Looks like an interesting new company, here's the press release:
"Underground Film Veteran Launches Provocateur Pictures
(Los Angeles, CA) 2008 saw the launch of Provocateur Pictures, an independent DVD label for alternative cinema. Founded by curator and co-founder of Other Cinema Digital, Noel Lawrence, Provocateur aims to create a space for challenging and offbeat works to thrive within an increasingly competitive media marketplace.
“When Hollywood rejects your work, I’ll screen it,” says Lawrence. “When your film is called weird or subversive, I’ll embrace it. I am interested in taking chances on the films that other distributors appreciate but decide against releasing because they are too deemed too risky. It is my belief that there is an audience for quality alternative cinema.” Providing major backbone and backup, Provocateur has enlisted Microcinema International, to distribute its film catalog both in the retail and institutional sectors. Founded in 1996, Microcinema is a leading international rights manager, exhibitor, and specialty markets distributor of the "moving image arts."
“We are proud to be distributing Provocateur’s releases,” says Joel S. Bachar, Founder of Microcinema International. “Noel’s vision and curatorial aesthetic is in perfect sync with our distribution efforts and his acquisitions will add significant value to our repertoire of unique and diverse titles.”
Provocateur Pictures released its first title, Rob Nilsson’s “Words For The Dying,” in September, a revealing cinema verité portrait of the former Velvet Underground musician, John Cale, in creative collaboration with Brian Eno. Director Nilsson (“Northern Lights” – Camera d’Or, Cannes, “Heat and Sunlight” – Grand Jury Prize, Sundance) follows them to Moscow, London and Wales for the recording of a new album, “Words for the Dying”, built around four Dylan Thomas poems.
2009 will see many more releases from Provocateur Pictures including:
"Experiments in Terror 3" – The third installment in Noel Lawrence’s collection of avant-garde works that borrow tropes and footage from the horror genre. Pounding a stake through the heart of genre convention, this shocking program expands the cinematic language of fear, breaking the chains of narrative logic and leaving only the black void of the infinite unconscious. Includes work from Mike Kuchar, J.X. Williams, Clifton Childree, Jason Bognacki, Carey Burtt, and a collaboration with Marie Losier & Guy Maddin.
"Fidel" – Saul Landau’s controversial 1969 profile of Fidel Castro. Fidel drives around the countryside, talks to locals, philosophizes and plays baseball in this personal profile of the leader which chronicles a unique moment in Cuban history, ten years after the revolution. "The great quality of this remarkable film is that it is educational in the best possible sense. It gives you a feeling for what revolution - any revolution - is actually about, what it means in all its implications and how it affects the lives of the people. I found it completely absorbing from the start to finish. A tapestry for history" - Ralph Gleason, Rolling Stone
"New York Nihilism" – Curated by critic and author Jack Sargeant (“Deathtripping,” “The Naked Lens”), NYN is an anthology of works from the seminal 1980s underground film movement known as The Cinema of Transgression. A mix of sex, death, hate, and power, this DVD showcases a cross-section of works from these radical underground filmmakers, most of which have never been released on video in the US outside of hard-to-find artist's tapes. The final program is under wraps for now but let’s just say “the usual suspects” are involved.
ABOUT PROVOCATEUR PICTURES
Provocateur Pictures champions the practice of cinema as an art form. We promote alternative visions from the contemporary underground as well as oddities from the archives that challenge, stimulate, inspire…provoke.
Provocateur Pictures is exclusively distributed by Microcinema International
For more info, go to: http://www.ProvocateurDVD.com"
"Underground Film Veteran Launches Provocateur Pictures
(Los Angeles, CA) 2008 saw the launch of Provocateur Pictures, an independent DVD label for alternative cinema. Founded by curator and co-founder of Other Cinema Digital, Noel Lawrence, Provocateur aims to create a space for challenging and offbeat works to thrive within an increasingly competitive media marketplace.
“When Hollywood rejects your work, I’ll screen it,” says Lawrence. “When your film is called weird or subversive, I’ll embrace it. I am interested in taking chances on the films that other distributors appreciate but decide against releasing because they are too deemed too risky. It is my belief that there is an audience for quality alternative cinema.” Providing major backbone and backup, Provocateur has enlisted Microcinema International, to distribute its film catalog both in the retail and institutional sectors. Founded in 1996, Microcinema is a leading international rights manager, exhibitor, and specialty markets distributor of the "moving image arts."
“We are proud to be distributing Provocateur’s releases,” says Joel S. Bachar, Founder of Microcinema International. “Noel’s vision and curatorial aesthetic is in perfect sync with our distribution efforts and his acquisitions will add significant value to our repertoire of unique and diverse titles.”
Provocateur Pictures released its first title, Rob Nilsson’s “Words For The Dying,” in September, a revealing cinema verité portrait of the former Velvet Underground musician, John Cale, in creative collaboration with Brian Eno. Director Nilsson (“Northern Lights” – Camera d’Or, Cannes, “Heat and Sunlight” – Grand Jury Prize, Sundance) follows them to Moscow, London and Wales for the recording of a new album, “Words for the Dying”, built around four Dylan Thomas poems.
2009 will see many more releases from Provocateur Pictures including:
"Experiments in Terror 3" – The third installment in Noel Lawrence’s collection of avant-garde works that borrow tropes and footage from the horror genre. Pounding a stake through the heart of genre convention, this shocking program expands the cinematic language of fear, breaking the chains of narrative logic and leaving only the black void of the infinite unconscious. Includes work from Mike Kuchar, J.X. Williams, Clifton Childree, Jason Bognacki, Carey Burtt, and a collaboration with Marie Losier & Guy Maddin.
"Fidel" – Saul Landau’s controversial 1969 profile of Fidel Castro. Fidel drives around the countryside, talks to locals, philosophizes and plays baseball in this personal profile of the leader which chronicles a unique moment in Cuban history, ten years after the revolution. "The great quality of this remarkable film is that it is educational in the best possible sense. It gives you a feeling for what revolution - any revolution - is actually about, what it means in all its implications and how it affects the lives of the people. I found it completely absorbing from the start to finish. A tapestry for history" - Ralph Gleason, Rolling Stone
"New York Nihilism" – Curated by critic and author Jack Sargeant (“Deathtripping,” “The Naked Lens”), NYN is an anthology of works from the seminal 1980s underground film movement known as The Cinema of Transgression. A mix of sex, death, hate, and power, this DVD showcases a cross-section of works from these radical underground filmmakers, most of which have never been released on video in the US outside of hard-to-find artist's tapes. The final program is under wraps for now but let’s just say “the usual suspects” are involved.
ABOUT PROVOCATEUR PICTURES
Provocateur Pictures champions the practice of cinema as an art form. We promote alternative visions from the contemporary underground as well as oddities from the archives that challenge, stimulate, inspire…provoke.
Provocateur Pictures is exclusively distributed by Microcinema International
For more info, go to: http://www.ProvocateurDVD.com"
