series that has recently released the second of its three prefigured

volumes. Jennings was the documentarian who witnessed

British history with a deep and poetic gaze during the 30s

and the 40s.

***

BEST BLU-RAY 2011 / 2012

A HOLLIS FRAMPTON ODYSSEY (Criterion). Including

early films from1966 to 1969, films from 1966 to 1969,

films from HAPAX LEGOMENA, and selected films from

the unfinished MAGELLAN series.

***

BEST SPECIAL FEATURES (BONUS)

GODZILLA (Criterion), for its historical contextualization.

MOSES UND ARON (New Yorker Video), especially for

inclusion of the libretto in German and English).

THE DEVILS (BFI), for documentation of the various

controversies surrounding the film.

***

BEST REDISCOVERIES

PROVOKING REALITY: DIE “OBERHAUSENER”(Editions

Filmmuseum München), for a “famous” moment in film history

–- The Oberhausen Manifesto of 1962 –- a presentation of 19

forgotten shorts made by artists who signed this manifesto.

LANDSCAPE OF POSTWAR PERIOD (Korean Film

Archive), for four Korean features (THE WIDOW,

THE FLOWER IN HELL, THE MONEY, A DRIFTING

STORY) by four major directors during a very

troubled era–an era which is analyzed in the

accompanying booklet.

***

BEST DVD SERIES/BEST BOX SET

TREASURES 5: THE WEST 1898-1938 (National

Film Preservation Foundation), for its exceptional

creative scholarship in presenting and annotating

many neglected films by or with Broncho Billy

Anderson, Clara Bow, Victor Fleming, D.W.

Griffith, Thomas Ince, Gregory La Cava, Tom

Mix, and Mack Sennett, among others.

WORLD CINEMA FOUNDATION BOX

SET (Carlotta Films), for resurrecting

major works from neglected national

cinemas: THE WAVE (1936) from

Mexico, TOUKI BOUKI (1973) from

Senegal, TRANCES (1981) from Morocco,

and THE RED FLUTE (1989 from Kazakhstan.

Because the jurors would like to stress that none of us

is in a position to know all the important DVD releases,

even though all of us have encountered important

examples, some of which were not nominated for awards

but deserve in any case to be far better known, each of

us has selected a personal favorite that he would like

to recommend:

Lorenzo Codelli would like to call attention to Renown

Pictures, a British company which releases extremely

rare British movies:http://www.renownpicturesltd.com/

Alexander Horwath has selectedTHE COMPLETE JEAN

VIGO on Criterion, for its brilliant, multifaceted

reconstruction ofa great filmmaker’s cosmos via

essays, commentaries, documentaries, conversations,

alternate edits, and, of  course, beautiful transfers of

the films themselves.

Mark McElhatten cites MYSTERIES OF LISBON (Music

Box Films Home Entertainment), the late Raúl Ruiz’s

labyrinthine adaption of a 19th century novel shot

digitally, available here in its four hour and 17 minute

theatrical version in a stunning Blu-ray rendition.

Paolo Mereghetti has selected William Dieterle’s

VULCANO (Ripley’s Home Video), which finally offers

the possibility to see in a superb restoration the film

with Anna Magnani that was made specifically “against”

the STROMBOLI of Roberto Rossellini.

Jonathan Rosenbaum has picked THE BIG TRAIL (20th

Century-Fox), a two-discBlu-Ray and DVD set devoted

to Raoul Walsh’s 1930 masterpiece, captured in much

of its original splendor and chronicled in considerable

detail. [7-1-12]