Kino Lorber has set home release dates for its August 2020 slate of home video releases. All titles are available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc except where noted. The 15-movie slate begins rolling out Aug. 4 with the following releases:
- Code of the Freaks (DVD only) is a documentary from director Salome Chasnoff that presents the radical reframing and the use of disabled characters in film over the last 100 years. The documentary investigates the use of movie imagery to shape the beliefs and behaviors of the general public toward disabled people.
Subscribe HERE to the FREE Media Play News Daily Newsletter!
- Capital In the Twenty-First Century is a documentary based on the international bestseller by economist Thomas Piketty. An eye-opening journey through wealth and power, the film attempts to break the assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities.
Coming August 11 are the following releases:
- Sonja: The White Swan is a biopic about Sonja Henie, one of the world’s greatest athletes and the inventor of modern-day figure skating. She decided to go to Hollywood in 1936 to become a movie star and the rest is history. She becomes the richest woman of her time, and lives a life surrounded by fans, lovers, and family.
- Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint is a German documentary on Hilma af Klint, an abstract artist long before the term existed who was a trailblazing figure in her field, inspiring spiritualism, modern science, and the riches of the natural world around her. She began in 1906, when she reeled out a series of huge, colorful, sensual, and strange works. Bonus features include additional interviews, deleted scenes, and a painting gallery.
- Lucky Grandma is the story of an ornery, chain-smoking and newly widowed 80-year-old grandma (Tsai Chin, The Joy Luck Club) who is eager to live life as an independent woman, despite the worry of her family. When a local fortuneteller depicts an auspicious day in her future, she heads to the local casino and goes all in, only to find she was not as lucky as she hoped. Bonus features include some behind-the-scenes featurettes and the theatrical trailer.
- A Different Story is a 1978 critically acclaimed film following the story of a handsome, charming, and intelligent gay man named Albert and an attractive, delightful, and quick-witted lesbian named Stella. After celebrating Albert’s birthday with a fun-filled night in town, the two friends end up in bed and wake up surprisingly with newfound feelings for each other. Bonus features include a new 2018 HD master of the uncut R rated version as well as trailers and optional English subtitles.
Coming August 18 are the following releases:
- Forbidden Fruit, Volume 6: She Should’a Said No and The Devil’s Sleep (Blu-ray Disc only), two 1949 exploitation films that follow in the spirit of morality tales such as the 1936 Reefer Madness and Marijuana. She Should’a Said No stars Lila Leeds, as an orphan trying to pay for her brother’s college education who tries marijuana for the first time and begins to lose her inhibition and memory. The Devil’s Sleep looks at juvenile delinquency, phony women’s health gyms, and the pushing of narcotics to teenagers.
- Guest of Honour is a film from Academy Award nominee Atom Egoyan. It features a high school music teacher named Veronica and her father as they attempt to unravel their complicated histories and intertwined secrets. When a hoax instigated by an aggressive school bus driver goes very wrong, and Veronica finds herself accused of abusing her position of authority with a 17-year-old.
- Conquest (Blu-ray Disc only) stars Mexican screen legend Jorge Rivero and is directed by Lucio Fulci. When a cruel and evil shadow has fallen over the peaceful land of Cronos, the only hope the people have lies with two warriors who are willing to take on Ocron, the demon sorceress who controls the sun which threatens the lives of everyone. Bonus features include the new 2019 HD master, a conversation with star Rivero, and the theatrical trailer.
- Emma 2! Dance Spectacular (DVD only) is a children’s preschool film starring Anthony Field and Emma Watkins. There are 12 different episodes featuring 16 songs, all hosted by the girl who loves to dance and share her dancing glee.
Coming August 25 are the following releases:
- The Reginald Denny Collection consists of three silent features from the career of the debonair British star: The Reckless Age, Skinner’s Dress Suit, and What Happened to Jones? In The Reckless Age, Denny plays an insurance agent who insinuates himself into the case of a wealthy heiress. In Skinner’s Dress Suit, he is a shy clerk who asks his boss for a raise at the urging of his wife. When his request is rejected, he lies to his wife who immediately goes out and buys an expensive suit. In What Happened to Jones? he plays a wealthy young bachelor who, on the night before his wedding, is convinced to attend a poker party which is promptly raided.
- Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind (DVD only) explores the career, music, and influence of legendary Canadian musical icon Gordon Lightfoot. With unprecedented access to the artist, the documentary follows Lightfoot’s evolution from Christian choirboy to an international star and beloved Canadian icon.
- Benjamin (DVD only) is a charmingly offbeat gay romantic comedy about a mess-of-a-filmmaker juggling the anxieties and excitement of his upcoming film premiere. The film is written and directed by British comedian Simon Amstell, and stars Gabe Gilmour, Jack Rowan, and Colin Morgan.
- The Tobacconist is a film from director Nicholas Leytner about a 17-year-old named Franz who journeys to Vienna to apprentice at a tobacco shop. There, he meets Sigmund Freud (Bruno Ganz), who is one of the regulars at the shop, and the two quickly form a bond. When Franz falls desperately in love with the music-hall dancer Anezka, he seeks advice from the renowned psychoanalyst, who admits that the female sex is as big a mystery to him as it is to Franz.
- Trick Baby (Blu-ray Disc only) is the gritty story of the relationship between two Philly conmen, Johnny “White Folks” O’Brien (Kiel Martin), a biracial man posing as a white man, and “Blue” Howard (Mel Stewart), a black man. From an early age, Blue raised Folks as his own son — but he passed on more than his heritage when he taught him the ways of the street and the art of the con. They wind up getting in over their heads and things begin to unravel between a crooked cop and some shady investors. Bonus features include a new interview with director Larry Yust, a radio spot, and the theatrical trailer