Frantz Arrives on DVD/BD on June 13

At once a mysterious, romantic period piece and a somber, soul-searching melodrama, FRANTZ presents a tale of love and reflection as it unfurls in a small German town in the days following World War I through the memories and relationships of loved ones left behind. It is the latest acclaimed film from the prolific French writer/director François Ozon, whose previous critical and commercial successes in the U.S. include Swimming Pool ($10 million domestic box office), 8 Women ($3 million) and Potiche ($1.6 million).

Set in Germany and France in the aftermath of the First World War, FRANTZ recalls the mourning period that follows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war’s “lost generation.” They are Anna (21 year-old Paula Beer in a breakthrough performance), a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare, and Adrien (Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent), a French war veteran who shows up mysteriously in Anna’s town, placing flowers on Frantz’s grave. Adrien's presence is met with resistance by the small community still reeling from Germany’s defeat, yet Anna gradually gets closer to the handsome and melancholy young man, as she learns of his deep friendship with Frantz. What follows is an exploration of how Anna and Adrien wrestle with their conflicting feelings - survivor’s guilt, anger at one’s losses, the overriding desire for renewed happiness, and the longing for sexual, romantic and familial attachments.

 Ozon drew his inspiration from a post-WWI play by Maurice Rostand that inspired the 1932 film adaption by Ernst Lubitsch under the title Broken Lullaby. Not surprisingly, Ozon was initially leery about the prospect of “remaking” a film by the late, great filmmaker.

The Innocents; One of the best rated and top box office performing Foreign Language releases of the year is coming to Blu-ray, DVD on September 27 from Music Box Films.

THE INNOCENTS is director Anne Fontaine’s haunting and ultimately life affirming post-WWII drama about a young, forward-thinking French Red Cross doctor who comes to the aid of a group of traumatized young Polish nuns whose lives and faith have been dangerously tested. THE INNOCENTS is based on the true story of heroic French doctor and Resistance fighter Madeleine Pauliac.

The second World War is finally over and doctor Mathilde (rising star Lou de Laage) is treating the last of the French survivors of Nazi work camps in Poland. When a panicked Benedictine nun appears at the clinic begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent, what she finds there is shocking: a holy sister about to give birth and several more in advanced stages of pregnancy. A non-believer, Mathilde enters the sisters’ fiercely private world, dictated by the rituals of their order and the strict Rev. Mother (Agata Kulesza, Ida). Fearing the shame of exposure, the hostility of the occupying Soviet troops and local Polish communists the nuns increasingly turn to Mathilde as they face an unprecedented crisis of faith.

Director Fontaine based her story on the diaries of Madeleine Pauliac that document the little known but, by most independent accounts, widespread sexual violence that occurred throughout Poland and elsewhere on the Eastern Front in the wake of the advancing Soviet Red. Army. “I was immediately taken with the story” says director Anne Fontaine. “I wanted to get as close as possible to what would have been happening within these women.”

Following its strong box office opening in NY and LA last month, THE INNOCENTS expanded to more than 150 engagements throughout the summer, and will make its nationwide debut via DVD, Blu-ray beginning September 27, 2016 (pre-book August 23rd). Filled with bonus materials including a “Making of” and an interview with filmmaker Anne Fontaine, the Blu-ray and DVD carry suggested retail prices of $34.95 and $29.95, respectively.

THE INNOCENTS had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and is among the most critically lauded releases of the year with a 92% rating and “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was a “Critics’ Pick” of The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Village Voice syndicate.  

The Innocents

Music Box Films Home Entertainment 
DVD RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2016 
PRE-ORDER DATE: August 23, 2016 
Price: DVD $29.95 SLP; Blu-ray $34.95SLP 
Director: Anne Fontaine
Screenwriters: Sabrina B. Karine, Alice Vial 
Cast: Lou de Laâge, Agata Buzek, Agata Kulesza, Vincent Macaigne, Joanna Kulig, Eliza Rycembel, Anna Prochniak, Katarzyna Dabrowska 
Running Time: 113 minutes  
Format: 1.85:1 
Sound Format: 5.1 Dolby Digital 
Rating: PG-13 
Country: France 
Language: French and Polish w/ English subtitles





Bonus Features
The Making of The Innocents
Director Q&A with Anne Fontaine
Interview with Anne Fontaine

TOUGH BEING LOVED BY JERKS Out June 9

On the morning of January 7th, 2015, the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo were attacked, and twelve people were killed. Two brothers affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) carried out the crime, a reaction to Hebdo's publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The documentary Tough Being Loved by Jerks (2008) turns back the calendar to 2006, just after the publication of the caricatures of Muhammad, and documents the firestorm of controversy that it provoked. Because he had published the twelve Danish cartoons that had triggered the wrath of Muslims worldwide, Philippe Val, the editor of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical newspaper, was cited to court by the Great Mosque of Paris, the World Muslim League and the Union of Islamic Organizations of France.

Director Daniel Leconte captured the court proceedings brought against Charlie Hebdo by the Great Mosque of Paris, the World Muslim League and the Union of Islamic Organizations of France. He had been covering this extraordinary trial in real time, aiming at deciphering the international political, ideological and media-related stakes with the key participants. The film features lawyers, witnesses, the media, editorial conferences, demonstrations of support... as well as the stances of intellectuals and politicians, the reactions of the prosecutors and of Muslim countries...