DVD Production
Documentaries, Spanish-Language DVDs Gaining On Shelves

Jun 20, 2004, 10:30
by Larry Jaffee

Two DVD categories that are growing in popularity are documentaries and Spanish-language films, exemplified by recent releases from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (CTHE) and Desert Mountain Media.
CTHE in May held a press screening in New York for this year’s Oscar winner in the documentary category, The Fog of War, with filmmaker Errol Morris on hand to explain the making of the DVD, which was released May 11 and includes 24 scenes not in the 107-minute theatrical version.

The film focuses solely on former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and his memories serving Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. What emerges is a reluctant hawk, who was viewed by the media as the face of the Vietnam War, but in actuality greatly differed with Johnson in the country’s approach to the increasingly deadly conflict.

Illustrated by vintage footage obtained by Morris, McNamara traces events that led to his war philosophy, from the killing of 100,000 Japanese civilians in the fire-bombing of Tokyo in 1945 (just prior to the U.S.’s dropping of two atomic bombs), to an insider’s view of the Cuban missile crisis and how close the world came to nuclear catastrophe.

During the press conference, Morris agreed with Medialine that McNamara had a "guilty conscience," which was why he agreed to participate in the film against perhaps his better judgment.
CTHE executives noted that documentaries were becoming better accepted as the result of breakthroughs such as Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine.

Separately, Desert Mountain Media of Phoenix, AZ, hosted a screening at New York’s Cuban Film Festival of Entre Ciclones/Between Hurricanes, an award-winning Cuban film that the company recently acquired to release on DVD.

Entre Ciclones is an entertaining movie about a well-meaning, 20-something Cuban laborer who women find attractive, and his plight to stay on the right side of the law and keep his job as a telephone repairman.
In a little over a year, Desert Mountain has released nearly two dozen Spanish-language films on DVD. What they all have in common, notes founder Leslie Haas, is that they’re film festival award-winners. While the company has focused on Spanish-language films, it will be soon delving into other niche markets not currently well-served by most DVD companies, she added.

Haas said Desert Mountain was gaining ground with major video retailers to pick up its line in selected stores in large cities. She added that she was hopeful that the retailers would begin stocking the titles throughout the chains.

Like CTHE, Desert Mountain’s DVDs presently are replicated by Sony Disc Manufacturing—which makes sense, given that Haas previously was general manager of SDM sister company Sony Pictures DVD, on the movie studio’s lot in Culver City, CA.