Arrow Films are a highly respected UK Film Distribution company, dealing in world cinema, as well as many other genres. Arrow Video, a sub-section of Arrow Films, focuses primarily on the “video nasties” of the 1980s, and they also have the rights to many Russ Meyer titles. Their world cinema collection is also extensive, and with many more foreign-language releases on the horizon in the coming year, they’re a valuable distributor to add to your bookmarks.
Francesco Simeoni has kindly agreed to talk in more detail about Arrow Films, as well as their upcoming initiative…
First of all, we’d love to know a little bit about yourself; what motivated you to work in the film industry, and more specifically in distribution?
I started working in this industry in 2001 in another capacity entirely for a Cinema Exhibitor. Around this time, my passion for DVD was increasing, but I had never thought about DVD production - I wanted to be in acquisitions.
In April 2010, I found myself at Arrow producing DVDs and Blu-rays, learning a lot and doing my best to make DVDs and Blu-rays I would buy. What motivated me to this role was my passion for DVD; whilst I love the cinematic experience, there is something brilliant about home entertainment. If there were a cinema I could go to that would regularly show my favourite films and films I desperately want to see then I would go there every day, but sadly that place doesn’t really exist (though London’s BFI Southbank comes close). So, for many years it’s been all about DVD, and with the dawn of Blu-ray it’s even more exciting, as we get closer to cinematic quality in our homes.
What exactly does your role in the company entail?
I produce the DVDs and Blu-rays, which essentially means that I coordinate a lot of people more talented than myself to make the best product possible. That means technical people to get the best materials and master them to disc, writers to write fantastic essays and interviews for the booklets, artists to illustrate new covers... The success of our products is entirely down to the people we work with, and we’re lucky to be working with the best people in this industry.
How do Arrow Films choose which films to release next? Is it based on popular demand, critical review, availability….?
We have great contact with our fans, and we’re film fans ourselves, so it’s quite a mixture; things come up we like or feel could be released again in a better version and so on. On other occasions, we discuss films that might be a possibility and go hunting.
It’s based on a number of different things but, of course, we’re buying films for people to buy on DVD and Blu-ray, so when people get in touch with us, it’s good to know there’s people there that are already interested.
Have you ever gone out your way to obtain a hard-to-get print?
We’ve tried to unearth as much as possible on every release, whether that’s a different audio dub, alternate version from another market or a completely different cut. So, yes, we do try our best to track things down - sometimes we are successful and sometimes we are not.
We spent a long time tracking down the best version we could find of Spirits Of The Dead with the long unavailable English audio for Terence Stamp in Fellini’s Toby Dammit, so it was a real pleasure to release that disc, and it was heartening to know that it was so well received by the critics. We worked with the ever brilliant Tim Lucas and Peter Bondanella who were both amazing help in putting the package together.
Right now, we’re looking at something pretty exciting, but, of course, I can’t say anything about it, and it might all come to nothing, but we want to see these things and we know other people do, too. If we don’t do it someone else might not, so it’s important to dig these things up.
Which project that you’ve worked on did you have the most difficulty with?
Probably Spirits Of The Dead, as we were calling a million different people in New York, up and down Italy and in Paris, all of whom knew half the story, had the print, gave it to someone else and didn’t know where it was… So, it was a struggle to get answers and information at first.
And which project are you most proud of?
So far, I am very pleased with our Arrow Video Limited Edition release of Battle Royale. It was amazingly complicated, with an incredible amount of video material that had to be logged, subtitled and split over three discs, then the two features themselves, which we restored, then the contents of the box, which comprised two booklets (one of essays and one of artwork), a poster, postcards, a certificate which was individually numbered, digipaks and a comic. It was a real labour of love on my part, and I think going by the response we’ve had people seem to appreciate it! We were fortunate to work with some great people on that project, too; Tom Mes gave us a brilliant essay, as well as an interview with Fukasaku from before he died, and Jay McRoy wrote us a great essay, too. The artwork by Peter Fielding was pretty phenomenal also, and, as ever, Barry Keating and Stef Hutchinson delivered a fantastic comic. We approached a number of different artists for artwork - the artwork booklet shows many of the designs we went through, and I hope that shows something of the journey we took.
How well do you find your world cinema sells in comparison to your other genres? Do you feel there’s a strong market for world cinema in the UK? Is it fading or growing?
World cinema is in the best place it can be right now, and it seems to be getting better. When you have companies out there like Masters Of Cinema (Eureka!), Second Run, Criterion, Artificial Eye, Second Sight, and so on, it’s a tough market, as so much great stuff is being released, so we’re really catering to connoisseurs with only so much time and money. I hope that our releases can jostle with the best of them to find a place on people’s shelves.
We’re fortunate to be in the position of having two very strong camps of buyer; the cult film fan and the world cinema fan. Both are big buyers in this market, so we find that our releases are good in terms of sales - as long as the film is good and the disc is good, there isn’t too much to worry about. It’s about finding the right audience and letting them know we’re there and what we have to offer, and hopefully we’re doing that right.
