Right on Blue K – I agree w/ your well-presented points, and happen to love films like ‘Yeleen’, ‘Life on Earth’, ‘Bamako’, ‘La Gran Final’… Thank you for your thoughful post. Attn Criterion staff and owners!
Blue K, a very good post and I agree with you 100 percent. I think for now theauteurs is doing a good job in bringing forward some really obscure movies from all part of the world and I am just glad for that.
It’s screamingly obvious that a racist white troll started this thread.
>>What would be a couple of afrocentric films I should watch?<,
Just catching up on this thread (only on page 2), so forgive me if this has been addressed.
Two that I know are available & are intriguing to boot are HYENAS – an adaptation of Durenmatt’s THE VISIT – and YEELEN … both from Kino. Both have also been mentioned here.
But as someone noted (sorry, I lost the reference), it’s not merely Criterion that is not releasing these titles, no major company is. Only smaller companies – some of which come & go with alarming frquency – specialize in regional cinema & the more care they put into their product, it seems, the more trouble they have staying around (casa Nefra, anyone?).
Now Kino released HYENAS and YEELEN a few years ago & with some fanfare as I recall, but they haven’t exactly followed up with a slew more of South African titles. Is it possible these just didn’t sell well enough for the company to pursue more such releases? About a year or so earlier they released a noirish thriller from South Korea (and I’m blanking on the tile … WATCH ME …?) but I don’t believe they’ve done much more from that country even though their stated goal at the time (if I’m remembering correctly) was to bring forth more Asian titles.
In my own case – since I write a good deal on the fantasy-horror genre – I’m frustrated by the lack of availability of films from South America. One that I tracked down a few years ago in a graymatket VHS is OBRAS MAESTROS DEL TERROR. I recently had occasion to watch it again & visually it is the rival of BLACK SUNDAY. You can sell Mario Bava in the US, but can you persuade the marketplace to check out Enrique carreras?
>>It’s screamingly obvious that a racist white troll started this thread.<<
What’s screamingly obvious, David, is that you haven’t read through the entire thread.
I was amazed that so many posts referred to Criterion! While Blue K was talking about bigotry and ignorance in the Western film world, the responses seemed to take a stance that Criterion was the be all and end all of film distributers. When Criterion looks into it, everything will be ok.
Criterion does a good job, sure, but it contributes as much in dictating tastes as it does in expanding tastes. While Blue K may not be on the money in all his comments (Kenji’s referral to Bollywood, for example), he has raised a valid point about the insularity of the Western film world.
European films have been recognized over the last few decades only because some American critics were sufficiently open minded to speak to and listen to critics from other venues. I expect this is due solely to the upgrading of international travel, not any desire to give the other guy credit.
Perhaps what we need is some competition in the market place.
“Criterion has almost a 500-film catalogue now, and when you include in-house brands like Eclipse, I believe their films come to around 600. Of those films, there is not ONE SINGLE FILM from Africa. Not one single film from Mainland China. Not one single from the entire Indian subcontinent. There are exactly two films from Latin America and the Caribbean, “Black Orpheus” directed by a Frenchman, and “The Harder They Come” from Jamaica. There are two films directed by African-Americans, “George Washington” and “Do the Right Thing.” There is one DVD set featuring works of the African-American actor Paul Robeson. There is one film from Taiwan, “Yi YI” and one American film directed by a Taiwanese director, “The Ice Storm” by Ang Lee. There are 4 films from Hong Kong, two action flicks by John Woo which are no longer even in print and two by Wong Kar-wai. And then there is one Iranian film, “The Taste of Cherry.””
—
Actually there is The Last Emperor which is a Chinese co-production, and several James Ivory Indian co-productions.
Kino does offer some African releases, but the vast majority of their releases are US/Western/Japan, just like Criterion.
Turkey – 1
Iran – 4
India – 4
Thailand – 5
Korea – 8
Nepal – 1
Hong Kong – 11
China – 7
Mexico – 2
Brazil – 2
Africa – 13
Israel – 16
(many of the above are European co-productions)
US/West/Japan – 468
“There are two films directed by African-Americans, “George Washington” and “Do the Right Thing.”
I didn’t know David Gordon Green, who directed George Washington, was black. When I met him, he looked pretty white to me.
Word on the street is that Criterion is prepping a Tyler Perry box set.
You’re such a cad, Fredo ;o)
Oh come on, you know it could happen! hahahahah
Hey Harry — was Barack Obama born in Hawaii or in Kenya?
>>Word on the street is that Criterion is prepping a Tyler Perry box set.<<
ACK!!!!
>>was Barack Obama born in Hawaii or in Kenya?<<
I fail to see what that has to do with the price of ham.
And you’ve still failed to read the post where Blue Kim – that “racist white troll” who started the thread – posted that s/he is a person of color.
And on what basis should we believe someone without a name?
Well, there is that, I grant you. (Though our real names might not be Harry Long and David Ehrenstein.
But Blue Kim’s every post has been to the effect that s/he wants to see films from countries not much represented on home video. I’ve seen nothing racist in any of his/her posts.
From what I know of Blue Kim he’s a Korean-American from Hawaii. He moved to the U.S. when he was eleven (from what I’ve read of him on his postings). He also has a picture of himself on his profile… I’d say that identity is as reliable as anyone elses on here.
He’s a good guy, too.
