Fan-favorite independent film label Altered Innocence has signed a new deal to distribute its acclaimed home video releases through MVD Entertainment, 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!”
Details on the first releases under this new partnership can be found below:
She Is Conann
Street Date: May 7, 2024
Synopsis: In a barbaric fantasy sci-fi trip through time, sword-and-sorcery mythology is bent, fractured, and gender-swapped by master visionary Bertrand Mandico in his third feature epic. Six lives, six eras, and six deaths mark Conann’s poetic journey through different incarnations and lesbian loves. Guiding Conann through her many epic lives is Elina Löwensohn (Amateur, Let the Corpses Tan) as Rainer, a Cerberus of many otherworldly dimensions whose paparazzi camera sees all. The perversity of The Wild Boys and the hero’s journey of After Blue (Dirty Paradise) come together in this even greater handmade homage as Mandico ropes in influences as lush as Fellini Satyricon, The Night Porter, The Hunger, and Fassbinder’s entire oeuvre to craft a moving portrait of a warrior trying to find her place while outside of space, time, and meaning. This official selection of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Fantastic Fest, and Sitges “thrives on its own bizarre extravagance as it pushes the limits of substance and style” (Collider).
Bonus Materials
- ‘The Show Has Already Started’: 3 Short Films by Bertrand Mandico (‘Rainer, A Vicious Dog in Skull Valley’, ‘We Barbarians’, and ‘The Last Cartoon – Nonsense, Optimistic, Pessimistic’) (83 min.)
- DTS-HD 5.1 Surround Master Audio
- In French, English, & German with optional English & Spanish Subtitles
- Theatrical Trailer
- Other Trailers
Ozon ‘s Transgressive Triple
Street Date: June 25, 2024
Synopsis: Kink, murder, incest, and cannibalism. These are just a few of François Ozon’s favorite things in his early features. A masterful chameleon of genre and style with more than 20 years of filmmaking under his belt, Ozon has built a vast and versatile body of work and while he may have gained the spotlight after the critically acclaimed and elegantly subtle ‘Under the Sand’ (2000), this collection rediscovers Ozon’s brash roots with a trilogy like no other.
SITCOM (1998)
An upper-middle-class nuclear family experiences upheaval when they adopt a laboratory mouse as their new pet. As each member interacts with the new addition to the household, the animal exerts a strange power that prompts them to explore their repressed psychosexual desires. A satire of bourgeois values – something of a cross between John Waters and Luis Buñuel – Ozon offers surreal delights and a rollercoaster of perversions in Sitcom.
CRIMINAL LOVERS (1999)
An audacious queer take on Hansel and Gretel, Criminal Lovers starts with a thrill kill that sends its protagonists, Alice and Luc, down the rabbit hole. Like a wannabe Bonnie and Clyde, the couple flee their safe suburban lives before getting lost in the woods, only to find themselves trapped by a psychotic woodsman. What awaits in his cellar – from sexual enlightenment to karmic retribution – must be seen to be believed.
WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS (2000)
Water Drops on Burning Rocks adapts an unproduced play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Ozon’s favorite filmmaker – in which Franz, a naïve 19-year-old, is seduced by a smug-yet-alluring, 50-year-old businessman Leopold, quickly moving into his apartment. Domestic bliss is short-lived as a sadomasochistic relationship takes root and the power dynamics continue to shift upon the arrival of both men’s ex-girlfriends: the spry Anna and mysterious Véra. This ménage à quatre leads to sex, despair, and, of course, a musical number.
Bonus Materials
- New Interview with Actor Stéphane Rideau
- Commentary Track for ‘Water Drops on Burning Rocks’ by Cerise Howard and Rohan Spong
- Video Essay ‘Little Deaths: Loss and Coming of Age in François Ozon’s First Chapter’ by Kat Ellinger
- Pull-out Poster with Artwork by Pierre et Gilles
- Critical Essay by Juan Barquin and Trae DeLellis
- Compilation Trailer
- Other Trailers
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Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.