THE TEACHER, an Award-Winning Pitch Black Comedy Set in Communist Era Czechoslovakia, Arrives on DVD/Digital on from Film Movement

"Exceptional... wonderfully entertaining"

-The Los Angeles Times

  "(An) intelligent and universally resonant crowd-pleaser"

-Variety

FROM OSCAR®-NOMINATED DIRECTOR JAN HŘEBEJK

 COMES A PITCH BLACK COMEDY SET IN

COMMUNIST ERA CZECHOSLOVAKIA

THE TEACHER

Street Date: January 9, 2018

Zuzana Mauréry, named Best Actress at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, is a Manipulative Teacher in This Acclaimed Theatrical Release;

Arriving on DVD with the Bonus Short "Sacrilege"

SYNOPSIS

From Oscar®-Nominated director Jan Hřebejk (Divided We Fall) and loosely inspired by true events, THE TEACHER is a dark comedy about a delightfully nasty middle school teacher you'll not soon forget.  Zuzana Mauréry received universal acclaim as Comrade Drazdechova, who uses her students to manipulate their parents for her own gain.  Called "needle sharp... [featuring] one of the most intense PTA meeting of all time" by Indiewire, THE TEACHER arrives on DVD and Digital January 9, 2018 following Film Movement's theatrical release.

Czechoslovakia, 1983. Middle school teacher Maria Drazdechova (Mauréry) greets her new students by asking each to announce what his or her parents do for a living.  Soon, it becomes apparent that her pupils' grades are tied to how helpful their families can be with favors, both big and small. While this does not sit well with many parents, others are willing to play along because Ms. Drazdechova is also a high-ranking official of the Communist Party.  Now, with the futures of their children at stake, each family must decide whether they are willing to maintain the status quo or stand up against the corrupt system.

BONUS FEATURE 

BONUS SHORT FILM - Sacrilege (directed by Christophe M. Saber, Switzerland/France, 15 minutes) Saoud is the king of his neighborhood, but when a rumor gets out that he committed a sacrilegious act he is immediately ostracized by the community. 

FILM FESTIVALS 

Winner, Best Actress - Karlovy Vary Int'l. Film Festival

Winner, Best Art Direction - Gijon Int'l. Film Festival

Winner, Best Soundtrack - Gijon Int'l. Film Festival

Official Selection - Chicago Int'l. Film Festival

Official Selection - Hamptons Int'l. Film Festival

Official Selection - Busan Int'l. Film Festival

Official Selection - Tokyo Int'l. Film Festival

Official Selection - Warsaw Int'l. Film Festival

Official Selection - Palm Springs International Film Festival

Opening Night Film - Trieste Film Festival 

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Type:  DVD

Running Time:  103 minutes

Genre:  World Cinema/Dark Comedy

Aspect Ratio:  1.78:1

Audio:  5.1 Surround Sound/2.0 Stereo

About Film Movement

Celebrating its 15th year, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City.  Film Movement has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide, and last year it had its first Academy Award-nominated film, Naji Abu Nowar's THEEB. Film Movement's theatrical distribution strategy has evolved to include promising American independent films, documentaries, and an even stronger slate of foreign art house titles.  Its catalog includes titles by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent. In 2015, Film Movement launched its reissue label Film Movement Classics, featuring new restorations released theatrically as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, including films by such noted directors as Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Marleen Gorris, Takeshi Kitano, Arturo Ripstein, and Ettore Scola. For more information, please visit www.filmmovement.com.

Newly Restored in 2K, Film Movement Releases Romy Schneider's Classic SISSI COLLECTION on Blu-Ray for the Very First Time on 11/14!

"Glittering Splendor...Schneider is a sight to behold."

