Kino Lorber has announced four new titles to join their collection on Blu-Ray and DVD this August: Code of the Freaks, Capital In the Twenty-First Century, Sonja: The White Swan and Guest of Honour. These represent two important documentaries, a tale of an old-school athlete turned movie star and a new drama from director Atom Egoyan. Details on these films can be found below:
Code of the Freaks
Street Date: August 4, 2020 (DVD Only)
Synopsis: Code of the Freaks presents a radical reframing of the use of disabled characters in film. Using hundreds of clips spanning over 100 years of moviemaking, and a cast of disabled artists, scholars and activists, it’s a scorching critique of some of Hollywood’s most beloved characters. This revelatory documentary investigates the power of movie imagery to shape the beliefs and behaviors of the general public toward disabled people, and of disabled people toward themselves. Drawing its title from a line from Tod Browning’s notorious 1932 film, Freaks, Code of the Freaks debunks well-worn tropes – the miracle cure, the blind guy driving a car, the magical little people, the face-feelers, the sexless, the better off dead – and brings an entirely fresh perspective. It dares to imagine a cinematic landscape that centers the voices of disabled people.
Capital In the Twenty-First Century
Street Date: August 4, 2020
Synopsis: Based on the international bestseller by rock star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time’s list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world’s most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future.
Street Date: August 18, 2020
Synopsis: Jim (David Thewlis, Wonder Woman) and his daughter Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira, Locke & Key), a high school music teacher, attempt to unravel their complicated histories and intertwined secrets in the latest film from Academy Award® nominee Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), which weaves through time exploring perception and penance, memory and forgiveness. A hoax instigated by an aggressive school bus driver (Rossif Sutherland) goes very wrong. Accused of abusing her position of authority with 17-year-old Clive (Alexandre Bourgeois) and another student, Veronica is imprisoned. Convinced that she deserves to be punished for crimes she committed at an earlier age, Veronica rebuffs her father’s attempts to secure her early release. Confused and frustrated by her intransigence, Jim’s anguish begins to impinge on his job. As a food inspector, he wields great power over small, family-owned restaurants. It’s a power he doesn’t hesitate to use. While preparing Jim’s funeral, Veronica confides the secrets of her past to Father Greg (Luke Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums), who may hold the final piece of this father-daughter puzzle.
Street Date: August 11, 2020
Synopsis: Sonja: The White Swan tells the story of Sonja Henie, one of the world’s greatest athletes and the inventor of modern figure skating, who decides to go to Hollywood in 1936 to become a movie star. Her first film is a box office smash, selling the most tickets in the world in 1937. She becomes one of the richest women of her time, always surrounded by fans, lovers and family, and never has a moment alone. As she gets older the spotlight begins to fade, but she refuses to quit.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
