Short

In 1917 a 21 year old Buster Keaton walked on to a film set for the very first time and without a single retake made his screen debut in a comedy sketch in Arbuckle's 'The Butcher Boy'. This collection includes 13 of the 14 films that Arbuckle and Keaton made together (one remains lost) and all of the 19 independent shorts Buster made after getting his own studio in 1920. It charts Buster's early development as one of the greatest performers and directors in the history of film comedy.

In 1917 a 21 year old Buster Keaton walked on to a film set for the very first time and without a single retake made his screen debut in a comedy sketch in Arbuckle's 'The Butcher Boy'. This collection includes 13 of the 14 films that Arbuckle and Keaton made together (one remains lost) and all of the 19 independent shorts Buster made after getting his own studio in 1920. It charts Buster's early development as one of the greatest performers and directors in the history of film comedy.

During the '50s Makavejev began making short films and documentaries in the Zagreb and Belgrade studios, as in Kino Klub Beograd, the center of avantguard film and amateur activities during the '60s in Serbia. The experimental and documentary impulse remains powerful in Makavejev's work, as does the tendency to intercut undigested segments from other films into longer works. At the same time, those early works would be the first of many run-ins with the censors that would plague his career and, arguably, keep him from being recognized as a major postwar film artist.

Animation Express is a compilation of recent auteur animation from the National Film Board of Canada, the world’s leading public producer of animated films. Its 2009 release coincides with the NFB’s 70th anniversary. The collection features 26 films from both established and emerging filmmakers, includes multi-award winners such as Sleeping Betty and Madame Tutli-Putli.

W. C. Fields’s prolific career placed him at the forefront of slapstick comedy. Gathered here are six gems that feature the comic genius at his peak: The Golf Specialist, Pool Sharks (silent), The Pharmacist, The Fatal Glass of Beer, The Barber Shop, and, of course, the notorious The Dentist. This unique collection will delight new generations of viewers with Fields’s hilariously sardonic routines.

The clowns of the American silent screen bring laughter to a new generation in this wonderful box set, featuring 53 short films from the era's funniest comic talents: Laurel and Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, Will Rogers, Ben Turpin and more. Meticulously prepared for DVD with fresh new musical scores, "Slapstick Encyclopedia" is a unique collection of silent comedy gems.

The Department of Film presents the first comprehensive American retrospective of the films of Goran Paskaljevic (b. 1947, Belgrade), one of Europe’s most respected directors, featuring new 35mm English-subtitled prints of 13 features and two shorts by the director.

Over the past four decades, Belgian director Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles) has created one of cinema’s most distinctive bodies of work—formally daring, often autobiographical films about people and places, time and space. In this collection, we present the early films that put her on the map: intensely personal, modernist investigations of cities, history, family, and sexuality, made in the 1970s in the United States and Europe and strongly influenced by the New York experimental film scene. Bold and iconoclastic, these five films pushed boundaries in their day and continue to have a profound influence on filmmakers all over the world.

In December 1914, the great Charlie Chaplin signed a one year contract with the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company for what was then an unprecedented salary. Shooting in both their California and Chicago studios he went on to make 15 films that firmly established him as the world’s favourite screen comedian.
Unlike other screen stars of the time, Chaplin retained complete creative control over his films, from writing and directing, to choosing his cast members. While this led to his relationship with Essanay growing increasingly strained, this fruitful period of his career saw him evolve his style, resulting in seminal works such as The Tramp, The Bank and The Champion.
The result of a 12 year project, led by Lobster Films and the Cineteca di Bologna, this comprehensive 2 disc Blu-ray collection features 15 films, fully restored, presented alongside exclusive special features – never before released in the UK.

Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection is a collection of animated short cartoons starring Tom and Jerry, all directed by Gene Deitch and released in 1961-62. All 13 cartoons restored & remastered, along with two documentaries.