February, marking both Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, is the kind of stretch from which a programmer can mine plenty. Accordingly the Criterion Channel have oriented their next slate around both. The former is mostly noted in a series comprising numerous features and shorts: Shirley Clarke and William Greaves up to Ephraim Asili and Garrett Bradley, among them gems such as Varda’s Black Panthers and Kathleen Collins’ Losing Ground; a six-film series on James Baldwin; and 10 works by Oscar Micheaux.
Meanwhile, the 23-film “All You Need Is Love” will cover the blinding romance of L’Atalante, the heartbreak of Happy Together, and youthful whimsy of Stolen Kisses; four Douglas Sirk rarities (Thunder on the Hill, All I Desire, There’s Always Tomorrow, and The Tarnished Angels) should leave their mark, but I’m perhaps most excited about three starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day (Pillow Talk, Send Me No Flowers, Lover Come Back). Perhaps more bracing are 12 movies by Derek Jarman and four by noir maestro Robert Siodmak. Also a major coup: eight pieces by Jean Painlevé scored to an original, never-released soundtrack by Yo La Tengo.
See the full list below and more at the Criterion Channel.
All I Desire, Douglas Sirk, 1953
Alma’s Rainbow, Ayoka Chenzira, 1994
The Angelic Conversation, Derek Jarman, 1985
Blue, Derek Jarman, 1993
Boy Meets Girl, Leos Carax, 1984
Cane River, Horace Jenkins, 1982
Caravaggio, Derek Jarman, 1986
Criss Cross, Robert Siodmak, 1949
Edward II, Derek Jarman, 1991
Eleanor’s Secret, Dominique Monfery, 2009*
Eleanor’s Secret: French Version, Dominique Monfery, 2009*
Flaming Ears, A. Hans Scheirl, Dietmar Schipek, and Ursula Pürrer, 1992
The Garden, Derek Jarman, 1990
Glitterbug, Derek Jarman, 1994
Go Tell It on the Mountain, Stan Lathan, 1985
I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck, 2016*
James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket, Karen Thorsen, 1989
The Killers, Robert Siodmak, 1946
The Last of England, Derek Jarman, 1987
Lata, Alisha Tejpal, 2020
Lover Come Back, Delbert Mann, 1961
Murder in Harlem, Oscar Micheaux, 1935
On-Gaku: Our Sound, Kenji Iwaisawa, 2019
Phantom Lady, Robert Siodmak, 1944
Pillow Talk, Michael Gordon, 1959
Safe, Ian Barling, 2021
Sebastiane, Derek Jarman, 1976
Send Me No Flowers, Norman Jewison, 1964
The Sounds of Science, Jean Painlevé, 2002
The Suspect, Robert Siodmak, 1944
The Tall Men, Raoul Walsh, 1955
The Tarnished Angels, Douglas Sirk, 1957
The Tempest, Derek Jarman, 1979
Thunder on the Hill, Douglas Sirk, 1951
The Velvet Queen, Vincent Munier and Marie Amiguet, 2021*
War Requiem, Derek Jarman, 1989
Wittgenstein, Derek Jarman, 1993
Premiering February 13
Baldwin’s Nigger, Horace Ové, 1968
James Baldwin: From Another Place, Sedat Pakay, 1973
Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris, Terence Dixon, 1970