Announcement: The November Criterion Blu-Ray Release

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The Criterion Collection has literally just (i. e., moments ago as well as moments during the typing of this post) posted on its website the titles of the three new films and the (fourth) anthology being added to the Collection this November, 2009 - and, wow, two of them are very recent! The Blu-Ray release, which will also be available on DVD, is the 2008 Italian film Gomorra by director Matteo Garrone; and one of the DVD releases is the 2008 French film A Christmas Tale by director Arnaud Desplechin. The earlier film is 1969's Downhill Racer, directed by Michael Ritchie, and the anthology is The Golden Age of Television, a series of 1950s' teleplays (by various directors) curated in the early 1980s by PBS.

Huzzah: I've been wanting to see A Christmas Tale! Happy anticipation, everyone.

P. S. It seems that Criterion's releases of A Christmas Tale and Gomorra are part of a larger burgeoning partnership between Criterion and IFC, the Independent Film Channel. According to a number of online news' chroniclers (e. g., here and here), this partnership, which was recently finalized, essentially grants Criterion the rights to distribute select films from the IFC family on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United States - though it is unclear which of the two will do the actual selecting. In whichever case, in addition to the select titles already announced, the partnership will also extend to include the as yet unannounced Criterion releases of other recent IFC films like Che (2008) and Hunger (2008), whose leading actor Michael Fassbinder received a nomination for Best of the year by this blogger for his work therein. Furthermore, the partnership will not only reach out into the future of IFC's filmic acquisitions, but will also reach back, into the past, to repolish for distribution some of the film house's previous titles, like the wonderful Y Tu Mamá También (2001), which apparently may be expected within the next year. As one of course trusts for the best from Criterion, this news is greeted here, at A Year in Film, with thorough excitement for what other offerings this new partnership may hold as we elope from this year in film into the next and beyond.