-- The New York Times

JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, FILM MOVEMENT BRINGS TOGETHER "THE SISSI TRILOGY", NEWLY RESTORED IN 2K

AND AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON BLU-RAY

THE SISSI COLLECTION

Romy Schneider Vaulted to International Stardom in Her Career 

Defining Role as the Beloved Austrian Princess; Every Timeless Sissi Film 

is Collected in this 5-Disc Set, Perfect for the Whole Family and 

Available on November 14, 2017 Extras Include a Bonus Disc featuring "Forever My Love" (1962), a Condensed English-Dubbed Version of the Trilogy, a "Making of" Featurette and a 20-page Collector's Booklet

SYNOPSIS

At the age of seventeen, Romy Schneider vaulted to international stardom through her portrayal of Princess Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria in the first of three lavish films directed by Ernst Marischka.  And, while she would go on to work with some of the most influential and daring European directors of the era, Schneider will always be remembered by this defining role in the internationally beloved series.  Newly restored in 2K and available for the first time ever on Blu-ray in North America, THE SISSI COLLECTION, priced at $74.95srp, includes the Cannes Golden Palm-Nominated "Sissi Trilogy" along with VICTORIA IN DOVER (1954), a precursor to the Sissi films in which Schneider plays Britain's Princess Victoria. 

In SISSI, the title tale from 1955, viewers embraced the 16 year-old Sissi as she traveled with her mother to the Austrian court in Ischl, where the engagement between her sister Helene and the young emperor Franz Josef (Karl Boehm) was to be announced.  Unfortunately for Helene, he falls for Sissi after meeting her while out fishing.  Sissi is also romantically engaged, but marriage comes with a price -- Archduchess Sophie, his arrogant and headstrong mother!  The sequel, SISSI: THE YOUNG EMPRESS (1956) follows the magnificent imperial wedding in Vienna and finds Sissi settling down to everyday life as empress.  Unfortunately, the strong-willed Sissi and her domineering mother-in-law cannot see eye to eye, and the conflict is heightened with the birth of a daughter.  Ultimately, a truce is brokered and the young couple head from Hungary where they are crowned King and Queen.  In the final film in the beloved trilogy, SISSI: THE FATEFUL YEARS OF THE EMPRESS(1957), Sissi has proven her ability to not only handle affairs of state but also her mother-in-law.  But as the Queen travels to Hungary in an effort to calm the insubordinate nobility, Archduchess Sophie again causes trouble for her daughter-in-law. 

All of the remastered films in "The Sissi Trilogy" are presented in both 16:9 widescreen and the original theatrical full screen aspect ratios.

BONUS FEATURES 

FOREVER MY LOVE (1962) --  The beloved "Sissi Trilogy" presented in a condensed English-dubbed version, originally released by Paramount Pictures in the U.S. and featuring a theme song written by Burt Bacharach.

FROM ROMY TO SISSI -- Making-of Featurette

SISSI'S GREAT-GRANDSON AT THE MOVIES - Excerpt from the documentary film Elisabeth: Enigma of an Empress

Full-color, 20-page collectible booklet with new essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Type:  Blu-ray

Running Time: 600 mins. + extras

Rating:  NR

Genre:  Drama

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen/4:3

Audio:  (BD) DTS-HD Master Audio/5.1 Dolby Digital / (Bonus DVD) 5.1 Dolby Digital/2.0 Stereo

Language: German with English Subtitles

About Film Movement

Celebrating its 15th year, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City.  Film Movement has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide, and last year it had its first Academy Award-nominated film, Naji Abu Nowar's THEEB. Film Movement's theatrical distribution strategy has evolved to include promising American independent films, documentaries, and an even stronger slate of foreign art house titles.  Its catalog includes titles by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent. In 2015, Film Movement launched its reissue label Film Movement Classics, featuring new restorations released theatrically as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, including films by such noted directors as Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Marleen Gorris, Takeshi Kitano, Arturo Ripstein, and Ettore Scola. For more information, please visit www.filmmovement.com.

