DVD AND BLU-RAY DISTRIBUTION & SALES
Gartenberg Media is actively engaged in seeking out and representing high quality DVD & Blu-ray publications (as well as digital site licenses) of films and videos that encompass important works from the breadth and depth of the history of the moving image. These works range from pioneers of the silent narrative cinema to cutting edge filmmakers of the contemporary avant-garde.
Frame from ENTUZIAZM, 1930
"Archival practices are undergoing reinvention, too, both enabled and blocked by opportunistic technologies. On the one hand, the superb dedication of such entities as the Criterion Collection, Milestone Films, and Gartenberg Media Enterprises, to name key players, are making possible access to a wealth of cinematic history, ephemera, and value-added materials."
– B. Ruby Rich, Film Quarterly
As the educational film market has shifted from 16mm celluloid film distribution to DVD and Blu-ray editions (and most recently streaming), the contours of film history are being radically reshaped. Well-known films are now re-released in new, high-quality digital transfers by film archives and boutique publishers, and lesser-known films from the course of moving image history are made available for the first time in video format. Bonus features and accompanying authoritative booklets frequently supplement these physical digital editions in order to contextualize such important works in new ways.
Both classic films and avant-garde cinema are represented by GME through a wide array of publications, organized into the following general groupings, that are specifically-oriented toward academic teaching purposes and study:
Experimental Narratives & Avant-Garde Shorts
This very rich category of cutting-edge moving image works (both film and video art) encompasses films from four continents: North and South America, Europe, Asia, and extend from classic films from the silent era to contemporary time-based media. Broadly speaking, the filmmakers in this category consciously play with narrative form and structure through a wide range of cinematic techniques and styles. Works featured include such diverse filmmakers as Stan Brakhage (new to GME distribution), James Benning, Abigail Child, Maya Deren, and Jonas Mekas (US); Michael Snow (Canada); Nicholas Pereda (Mexico); Heinz Emigholz, Werner Schroeter, and Hans Richter (Germany); Germaine Dulac, Philippe Garrel, Marcel Hanoun, and Rose Lowder (France); Val del Omar (Spain); Dziga Vertov (USSR); Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwan); and Apichatpoing Weerasethakul (Thailand). See also the category of Austrian Avant-Garde Film & Video.
This category encompasses a selection of DVD and Blu-ray publications of films directed by major artists from around the world: Georges Méliès, Abel Gance, René Clair, Marcel L’Herbier, and Louis Feuillade (France); F.W. Murnau, Ernst Lubitsch, and Gerhard Lamprecht (Germany); Sergei Eisenstein, Lev Kuleshov, Mikhail Kalatozov, and Dziga Vertov (USSR); Alfred Hitchcock (UK); Segundo de Chomón (Spain); and Erich von Stroheim, Josef von Sternberg, Charles Chaplin, Mack Sennett, King Vidor, and Allan Dwan (United States). These films star such screen idols as Asta Nielsen, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, Rudolph Valentino, Alla Nazimova, Ivan Mosjoukine, Erich Von Stroheim, and Emil Jannings. The overlooked role of women filmmakers throughout silent film history is addressed by EARLY WOMEN FILMMAKERS: AN INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY, presented in a multi-disc DVD/Blu-ray boxed set. See also the category of Danish Silent Cinema.
“Jon Gartenberg and I became friends too many years ago to admit when were both working at MoMA so it’s an overdue reunion to have the chance to collaborate anew. We could have no better partner than Gartenberg Media Enterprises in releasing expanded editions to the educational market some of the most important films from the Kino Lorber collection. Jon’s well-earned reputation for his dedication to film history and commitment the unique and enduring value of film as an educational resource make him an ideal partner. We look forward to growing this relationship in the future.”
- Richard Lorber, President and CEO, Kino Lorber, Inc.
This is a newly-designed category, which encompasses sound-era films by directors of note, worthy of (re)discovery. Long overdue for recognition, Austrian-born expatriate Leopold Lindtberg directed a series of films about Switzerland’s neutral position in the World War II era. THE LAST CHANCE is a film cousin to Jean Renoir’s LA GRANDE ILLUSION, and received the Palme d'Or at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival; SWISS TOUR, a movie about American soldiers on leave, played a significant part in the moral rehabilitation of Switzerland abroad following WW2.
