SciFi Japan

    Cinelicious Pics To Restore BELLADONNA OF SADNESS For U.S. Release

    Source: Cinelicious Pics press release, Gold View Special Thanks to Jessie Nagel

    Cinelicious Pics has signed an exclusive deal to restore and distribute the long-unavailable 1973 Japanese animated masterpiece BELLADONNA OF SADNESS (?????????, Kanashimi no Beradonna), as its first major restoration and re-release. The last film in the groundbreaking Animerama trilogy produced by the godfather of Japanese anime & manga, Osamu Tezuka (METROPOLIS, ASTRO BOY) and directed by his longtime collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto, BELLADONNA is a mad, swirling, psychedelic lightshow of medieval tarot-card imagery with horned demons and haunted forests. Cinelicious will restore the feature using the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements in anticipation of a 2015 theatrical, VOD, and home video re-release in North America. The film is set in France during the Medieval Ages, where Christianity had reached its zenith and the feudal lord was the personification of God. It is the dark ages for woman of the serfdom. They were held in contempt not only by their position in the society but for the sheer fact that they were women. An innocent young woman, Jean (voiced by Katsutaka Ito) is savagely assaulted by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai, from Akira Kurosawa’s RAN) who appears as an erotic sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire. Never before released in the U.S., BELLADONNA OF SADNESS unfolds as a series of spectacular still watercolor paintings that bleed and twist together like an animated version of Chris Marker’s LA JETEE.” The narrative style is both daring and ambitious: the story begins with one black line that metamorphoses into various objects like flowers, birds, humans and ultimately, the World as it becomes the setting of the story. The key drawing, which was done by Kuni Fukai, was water color painted Collage which contained a sharp contrast of images that were either still or in motion. It was designed to express the maximum potential of animation. The film is fueled by a Japanese psych rock soundtrack by Masahiko Sato. Cinelicious Pics, which launched earlier this year, is uniquely positioned to restore film through its parent company Cinelicious. “It took months of negotiations to convince the Japanese rightsholders to entrust us with the original camera negative of the film which we’re restoring in-house,” says Cinelicious Pics’ President Paul Korver. “People will be simply blown away by the wild, hallucinatory images and soundtrack,” he adds. “BELLADONNA OF SADNESS belongs on a short list with Rene Laloux’s FANTASTIC PLANET and Ralph Bakshi’s WIZARDS as one of the trippiest animated films ever conceived,” adds Cinelicious Pics’ EVP of Acquisitions & Distribution Dennis Bartok. “This is a major rediscovery -- and I have to give credit to Hadrian Belove at The Cinefamily here in L.A. for bringing the film to our attention.” The deal was negotiated by Cinelicious Pics’ President Paul Korver, President of Business Affairs Kristine Blumensaadt and EVP Dennis Bartok with Japanese rightsholders Gold View Co. and Mushi Productions.


    About Cinelicious Pics

    Cinelicious Pics brings handpicked, delicious cinema to U.S. audiences for the first time via theatrical release, VOD, Blu-Ray and 4K Television. The company’s current slate includes GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE, METALHEAD, GANGS OF WASSEYPUR, and Josephine Decker`s BUTTER ON THE LATCH and THOU WAST MILD & LOVELY. Key ingredients include an eclectic mix foreign and independent features & docs plus 4K-restored art house and cult classics, lovingly brought to pristine viewing quality by sister post & digital restoration studio Cinelicious.

    © 2024 Your Company. All Rights Reserved. Designed By JoomShaper