second, the “caretakers,” especially the guy named Ferry (Myles Cranford), who is toting an axe, warn them in various ways to leave.   A creepy guy with an axe saying “leave” is another bad sign.

In just a matter of time the entire proceedings take on a surreal tone.   Seth’s got his dismembered mom in the trunk (maybe, maybe not) and poor Mallory takes a fascination with slicing up her arms.   Eric goes into vomiting spasms and eventually takes an interest in one of Mallory’s arms as well.   And, the “caretakers” are actually a cult … 

Consumption is dark, cold and creepy … and delivers exactly what genre fans demand.  These would be CHILLS!   The requisite amount of GORE!   And, a feeling of unrelenting hopelessness; doom!    Enjoy it on DVD come July 26.

Paramount Home Media Preps Key & Peele: The Complete Series For DVD On August 2

Paramount Home Media announced this past week that Aug. 2 will be the street date for a six-disc DVD collection of the Comedy Central production — featuring all 53 episodes — of Key & Peele: The Complete Series.   

All five seasons of this incredibly funny comedy-sketch series will be available, including two unreleased seasons.   Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have scored 11 Emmy Awards nominations in various categories for their creative work and various character sketches, including President Obama (Peele) and Luther (Key), his “anger translator.” 

Also heading to the DVD arena on Aug. 2 is the next round of child-friendly adventures from the popular Nickelodeon series, Paw Patrol, starring Ryder and his canine friends, Chase, Marshall, Skye, Rocky and Rubble (and more!).  The Aug. 2 collection is titled Paw Patrol: Sports Day!

MVD Entertainment Group Announces The June Blu-ray Release Calendar For Arrow Video

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a trio of new Blu-ray restorations ready for film fans to savor during the month of June.

June 28 brings genre fans writer/director John De Bello’s 1988 film release of Return of the Killer Tomatoes (with George Clooney in an early film role).

Bonus features for this new film restoration include a newly-prepared commentary from filmmaker John De Bello (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!) and a newly minted video session with the film’s star, Anthony Starke.

June 21 is the street date for a new 4K restoration of the writing and directing team of David Siegel and Scott McGehee’s 1993 neo-noir thriller, Suture.

Arrow Video has configured this release as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack.

This arthouse gem — starring “brothers” Michael Harris and Dennis Haysbert — arrives with commentary from filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee, new video sessions with Siegel and McGehee, executive producer Steven Soderbergh, actor Dennis Haysbert, cinematographer Greg Gardiner, editor Lauren Zuckerman and production designer Kelly McGehee, deleted scenes and the short film titled Birds Past.

 

Lastly, Arrow Video will bring to market on June 14 the second installment in its popular “Nikkatsu Diamond Guys” series.   Nikkatsu Diamond Guys, Volume Two — a Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack — features three ‘60s Japanese action flicks recently transferred from original film elements.

Included in the mix are Tokyo Mighty Guy, Danger Pays and Murder Unincorporated.

The KimStim Collection Teams With Icarus Films For The July 19 DVD Debut Of Bridgend

The KimStim Collection, with sales and distribution support provided by Icarus Films, announced this past week that Danish documentary filmmaker Jeppe Rønde’s first dramatic film, Bridgend — which is actually based on his own research (more on that in a moment) — will be making its domestic DVD debut on July 19.

Between 2007 and 2012 there were a total of 79 unexplained suicides in the Welsh town of Bridgend, which has a population of right around 50,000.   Most were teens and young adults.   It is quite the mystery … so many suicides, without rhyme or reason, in the same area over so short a period.

Jeppe Rønde set out to make a documentary on the subject and spent quite a bit of time in the area researching the subject, but fellow documentary filmmaker John Michael Williams beat him to the market place with his own documentary, which is also titled Bridgend.

It is just too juicy a mystery to let all that research go to waste, so he teamed with fellow Danish writers Peter Asmussen (Breaking the Waves) and Torben Bech to fashion a fictional tale that combines many of the working theories about what triggered so many irrational acts.

The catalyst for their story is the assignment of David (Steven Waddington — The Last of the Mohicans, The Imitation Game, as Lightoller in the 2012 Titanic mini-series, etc.), a police detective, to the area to investigate the deaths.   He arrives with his teenage daughter, Sara (Hannah Murray — best known to American audiences as Gilly from the Game of Thrones television series) and this combination of detective and teen gives us full access to the community.

David gives us a view from the investigative side, with all of the case files and methodology associated with solid police work — it is a mystery after all.   Sara, on the other hand, gives the viewer access to the core group most likely to be involved in a suicide attempt … or murder?

 

Although the area is picturesque, even beautiful, cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck (A War, A Hijacking, etc.) — a fellow Dane — works in deep, cool green tones that, over time, become depressing … is it ever bright and sunny here?   His work adds immeasurably to the mood of this dark mystery.

20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment's Deadpool Gets Maximum 4K Ultra HD Effort

At a recent event at 20^th Century Fox, where the studio brought out the Deadpool’s director Tim Miller and colorist Tim Stipan to chat about their experience putting the film together for a Ultra High-Def (UHD) Blu-ray Disc release.

