It's not often that a sexy comedy about the porn industry earns the praise of feminists and critics alike but that's the type of response our August dvd release, Slippery Slope, is earning. Needless to say we are fired up about that! We've got fantastic quotes from Susan Faludi; "Slippery Slope is delightful," as well as Shere Hite; "Slippery Slope is hilarious, multi-layered and warm!" Legendary producer, David Brown called the film "a fresh and amusing send up of pornography." I really thought the film was hilarious, sexy and smart the first time I saw it and am absolutely delighted to be releasing it.

Slippery Slope stars Laila Robins, Jim True-Frost and Kelly Hutchinson. The plot revolves around a cash strapped feminist filmmaker Gillian, (played by Hutchinson) who meets a mysterious producer (Robins) and secretly takes a job directing a porn film in order to get her master work, "Feminism For Dummies" out of hock with the lab. Soon her own slumbering sexuality is awakened in surprising ways. This arouses the suspicion of her politically correct husband, Hugh (True-Frost) and leads to a madcap finale of mistaken identities that threatens to upend Gillian's best laid plans.

We'll be doing a Q&A with Director Sarah Schenck in the next couple of days so stay tuned. We hope you'll give this very funny film a look when it comes out on August 5th. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The question that every surviving dvd label is asking themselves is where oh where did the consumers of Independent and arthouse films go?  It used to be easy, as in cost effective, to introduce a new dvd to this customer.  They were smart, well educated and actually read things.  Now, retail has abandoned them as consumers and it has become a very pricey proposition to find them on the internet.

We certainly ran into this ourselves earlier this year.  Our film, Romeo & Juliet Get Married, directed by the highly respected Bruno Baretto (Dona Flor And Her Two Husbands, etc) is a wonderful romantic riff on Shakespeare's classic tragedy.  Reviews were very strong.  We did ok with rental, but as far as sell through goes, in spite of a costly marketing effort, we barely made a ripple.  The same held true for the highly regarded Khadak.  This film has a built in appeal for people interested in Eastern religiion, environmentalism, politics and arthouse cinema.  It played at Sundance, Venice and Toronto.  Yet, without a deal with Blockbuster, we would have barely covered our theatrical investment.  English language titles didn't fare much better.  Crystal River, which is advertised on the front page of this site, is a beautiful film with strong appeal to women.  Unfortunately, retail that caters to women has shown little or no interest in stocking the title.  Which brings us back to the internet. 

All the marketing gurus claim its easier to reach your audience with the internet.  This might be true.  But reaching your audience and actually getting them to buy your product have proven to be two different things.  This would explain the demise of so many dvd companies over the past six months.   Yet, when film fans talk, they often complain about the lack of interesting films to see.  There is a huge disconnect here between consumers and speciality distributors.  Whoever figures out a way to consistently bridge it will become very successful.  In the meantime, there are too many worthwhile films that no one is seeing.

Funny Games is a horror film starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart. Directed by Michael Haneke.

8 Miles High (Das Wilde Leben) tells the true story of European wild-child Uschi Obermaier. The film tracks her restless life from a small town girl in rural Bavaria to a fast-living fashion icon in Munich; from free-loving companion of the Rolling Stones to ultimately becoming the embodiment of the 60's generation of sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. This is one woman's story about the discovery of freedom and the price one must ultimately pay to achieve it.

French Filmmaker Catherine Breillat had New York film fans in her grasp with her American debut of The Last Mistress. The film brought in $33,554 for IFC Films.

The Last Mistress is about a penniless rogue, Ryno de Marigny (newcomer Fu-ad Ait Aattou), who shocks 19th century France with his engagement to the virginal gem of the aristocracy, Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida of FAT GIRL). As lurid speculations of Ryno's ten year affair with the carnal Vellini (Argento) manifest, a supremely erotic and wickedly humorous depiction of human lust is revealed - overriding the brittle facade of nobility and reverence. Bolstered by Breillat's mastery of the medium and Argento's commanding performance, THE LAST MISTRESS is a highly entertaining yet incredibly provocative film that has resulted in unanimous praise from audiences and critics across the world.