AFTERIMAGE, Legendary Director Andrzej Wajda's Powerful Final Film and Poland's Submission for Best Foreign Language Film, Will Now Arrive on BD+DVD on 11/7

"Angry, vivid, passionate."

-Glenn Kenny, The New York Times

"Triumphant... one of the year's best pictures."

-John Fink, The Film Stage

THIS OCTOBER, FILM MOVEMENT PRESENTS LEGENDARY DIRECTOR ANDRZEJ WAJDA'S FINAL FILM -- POLAND'S

OFFICIAL SUBMISSION FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM -- A PASSIONATE PORTRAIT OF A RENOWNED AVANT-GARDE

PAINTER WHO BATTLED STALINISM

AFTERIMAGE

Called "a Fitting Coda for Wajda's Career[1]" This Powerful Biopic -- 

a New York Times Critic's Pick -- arrives on Blu-ray + DVD Combo on 

NOVEMBER 7, 2017; Bonus Features Include the Feature-Length HD Documentary "Wajda by Wajda" and Commentary by History/Theory 

of Cinema Professor Emeritus Stuart Liebman

SYNOPSIS

AFTERIMAGE, legendary director Andrzej Wajda's final film, is a passionate portrait of renowned avant-garde painter, Władysław Strzemiński, who challenged Stalinist orthodoxy.  On October 24, Film Movement will release this powerful biopic -- Poland's Official Submission for Best Foreign Language Film at this past year's Academy Awards -- as a Blu-ray + DVD combo for $39.95.

Looking at the last years of the controversial and visionary artists' life, AFTERIMAGE follows Poland's best-known interwar artist and theoretician as he wages war against Stalinism.  Though he didn't start painting until after becoming a double amputee, the ever-compelling and charismatic Strzemiński eventually became a professor at the National School of Fine Arts in Lodz.  It's there that students treat him like the "messiah of modern painting," but university authorities and the Ministry of Culture have a differing opinion.  Refusing to comply with Party regulations, the rebellious artist is eventually expelled from the university and the artists' union. And as the Communist authorities continue their efforts to ruin him, Strzemiński, brilliantly played by Polish superstar Boguslaw Linda, remains steadfast in his political and artistic convictions.

Called "a fitting capstone[2]" to the career of Wajda and "a strong story from a cinematic master[3]," Dan Fainaru of Screen Daily also called AFTERIMAGE "an essential addition to the tragic cultural history of the communist era in Eastern Europe and the disasters wrecked by this totalitarian rule." 

BONUS FEATURES

The feature-length HD documentary "Wajda by Wadja" (95 mins.) - The filmmaker offers a unique perspective on his work and provides us with the keys to understanding it shortly before his death.

Commentary by History and Theory of Cinema Professor Emeritus Stuart Liebman from the CUNY Graduate Center 

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Type:  Blu-ray + DVD

Running Time: 100 mins. + extras

Rating:  N/A

Genre:  Drama

Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2.35:1

Audio:  (BD) DTS-HD Master Audio/5.1 Dolby Digital / (DVD) 5.1 Dolby Digital/2.0 Stereo

Language: Polish with English Subtitles

About Film Movement

Celebrating its 15th year, Film Movement is a North American distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films based in New York City.  Film Movement has released more than 250 feature films and shorts culled from prestigious film festivals worldwide, and last year it had its first Academy Award-nominated film, Naji Abu Nowar's THEEB. Film Movement's theatrical distribution strategy has evolved to include promising American independent films, documentaries, and an even stronger slate of foreign art house titles.  Its catalog includes titles by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Maren Ade, Jessica Hausner, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrzej Wajda, Diane Kurys, Ciro Guerra and Melanie Laurent. In 2015, Film Movement launched its reissue label Film Movement Classics, featuring new restorations released theatrically as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, including films by such noted directors as Eric Rohmer, Peter Greenaway, Bille August, Marleen Gorris, Takeshi Kitano, Arturo Ripstein, and Ettore Scola. For more information, please visit www.filmmovement.com.