The team spent weeks making sure the film took advantage of the advanced audio codecs and high dynamic range (HDR_ technologies offered by the next-gen home entertainment disc format. And it sounded like they had fun doing it.

“The UHD especially was just [expletive] amazing with the level of detail,” Miller said. “I noticed as I went through it, it just kept getting better and better. If you had a bad hair [stylist] on set, this format isn’t for you.”

Stipan said the inclusion of HDR is what makes UHD Blu-ray worth the upgrade for consumers, instead of just more pixels offered in 4K video. With HDR, filmmakers can see more of what the camera has captured, and in turn, the consumers get to see it as well, he said. 

Compared the arrival of UHD Blu-ray to the upgrade of Blu-ray video compared to DVD, Stipan called UHD BD “the wave of the future. I felt like every time we were going through it, we were seeing more and more. It allowed me to be better at my job.”

Danny Kaye, EVP of global research and technology strategy for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, said that the quality of Deadpool on UHD Blu-ray — and other films the studio is releasing on the format — is a result of the work out the studio’s Fox Innovation Lab, which tests the best possible audio and video technologies far in advance of home entertainment releases.

 “We at Fox are dedicated to creating these new technologies aimed at giving [consumers] the best possible viewing experience,” Kaye said.

The Criterion Collection Announces Its August 2016 Blu-ray And DVD Release Calendar

The Criterion Collection unveiled its August release calendar this past week and topping the list of Blu-ray and DVD selections — which is always a matter of taste mind you — is auteur filmmaker Robert Altman’s 1971 neo-Western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

With the film’s star, Warren Beatty, much-anticipated return to the silver screen this Thanksgiving in Rules Don’t Apply  — written, directed and starring Beatty as none other than Howard Hughes — Criterion seems to be right on top of things with this new 4K restoration.

The street date will be Aug. 9 and SKU configuration will be a Blu-ray and a double-disc DVD edition.

As to bonus goodies for the Blu-ray and double-disc DVD selections of McCabe & Mrs. Miller — and there are plenty to be sure — they begin with a vintage 2002 commentary option featuring the late Robert Altman, who was joined by the film’s producer, David Foster (The Getaway, The Thing, Short Circuit, etc.), a new documentary on the making of the film and a newly prepared video session featuring film historians Cari Beauchamp (author: “Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and The Powerful Women of Early Hollywood” and “Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years”) and Rick Jewell (author: “RKO Radio Pictures:  A Titan Is Born” and “The Golden Age of Cinema: Hollywood, 1929-1945”).

Other nuggets include a vintage interview with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, 1970 making-of featurette, a 1999 Q&A session with production designer Leon Ericksen and snippets from a 1971 airing of The Dick Cavett Show featuring filmmaker Robert Altman and critic Pauline Kael.

The following week, Aug. 16, will see Blu-ray and DVD editions of documentary filmmaker Stig Björkman’s Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words.  

The ARR for this 2015 Swedish-language import is 277 days and arthouse ticket sales amounted to $133,283.

Bonus features include a newly-prepared video session with filmmaker Stig Björkman, Landskamp (1932) and outtakes from the 1936 film, On the Sunny Side.

extended scenes, a pair of deleted scenes, bonus 8mm home footage from the 1930s, a clip from Bergman’s first film,

Aug. 23 marks the arrival of a new restoration of director Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Oscar nominated Woman of the Dunes (Best Foreign Language Film) — Blu-ray and double-disc DVD editions will be available.

Bonus features include four short films from Teshigahara — Hokusai (1953), Ikebana (1956), Tokyo 1958 (1958) and Ako (1965) — and the documentary, Teshigahara and Abe.

On the same date, Aug. 23, the Criterion Collection will be issuing a new 4K restoration of director Tony Richardson’s 1961 film adaptation of Shelagh Delaney stage play, A Taste of Honey.

Available will be DVD and Blu-ray SKUs of this award-winning British “Kitchen Sink” drama.    Bonus nuggets a vintage (circa 1962) interview with Richardson, a vintage interview (circa 1960) with playwright Shelagh Delaney and filmmaker Tony Richardson’s theatrical short film, Momma Don’t Allow (1955, co-directed with Karel Reisz).

Rounding out the month of August — street date of Aug. 30 — are two from auteur filmmaker Orson Welles.  These are a 4K restoration of The Immortal Story and a newly prepared restoration of Chimes at Midnight.

Both Chimes at Midnight and The Immortal Story will be configured as double-disc DVD releases and single-disc Blu-ray product offerings.

Broad Green Pictures Tabs June 21 For Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Director Terrence Malick's Knight Of Cups

Auteur filmmaker Terrence Malick’s latest, Knight of Cups, will be making its way to the home entertainment market place on June 21 as both DVD and Blu-ray selections.

The ARR works out to 109 days and domestic ticket sales amounted to $566,006 from the films limited theatrical release (just 68 screens nationwide).

Christian Bale stars as a jaded Hollywood scripter who seeks comfort from his near-meaningless lifestyle through romantic encounters with six different women, who are described as tarot cards — Moon (Imogen Poots), Judgement (Cate Blanchett), Tower (Freida Pinto), Death (Natalie Portman), High Priestess (Teresa Palmer) and Freedom (Isabel Lucas).

Bonus features are limited to a “Making of Knight of Cups” featurette.