Kino International
Encyclopedia
Kino International is a film and video distributor, founded by Bill Pence in 1977. Donald Krim
bought Kino just months after its founding and served as president of the company until his death from cancer in 2011. Kino, based in New York City
, specializes in art house
films, such as low-budget current films, classic films from earlier periods in the history of cinema, and world cinema
. Similar in many respects to the Criterion Collection, releases by Kino are usually restored versions with substantial supplementary material.
Kino's theatrical arm handles theatrical distribution of much of the Janus
Collection, and has a focus on recent art house and foreign films. Their non-theatrical arm has more of a focus on classic cinema, providing silent film
classics which are otherwise difficult to find. They are the largest video distributor of silent films, including a great many from the early days of cinema (before 1914). These include important early landmark films by Thomas Edison
, Georges Méliès
, the Lumière brothers and D.W. Griffith. Many of those were restored by David Shepard's Film Preservation Associates.
Films released by Kino International include:
Donald Krim
Donald Barron Krim was an American film distributor. He bought Kino International in 1977 and thereafter served as the company's president until his death of cancer in Manhattan at the age of 65 in 2011.As the President of Kino International, Krim helped introduce some of the world's most revered...
bought Kino just months after its founding and served as president of the company until his death from cancer in 2011. Kino, based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, specializes in art house
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
films, such as low-budget current films, classic films from earlier periods in the history of cinema, and world cinema
World cinema
World cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industries of non-English speaking countries. It is therefore often used interchangeably with the term foreign film...
. Similar in many respects to the Criterion Collection, releases by Kino are usually restored versions with substantial supplementary material.
Kino's theatrical arm handles theatrical distribution of much of the Janus
Janus Films
Janus Films is a film distribution company. It was one of the first distributors to bring what are now regarded as masterpieces of world cinema to the United States...
Collection, and has a focus on recent art house and foreign films. Their non-theatrical arm has more of a focus on classic cinema, providing silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
classics which are otherwise difficult to find. They are the largest video distributor of silent films, including a great many from the early days of cinema (before 1914). These include important early landmark films by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
, Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...
, the Lumière brothers and D.W. Griffith. Many of those were restored by David Shepard's Film Preservation Associates.
Films released by Kino International include:
- Winnebago ManWinnebago ManWinnebago Man is a 2009 American documentary feature film directed by Ben Steinbauer that follows the Internet phenomenon created by a series of twenty-year-old outtakes from a Winnebago sales video featuring profane outbursts from the salesperson, Jack Rebney...
(2010) - DogtoothDogtooth (film)Dogtooth is a 2009 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos about a husband and wife who keep their children imprisoned on their property into adulthood. The Greek drama stars Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni and Christos Passalis. Dogtooth is Lanthimos' second feature...
(2009) - AjamiAjami (film)Ajami is a 2009 Arab/Jewish collaboration drama film. Its plot is set in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa.-Overview:Written and directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani , Ajami explores five different stories set in an actual impoverished Christian-and-Muslim Arab neighborhood of the Tel...
(2009) - Harvard Beats Yale (2008)
- BallastBallast (film)Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography...
(2008) - Love Comes LatelyLove Comes LatelyLove Comes Lately is a 2007 film written for the screen and directed by Jan Schütte. The film is based on the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer.-Plot:...
(2007) - Lady ChatterleyLady Chatterley (film)Lady Chatterley is a French film by Pascale Ferran. An adaptation of the novel John Thomas and Lady Jane by D. H. Lawrence, it was released in the UK on 24 August, 2007....
(2006) - KippurKippurKippur is a 2000 Israeli drama war film directed by Amos Gitai. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Gitai and Marie-Jose Sanselme; based on Gitai's own experiences as a member of a helicopter rescue crew during the 1973 Yom Kippur War...
(2000) - Funny Games (1997)
- The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni RiefenstahlThe Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni RiefenstahlThe Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl is a 1993 German documentary film about the life of German film director Leni Riefenstahl, directed by Ray Müller.-Production background:...
(1993) - Putney SwopePutney SwopePutney Swope, a 1969 film written and directed by Robert Downey Sr. and starring Arnold Johnson as Swope, is a comedy satirizing the advertising world, the portrayal of race in Hollywood films, the white power structure, and nature of corporate corruption....
(1969) - Andrei RublevAndrei Rublev (film)Andrei Rublev , also known as The Passion According to Andrei, is a 1966 Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky from a screenplay written by Andrei Konchalovsky and Andrei Tarkovsky. The film is loosely based on the life of Andrei Rublev, the great 15th century Russian icon painter...
(1966) - Les Bonnes FemmesLes Bonnes FemmesLes Bonnes Femmes is a French crime drama directed by Claude Chabrol. It was one of the earliest and most revered films of the French New Wave, although it was a financial flop on its initial release....
(1960) - Munchhausen (1943)
- MM (1931 film)M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
(1931) - The Three Penny Opera (1931)
- Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
- MetropolisMetropolis (film)Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
(1927) - The General (1926)
- The Thief of BagdadThe Thief of Bagdad (1924 film)The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 American swashbuckler film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Douglas Fairbanks. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad...
(1924) - IntoleranceIntolerance (film)Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...
(1915) - CabiriaCabiriaCabiria is a silent movie from the early years of Italy's movie industry, directed by Giovanni Pastrone . The movie is set in ancient Sicily, Carthage, and Cirta during the period of the Second Punic War . It follows a melodramatic main plot about an abducted little girl, Cabiria, and features...
(1914)