Juniper Tree, The Studio: Arbelos Films Format: Blu-ray SRP: $39.99 Catalog #: AR0003BD UPC #: 663390003299 An unsung talent in her lifetime, director, professor and Fulbright scholar Nietzchka Keene’s stark, stunning debut feature THE JUNIPER TREE is loosely based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, and stars Björk in her first on-screen performance. The film premiered to glowing reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991 and led Keene to further direct HEROINE OF HELL (1996) starring Catherine Keener and BAREFOOT TO JERUSALEM (2008), the latter completed after her tragically early death in 2004.   Set in medieval Iceland, THE JUNIPER TREE follows Margit (Björk in a riveting performance) and her older sister Katla (Bryndis Petra Bragadottir) as they flee for safety after their mother is burned to death for witchcraft. Finding shelter and protection with Johan (Valdimar Orn Fygenring), and his resentful young son, Jonas (Geirlaug Sunna Pormar), the sisters help form an impromptu family unit that’s soon strained by Katla’s burgeoning sorcery. Photographed entirely on location in the stunning landscapes of Iceland in spectacular black-and-white by Randy Sellars, THE JUNIPER TREE is a deeply atmospheric film, evocative of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s DAY OF WRATH and Ingmar Bergman’s THE VIRGIN SPRING, and filled with indelible waking dream sequences (courtesy of legendary experimental filmmaker Pat O’Neill). A potent allegory for misogyny and its attendant tragedies, THE JUNIPER TREE is a major rediscovery for art house audiences.   New restoration by the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation.
	Last Movie, The Studio: Arbelos Films Format: Blu-ray SRP: $39.99 Catalog #: AR0001BD UPC #: 663390002575 New 4K restoration. Dennis Hopper’s radical, much-mythologized lost masterpiece – widely unseen for nearly 50 years until now!   Consciously self-reflexive and co-written by Hopper and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE screenwriter Stewart Stern, THE LAST MOVIE follows a Hollywood movie crew in the midst of making a western in a remote Peruvian village. When production wraps, Hopper, as the baleful stuntman Kansas, remains, attempting to find redemption in the isolation of Peru and the arms of a former prostitute. Meanwhile, the local Indians have taken over the abandoned set and begun to stage a ritualistic re-enactment of the production – with Kansas as their sacrificial lamb.   Among the most storied productions of the New Hollywood Era, Hopper was given carte blanche by Universal for his next directorial feature after the tremendous commercial success of EASY RIDER, and writer-director-star took the money and ran – literally – staging THE LAST MOVIE in Peru at farthest remove from the Hollywood machine, with an on-screen entourage in tow that included Kris Kristofferson, Julie Adams, Stella Garcia, Peter Fonda, Dean Stockwell, Toni Basil, Russ Tamblyn, Michelle Phillips and director Samuel Fuller.   Although it won a special award at the Venice Film Festival, THE LAST MOVIE would effectively end Hopper’s career for many years – the Hollywood establishment gleefully writing him off as a self-indulgent madman. Yet the movie remains thrillingly innovative and remarkably contemporary – influenced greatly by the work of Bruce Conner and the French New Wave, as well as the Pop and Abstract artists Hopper revered.
	Last Movie, The (2-Disc Edition) Studio: Arbelos Films Format: DVD SRP: $29.99 Catalog #: AR0001DVD UPC #: 663390002582 New 4K restoration. Dennis Hopper’s radical, much-mythologized lost masterpiece – widely unseen for nearly 50 years until now!   Consciously self-reflexive and co-written by Hopper and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE screenwriter Stewart Stern, THE LAST MOVIE follows a Hollywood movie crew in the midst of making a western in a remote Peruvian village. When production wraps, Hopper, as the baleful stuntman Kansas, remains, attempting to find redemption in the isolation of Peru and the arms of a former prostitute. Meanwhile, the local Indians have taken over the abandoned set and begun to stage a ritualistic re-enactment of the production – with Kansas as their sacrificial lamb.   Among the most storied productions of the New Hollywood Era, Hopper was given carte blanche by Universal for his next directorial feature after the tremendous commercial success of EASY RIDER, and writer-director-star took the money and ran – literally – staging THE LAST MOVIE in Peru at farthest remove from the Hollywood machine, with an on-screen entourage in tow that included Kris Kristofferson, Julie Adams, Stella Garcia, Peter Fonda, Dean Stockwell, Toni Basil, Russ Tamblyn, Michelle Phillips and director Samuel Fuller.   Although it won a special award at the Venice Film Festival, THE LAST MOVIE would effectively end Hopper’s career for many years – the Hollywood establishment gleefully writing him off as a self-indulgent madman. Yet the movie remains thrillingly innovative and remarkably contemporary – influenced greatly by the work of Bruce Conner and the French New Wave, as well as the Pop and Abstract artists Hopper revered.
	Mutual Appreciation Studio: Arbelos Films Format: Blu-ray SRP: $39.99 Catalog #: AR0002BD UPC #: 663390002933 Arbelos Films Presents MUTUAL APPRECIATION – Indie auteur Andrew Bujalski’s character study of 20-somethings in contemporary New York City – never before released on Blu-ray!   An instant critic’s darling upon its release in 2006, MUTUAL APPRECIATION is at once an utterly timeless and distinctly mid-aughts portrait of the ebb and flow of twenty-something life in New York City. Richly observed and deeply humanist, the film follows Alan (Justin Rice), an aspiring musician, who crash-lands in town following the breakup of his band in Boston, immediately taking up with his old friends Ellie (Rachel Clift) and Lawrence (writer-director Andrew Bujalski) while negotiating the affections of a local radio DJ (Seung-Min Lee). In the tradition of Éric Rohmer, John Cassavetes and Jacques Rivette, Bujalski crafts a deft yet unassuming generational statement that finds its inspiration less in plot than in sharply drawn relationships and captivating conversations. Lovingly lensed in intimate 16mm black & white film, MUTUAL APPRECIATION is a generous and witty ode to the friendships that hallmark our awkward and enthralling post-collegiate years.   Mutual Appreciation, along with 2002’s equally lauded FUNNY HA HA, signaled the triumphant arrival of indie auteur Bujalski, who has gone on to write and direct a suite of critically acclaimed features including BEESWAX (2009), COMPUTER CHESS (2013), RESULTS (2015) and 2018’s SUPPORT THE GIRLS.