Criterion is a business first and foremost. They are under no obligation to promote art from any culture or any number of cultures. That being said, a good number of the films they have released were never really obscure or unlikely to ever not be distributed in the first place; directors/celebrities like Akira Kurosawa, Michael Powell, Terry Gilliam, Andrei Tarkovsky, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut don’t really need any help finding an audience.Consider very talented filmmakers from the same countries as the above, like Raoul Ruiz, Peter Greenaway (so far represented with a promise for the already released in R1 Cook/Thief in the future, one of his most vapid films), Alain Robbe-Grillet, Nagisa Oshima (so far represented by the already released in R1 Empire of Passion/In the Realm of the Senses, while much more complex stuff like Death by Hanging has never been released here), who have very genuine problems getting their films distributed in the U.S. at all. Obviously distribution rights enter into it somewhat, but I would guess the primary factor that the names I just mentioned are underrepresented compared to the bigger ones is that they just aren’t bankable in the same way. The same goes for films from Africa and a number of countries elsewhere.
>>He’s a good guy, too.<<
From his thoughtful posts (not just in this thread), he’s certainly no troll.
Nor a racist. It’s irresponsible and ignorant to throw that statement around in this thread about Blue K.
What a great post. Nothing in it was racist or incendiary, and it was perfectly true.
I was fortunate enough to take a Chinese Film class at my college, and we got to watch 9 films from the mainland. It was a wonderful experience. I have somewhat of a connection with Chinese cinema (my boyfriend is Chinese, and his family has copies of a lot of the releases), and it’s really upsetting how many films go completely under the radar. Outside of that class, I don’t think I watched anything in any film class that was produced outside of America, Europe, and Japan.
I’d love to see a more international cinema scene develop.
You and me both, Christine.
David Ehrenstein, it might behoove you to read at least the introductory post in the thread. And yes, I happen to be Asian—to paraphrase Stephen Colbert, I don’t see color, people tell me I’m Asian, and I believe them, lol—but a person of any race could’ve written what I wrote in the introductory thread which most definitely is NOT racist and is actually calling for more diversity.
Fredo, my bad on the David Gordon Green reference. In my ignorance, I presumed that he was an African-American because of the subject matter of George Washington. And kudos to filmmakers like DGG and Lance Hammer (Ballast) who happen to be white but who are not afraid to make thoughtful films about black people.
If the demand is there, anyone can get love.
these are clumsy percentages and don’t include any of the ivory/eclipse/essential art releases. but, for posterity..
US 27.65%
france 22.25%
japan 13.10%
UK 11.02%
italy 6.86%
sweden 4.37%
germany 2.91%
denmark 1.87%
soviet union 1.25%
czech republic 0.83%
hong kong 0.83%
poland 0.83%
spain 0.83%
australia 0.62%
canada 0.62%
mexico 0.62%
new zealand 0.42%
algeria 0.21%
belgium 0.21%
brazil 0.21%
china 0.21%
france/greece 0.21%
france/poland 0.21%
india 0.21%
iran 0.21%
macedonia 0.21%
netherlands 0.21%
norway 0.21%
russia 0.21%
taiwan 0.21%
US/guatemala 0.21%
yugoslavia 0.21%
“I’m Asian”
But you understand that the term “colored folks” has connotations for many African Americans that it may not for people of other backgrounds, right?
I didn’t find this offensive in the least. And I’m as black as they come.
Did you grow up in the segregationist American South?
I just learned during their recent 100 year anniversary last month that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by mostly white people. That sort of threw me for a loop.
Matt Parks, I originally posted this thread over a month ago. Several dozen people have chimed in and the only ones even remotely offended by my post are you, Strawdog and Agee. And it was pretty obvious that Agee was mentally ill, and his account has been closed. Can a racist term be used by a person like myself who is UNEQUIVOCALLY against racism to make a point about how we still live in a world that still as a general rule values Western culture more than non-Western culture, even if only subconsciously? I mean, you yourself have pretty much admitted that my post in its entirety was clearly not offensive, that you’re simply objecting to the term “colored folks.”
Maybe it’s time to let it go and focus on the actual argument of my post? I mean, talk about not being able to see the forest for its trees! Everyone, including yourself, understands that the “colored folks” phrase was used ironically. And actually, that term, which is just a colloquial form of “colored people”, once was the polite and enlightened term to refer to minorities in America—National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Get that?
Now, back to the thrust of my original post… Do you actually have anything to add that is germane to my argument that the pathetic dearth of non-First World films in the catalogue of a company like Criterion which claims to present good cinema “from around the world” is actually still a remnant of the kind of ethnocentric thinking from the days of the segregationist South? People have made some valid points here—the main one has been that it’s really about commercial viability and/or difficulties in getting distribution. And actually, this kind of serves my larger point, not about Criterion per se but about the general cultural attitudes in America. If other companies like Facets, Kino, and the now defunct New Yorker, which have all made a decent number of non-Western films available are struggling, while Criterion, which has avoided non-First World films as if they were bedsheets from a leper colony, is relatively thriving… What does that say about our general attitude?
This is a forum about cinema, and while my post wasn’t about any specific films per se, it was about the general attitude of people who claim to be cinephiles. There’s probably not a SINGLE Criterion employee who would say that they automatically value First World cinema above that of others, and they would all be sincere. And even among the users of this forum, you’d be hard to pressed to find people who are inherently and consciously biased. Yet the proof is in the pudding. The bias exists, and I’m pointing it out. I’m concerned about working towards genuine progress—living in a society in which we value all human experience regardless of what region of the globe it comes from. Are you?
Jason Callen
Blue Kim—As usually you present an intelligent and reasonable arguement, thank you for that. I really have nothing to add as it is hard to argue with the numbers. I hope for more diversity in the Criterion catalog in the future, until then I hope you won’t mind if I use the list of directors on your profile page to broaden my own horizons.