Titles in this category also pay significant homage to the cinematic New Wave that swept across Europe in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This includes the French film UNE SIMPLE HISTOIRE by Marcel Hanoun, as well as LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD by Alain Resnais, Jean-Luc Godard’s ALPHAVILLE, and Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR. Simultaneously in Germany, THE OBERHAUSEN MANIFESTO brought forth the beginning of the New German Film, from which ensued motion pictures by Alexander Kluge, Werner Schroeter, and Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. Bernardo Bertolucci was one of filmmakers emerging from the Italian New Wave of the 1960s (which followed the Neorealism movement), and his sumptuous film THE CONFORMIST is represented herein. A collection of early works by Hou Hsiao Hsien marks the Taiwanese New Wave of the 1980s, and Thai filmmaker Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON marks the debut of another Asian filmmaking talent.
The Documentaries category comprises important nonfiction films by Robert Flaherty (United States), Henri Storck (Belgium), Peter Von Bagh (Finland), and Henri Georges Clouzot (France), as well as newsreels and ethnographic films from Austria, Belgium and Portugal. Intimate portraits of experimental filmmakers Marie Menken and Peter Kubelka are also featured, as well as Hollywood icon Hedy Lamaar. Technical developments throughout film history are represented by the DVD publication DISCOVERING CINEMA, a two-disc set of early sound and color experiments, as well as three films featuring the Cinerama process (CINERAMA’S RUSSIAN ADVENTURE, THIS IS CINERAMA, and WINDJAMMER).
The category of Genre Films comprises lesser-known or rediscovered motion pictures that merit further consideration in the field of genre studies. American action-adventure titles include GOW, THE HEADHUNTER and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, from the early 1930’s; both Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper (also of KING KONG fame) were involved in their production. Featured in this category as well are three film noir titles from the late 1940s and early 1950s: TOO LATE FOR TEARS, starring the sultry Lizabeth Scott; WOMAN ON THE RUN, shot on location in San Francisco; and THE HITCH-HIKER, the only classic film noir directed by a woman (actress Ida Lupino). Lupino also made a series of social issue films, including NEVER FEAR, depicting out-of-wedlock birth. In addition to his experimental short films of the 1940s and 1950s, Los Angeles based filmmaker Curtis Harrington went on to direct his first noir-ish feature in 1961, NIGHT TIDE, starring Dennis Hopper.
From Belgium, we offer 3 movies (WHITEY, ONLY FOR YOU, and THE SAILOR’S QUARTERS, all dating from the 1930’s to the 1950’s) by the director/screenwriter husband-and-wife filmmaking team of Jan Vanderheyden and Edith Keil, who excelled at producing populist films about the Flemish culture.
A series of restorations by the Danish Film Institute include important works by directors Carl Th. Dreyer and Benjamin Christensen, as well as August Blom, Alfred Lind, and A.W. Sandberg. Other DVD editions feature Asta Nielsen, the first diva of international renown, as well as the romantic actor Valdemar Psilander. The 5 films by Carl Th. Dreyer (LEAVES OUT OF THE BOOK OF SATAN, LOVE ONE ANOTHER, THE BRIDE OF GLOMDAL, ONCE UPON A TIME, and THE PRESIDENT) are particularly noteworthy, given the rarity of celluloid projections of these films in North America.
Austrian Avant-Garde Film & Video
Presents key works published by Index DVD from the Austrian Avant-Garde (1957-present), including films by Martin Arnold, Kurt Kren, Gustav Deutsch, Valie Export, Peter Tscherkassky, Dieter Brehm, Maria Lassnig and Peter Weibel, among many others; this section also includes representation of selected artists from Eastern European countries.
These DVD and Blu-ray publications are available on an exclusive basis for sale to educational organizations in North America (universities, libraries, & other cultural institutions), and include public performance rights. Public performance rights extend to use in classrooms and in other non-commercial settings where no admission is charged.
Please Note:
Many of these DVDs are published in PAL format Region 0, requiring PAL or Multi-System playback equipment.
Streaming Rights:
Select titles are available with streaming rights through Digital Site Licenses.
For more information about individual titles available for purchase, please click on the appropriate area of interest in the DVD Categories List; or, perform a search in the "Search" bar.
To order call: 212.280.8654 or click here for information on ordering by fax, email or post.