Cinelicious Pics has signed an exclusive deal to restore and distribute the long-unavailable 1973 Japanese animated masterpiece
BELLADONNA OF SADNESS, 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 long time collaborator
Eiichi Yamamoto,
BELLADONNA is a mad, swirling, psychedelic lightshow of medieval tarot-card imagery with horned demons and haunted forests. 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 Jetée.” 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.
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.”
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. The film is fueled by a Japanese psych rock soundtrack by
Masahiko Sato. 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.
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.
Find out more about
Cinelicious Pics and its film line-up at
http://www.cineliciouspics.com