cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/23212942

When Criterion announced that it would celebrate its 40th anniversary by replicating the Closet with a portable Closet van, cinephiles across the country started planning their visits when the tour reached their home cities. To have a movie in the Criterion Collection is a great honor. Still, there are a few misconceptions regarding what the Criterion Collection actually is, what purpose it serves in our culture, and how decisions are made regarding the films that “get in.” Coming from a physical media obsessive, consider this your crash-course history lesson and guide to all things Criterion.

Founded by Robert Stein, Aleen Stein, and Joe Medjuck in 1984, Criterion is a pioneering home media distribution company that focuses on restoring, preserving, and publishing important cinematic works — classic and contemporary — across all genres and from around the world. The films that Criterion distributes on physical media are considered part of the Criterion Collection, including its early days of LaserDisc and out-of-print DVDs. Criterion was truly the first of its kind to include restorations and supplemental special features to encourage repeat viewings with its releases, essentially providing buyers the ultimate viewing experience that included film enjoyment and film education. For over 40 years, Criterion has worked in tandem with filmmakers and film scholars to put out the best release possible of any given title.

As far as the films that are selected to be a part of the collection, despite the “arthouse” or “snobby” accusations often lobbied at Criterion, the collection has a little bit of everything. An intimate, black and white micro-budget queer film like “Go Fish” exists alongside an exercise in depravity like “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” Chantal Akerman’s French masterpiece “Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,” and an explosive blockbuster like Michael Bay’s “Armageddon.” But Criterion doesn’t have carte blanche to obtain any title it wants, including films it’s previously released. Criterion is also at the mercy of the movie’s rightsholders. For example, Criterion released John Woo’s action classic “Hard Boiled” on DVD and it has been out of print for many years, but we likely won’t see a re-release anytime soon as Shout! Factory recently obtained the rights to 156 films in the Golden Princess Library of Hong Kong cinema, including “Hard Boiled.”