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For Immediate Release
April 18, 2012
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Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo - Chicago '60s wins Telly Award
The 33rd Annual Telly Awards announced today that the Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc DVD release Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo - Chicago '60s has won a 2012 Bronze Award in the non-theatrical category. Four More Films joins the other four previous Telly Award winners offered by Emphasis Entertainment including the first DVD of Palazzolo films; Four Films by Tom Palazzolo.
Now in its 15th year, Emphasis Entertainment Group continues to bring the best in independent film and music production finding an increasing audience hungry for quality alternative entertainment.
For Immediate Release
March 14, 2012
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Pola Negri, Jean Harlow, Jean Arthur: Kenneth Turan's DVD picksNew boxed sets look at the careers of Pola Negri, Jean Harlow and Jean Arthur -- three actresses who deserve to be better known.
From the silent era, we have Negri, a European-born sensation who predated Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. "Pola Negri: The Iconic Collection 'The Early Films' " presents a quartet of her starring roles, including the celebrated "The Yellow Ticket" and the wonderfully named "Eyes of the Mummy Ma." Watch Kenneth Turan's video review
For Immediate Release
February 25, 2012
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DVDTalk Highy Recommends "Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo"
Four More Films by Tom Palazzolo
Highly Recommended
" as a chronicler of a city and its varying lifelines, no one can top Tom Palazzolo."
For Immediate Release
January 24, 2012
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Emphasis Entertainment Group to distribute Upheaval Productions
Upheaval Productions was founded in 2006 and has produced multiple documentary films with a sharp edge focusing on and exploring socially relevant issues both locally and globally. Believing there needs to be strong, independent voices in media, and are dedicated to producing material that covers underrepresented and/or misrepresented issues.
Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc has scheduled the first three DVD collection of documentaries for an April 2012 release.
For Immediate Release
January 7, 2012
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Landmarks of Early Soviet Films wins Heritage Honors.The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, January 7th, 2012, chose “Melancholia” as Best Picture of the Year 2011. Other categories for outstanding film achievement. included FILM HERITAGE AWARD to Flicker Alley for their box set “Landmarks of Early Soviet Film.”
National Society of Film Critics: The Truth, Once Every 12 Months
For Immediate Release
January 4, 2012
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Emphasis Entertainment Group has Two Titles Named to best of 2011 by 90.1 radio.
90.1 radio Top Blues Releases for 2011 includes two Emphasis Entertainment Group distributed titles: Marion James" Essence" (EllerSoul Records) at the #3 spot, and Richard Ray Farrell "I Sing The Blues Eclectic" (Blue Beet) at # 4. EEG is proud to include these great titles in our catalog and would like to congratulate our artists on their success.
For Immediate Release
December 30, 2011
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Emphasis Entertainment Group to distribute EllerSoul Records!
Effective January 1, 2012 we are excited to be the new distributor for the Midlothian, VA based blues label EllerSoul Records!
Established in January 2011, EllerSoul Records was founded to present exciting blues and soul music. From Andy Poxon to Marion James their family of artists span four generations. From traditional to modern acoustic and electric blues, 50s swing to classic soul to funk, they have something to satisfy the discerning tastes of music fans everywhere.
Throughout 2011, the Ellersoul Records releases have received raved reviews from music press & radio across the country including recent year-end Best Of 2011 lists:
Blues Underground Network - Future Of The Blues - The Andy Poxon Band
Blues Underground Network - Best Instrumental Album: Ivan Appelrouth / Blue And Instrumental
Doc’s Juke Joint – Best of 2011: Marion James / Essence!
For Immediate Release
December 20, 2011
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Emphasis Entertainment Group Blues Award Winners!
Richard Ray Farrell "I Sing the Blues Eclectic" nominated for favorite blues album 2011 by Blindmans Blues Forum!Blues Underground Network names 2011 year end reviews. "Future Of The Blues" goes to The Andy Poxon Band and the Best Instrumental Album - Ivan Appelrouth "Blue And Instrumental" - Congrats to our friends at EllerSoul Records! We will have more info about EllerSoul and 2012 coming soon from Emphasis Entertainment Group.
For Immediate Release
December 1, 2011
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Emphasis Entertainment Group signs distribution agreement with Bright Shining City Productions for Pola Negri Collection.
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) has signed an agreement to distribute the 3 DVD set, Pola Negri: The Iconic Collection - The Earlt Films produced by Bright Shining City Productions. Before Garbo or Dietrich, there was Pola Negri. She was the first exotic European actress imported to Hollywood during the Silent Film Era, with much fanfare and hoopla. For the first time on DVD, four of Pola Negri’s first films from the early days of her career in Europe, will now be available in a three disc DVD set on Feburary 7, 2012.
For Immediate Release
November 1, 2011
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Emphasis Entertainment Group signs distribution agreement with Skydancer Productions LLC.
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) has signed an agreement to distribute two Award Winning DVDs produced by Skydancer Productions LLC. Heart & Soil an inspiring film about food we eat and the people who grow it locally and Wild Horses in Winds of Change a documentary that stimulates our awareness, offers fresh understanding of the wild horse crisis, and is a film for all who care about our planet’s fate. Both DVDs will become avaialble on January 10, 2012.