Your websites says the company started forty years ago, assumedly with theatrical releases. How has the market changed between then and now?
I can only speak since April 2010, but yes, the company has been going a long time in various incarnations. Way back then the company was involved with David Cronenberg’s Shivers, and it was this office that came up with that title, which is something I feel quite proud to be associated with.
You still do some theatrical releases. How do you decide when a film will be theatrically released?
We are a growing company, and we are doing more on home entertainment with first run releases, including the upcoming Wallander and The Killing, which is showing on BBC Four right now and is fantastic. We have a few theatrical releases lined up, and it’s all a discussion with festivals, programmers and exhibitors about what is going to work best for all involved. One such upcoming title is Territories, which will have its European premiere next month at FrightFest.
Talking of theatrical releases, I believe Arrow Films have recently started a new label of DVDs called ‘Academy’, inspired by the closing down of so many rep and art house cinemas. Can you tell us more about the thinking behind that, and what we can look forward to from it?
There are so few rep cinemas around these days, and it seems like the days when you could turn up at your local rep cinema to see great art house films has completely gone in many cities, not just in the UK but around the world. I kept reading articles of cinemas closing down, most recently, I recall the famous The New Beverly Cinema which was saved by Quentin Tarantino.
There isn’t a generous beneficiary in every city like Quentin Tarantino, so many cinemas have been closed down and made into Bingo Halls or destroyed, as is the case with the Academy 1-2-3. I would pick up old copies of Sight & Sound and see all these Academy adverts and the great films they would show; nowadays the best you get is a one off showing of a new restoration in London, and if you don’t live in a major city, your chances are very slim indeed.
The Academy was an inspiring place, where many people could discover new films. I have heard from various people about their love for the cinema, where they first watched Tarkovsky or Carné. Indeed, I even heard that the critic Peter Hames credits the Academy with his discovery of Eastern European cinema, and Geoff Andrew visited the Academy when he first came to London, and now he programmes the BFI Southbank (I hope he doesn’t mind me saying that). If you saw the line up of ads it’s easy to feel what a magical place it was, and I get that feeling from certain Home Entertainment labels, where I made many of my first cinematic discoveries; Kurosawa from the BFI, Teshigahara from Masters Of Cinema, Juraj Herz from Second Run, and so on. I hope that the Arrow Academy label will introduce other cineastes to filmmakers they have never heard of before.
Some of Arrow Acedemy’s planned releases under their new Academy label include Les Diaboliques on 18th April, The Conformist in May, and Rififi in June (all Blu-ray).
There are a lot of UK distributors, and fans seem to be very strict in comparing releases; image quality, special features, etc. What about Arrow Films makes you a strong competitor?
I hope that the quality of our releases will be up there with our competitors, and fans will endear themselves to our label. We already have a fantastic lineage in Arrow Films, which has released some fantastic films, too many to name; Bunuel, Fassbinder, Rohmer, Chabrol, Godard, Wajda, Resnais, Taviani, Rossellini, De Sica, Olmi, and so on. I hope that we can continue that quality with improved attention to detail with Academy, what those fans will be expecting – image quality, special features, booklets and general presentation as you say.
What kinds of special features can we expect to find on one of your DVDs?
You’re in luck, this is something of an exclusive as right now this has not been announced. But our first Academy release of Bicycle Thieves on Blu-ray will include a number of special features; two documentaries – on De Sica and Zavattini, an audio commentary by Italian Cinema expert Robert Gordon, the original trailer, and a booklet with a newly commissioned essay, as well as writing by Cesare Zavattini.
Is there any way for people to send you a request of a film they’d like released in the UK?
People can get in touch with us in a number of ways; we are on twitter, have a Facebook page and good old fashioned email on info@arrowfilms.co.uk for any queries or suggestions. We’re collaborative with our fans on Arrow Video, and I don’t see any reason why the same can’t be true on Academy. If people want to email us and say “I think so and so should write an essay on such and such” that’s fine. We’ll certainly listen and we may even take your recommendations if it’s possible!
And if you could pick any film to see on release soon, what would it be?
I’ll pick something that’s impossible so as not to raise hopes, but one of my favourite films is The Magnificent Ambersons. If Welles’ original cut of that was found in a mental asylum or museum somewhere that would be my find of the century.
Finally, I know you focus on a lot of markets other then world cinema, but do you have any hot tips for who you think will be walking away with the Foreign Language Oscar this year?
I really have no idea, with some many DVDs and Blu-rays in my pile to produce and watch, I have little time for the cinema these days, sadly, but if I were voting it’d be Dogtooth.
Thank you very much for your time, and good luck with your upcoming projects and your new Academy label...
Thank you! AIB
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| Francesco's proudest achievement. |
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