Fresh Hot Innocence

If y'all follow me on Twitter (and if you haven't muted the thread, which I wouldn't blame anybody for doing) I have been maintaining a thread there of all of my physical media purchases since pretty early in the pandemic -- it is a very very long thread and really wretchedly materialistic but it's one of the coping mechanisms to "stay sane" (ha) that've helped me over the past few years. The point here being that I buy shit tons of physical media -- way more than my New York City sized apartment can really handle, and I will easily die beneath the towering stacks of books and movies and vinyl records one day, and I have come to terms with that. (As an aside I have mentioned this before but I do sell a lot of the stuff I don't want anymore on eBay, and things are constantly being listed there -- I listed a killer stack of new movies just yesterday! -- so please help me out and go buy some shit to stave off my imminent burial by DVD.) 

Anyway that exceptionally long paragraph was all my lead up to some big Physical Media Nerd News for today -- two of my favorite movie-releasing labels, MVD Group and Altered Innocence, have joined forces! Altered Innocence in particular, which focuses on queer films, has been a big fave -- they were a partner with the website Vinegar Syndrome until a couple of months ago, where I snapped up copies of their everything every time they announced something new. (Sidenote: right now you can buy some amazing shit on their own website. Knife+Heart, baby!) And they've got two big announcements on their upfront docket -- they're dropping Bertrand Mandico's truly out-there queer surreal fantasy adventure She is Conann on May 7th. This movie is wiiiiild.

And then on June 25th (drum-roll please) they're releasing Ozon's Transgressive Triple: Sitcom, Criminal Lovers, and Water Drops on Burning Rocks -- and it sounds like this is a box-set? That's not clear in the press release -- whether they're together or individual releases -- but either way these are three films of Francois Ozon's that've been extremely difficult to see here in the U.S.; I was able to find a used DVD of WDOBR last year, but none of them have hit blu-ray here before. This is very exciting news for those of us who prioritize queer cinema and physical media and are you know just wildly cool people, like me. ETA wait, we now have clarity!

It is indeed a box-set of the three films, and you can pre-order it right now for the low low surprisingly low price of $32 from the fine folks at DiabolikDVD, where they have an exclusive limited edition slipcover! You can also buy it without the slipcover for 27 bucks but where's the fun it that? You're not a real physical media nerd until you start worrying about slipcovers. Okay all of that said you can hit the jump for the brief but exciting original press release:

ALTERED INNOCENCE JOINS MVD 

FOR DISTRIBUTION IN NORTH AMERICA 

MVD Entertainment Group and Altered Innocence are thrilled to announce a new home video distribution partnership for North America, starting with the May 7th release of She is Conann, Bertrand Mandico's sci-fi / fantasy adventure, along with the June 25th release of Ozon's Transgressive Triple: Sitcom, Criminal Lovers, and Water Drops on Burning Rocks, which will bring three of François Ozon's early features to Blu-ray for the first time in North America.

Frank Jaffe, owner of Altered Innocence, said, “We're excited to partner with a company that's been championing indie home media for years and will grow our vision of bringing a curated selection of exciting and edgy LGBTQ and Coming-of-Age cinema to even more audiences!”

MVD's Director of Acquisitions, Eric D. Wilkinson, agrees, stating, "MVD is committed to supporting a diverse range of content that appeals to every film lover and collector and is delighted to be working with Frank and the renowned Altered Innocence brand. With Altered Innocence's strong catalog of critically acclaimed films and content, both our retail and wholesale partners will be able to meet the needs of every customer, starting with the May 7th release of She is Conann, Bertrand Mandico's sci-fi / fantasy adventure. Welcome aboard, Frank and Altered Innocence!"