For Immediate Release
January 8, 2011
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Chaplin at Keystone wins 2010 NSFC Film Heritage Award!FILM HERITAGE AWARDS:
1. Flicker Alley for Chaplin at Keystone
This four-DVD set is the result of an eight-year effort by the British Film Institute, the Cineteca Bologna and Lobster Films in Paris to gather and restore early generation, full-frame 35-millimeter prints of Charles Chaplin’s earliest short comedies, allowing these historically and artistically important films to be seen for the first time in generations in versions approaching their original luster.
For Immediate Release
November 8, 2010
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Rob Blaine wins 2010 Chicago Blues Challenge!
Congratulations to Rob Blaine’s Big Otis Blues who took first place at the Chicago Blues Challenge Finals on Sunday, November 7th. Rob Blaine and his band will go on to Memphis to compete in the 2011 International Blues Challenge during the first week in February.
For Immediate Release
August 1, 2010
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New Chicago-Based Blues Label Launches September 21, 2010Chris Harper & Dave Katzman are proud to announce the launch of their new Chicago-based blues label SWISSISSIPPI RECORDS on SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 with three new releases: SWISSISSIPPI CHRIS HARPER “Four Aces and a Harp" (also featuring JIMMY BURNS, JOHN PRIMER, WILLIE “BIG EYES" SMITH AND BOB STROGER), ROB BLAINE's “Big Otis Blues" and PEACHES STATEN “Live At Legends," with distribution by Emphasis Entertainment Group.
For Immediate Release
December 1, 2009
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Miss Mend on The New York Times 2009 Holiday Gift Guide!Flicker Alley's latest DVD release Miss Mend has been selected by The New York Times for their 2009 Hoilday Gift Guide. Miss Mend - Two great Russian filmmakers, Fedor Ozep and Boris Barnet, collaborated on this three-part adventure serial (1926) that poses as an American pulp fiction while gently pushing the party line.
Available December 15, 2009 from Emphasis Entertainment Group.
For Immediate Release
October 1, 2009
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New show on Animal Planet!As featured on the EEG DVD release VICKTORY To The Underdog, the Villa Lobos Pitbull Rescue is now the subject of a new series on ANIMAL PLANET - "Pit Bulls & Parolees". Fridays at 10PM E/P!
For Immediate Release
July 20, 2009
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Bologna, Italy -- Douglas Fairbanks 5-DVD Set Named Best of 2009
The Cinema Lumière2 have been presented the 5th edition prize winners of the Il Cinema Ritrovato -DVD Awards awarded by the jury so composed: Peter von Bagh (Artistic Director of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival), Hervé Dumont (Cinématheque Suisse), Mark McElhatten (independent Film and Video Curator and Film Archivist), Paolo Mereghetti (cinema critic) and Alexander Horwath (Video Curator and cinema critic).
The DVDs winner selected about more than seventy titles, of the most prestigious international publishing houses, conciliate at one's best the cinema history and the new technologies and bend the dvd support to the requirement of the documentation and restoration of the films that are been produced before the Seventies.
From The Library Journal
April 10, 2009
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The death and destruction Hurricane Katrina wreaked in 2005 continues to resonate in American life. These recent films take another look at the devastation and the resilience of its human and animal survivors.No Place Like Home. b/w. 50 min.
"An interesting and affordable film that adds one more dimension to the Katrina story."
- Tom Budlong, Atlanta
Left Behind Without a Choice: Hurricane Katrina Animal Rescue Documentary. color. 80 min."these inspiring and poignant documentaries will attract interest from animal lovers of all ages as well as general viewers.—Donald Altschiller, BostonUniv. Libs.
For Immediate Release
January 22, 2009
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The Emphasis Entertainment DVD "No Place Like Home" wins 2008 AEGIS Video & Movie Production Award.Emphasis Entertainment has been notified by the AEGIS judges, that it's July DVD release of the Courtney Fathom Sell documentary NO PLACE LIKE HOME has just been awarded a 2008 Award for it's all around production value.
Now in its 19th year, the Aegis Awards has established itself as a leading competition for professional video and filmmakers. The mission of the Aegis Awards competition is to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective video/film productions being produced today.
For Immediate Release
January 2, 2009
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Emphasis Entertainment signs Film Foetus production "Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River" national distribution.CHICAGO FILMMAKERS ON THE CHICAGO RIVER, a documentary feature that examines the creative processes of Chicago moviemakers, is now available on DVD and is loaded with bonus footage and a unique 3D stereo imaging effect. Using the city’s famous river as a location, filmmaker D.P. CARLSON places filmmakers in a variety of boats and interviews them as they explore the river and share stories of how Chicago has influenced their careers. The Chicago River comes to life as the artists float along the famous waterway, which is often photographed in films, but rarely featured as a continuous backdrop.
ANDREW DAVIS, MICHAEL MANN, HAROLD RAMIS, JOHN LANDIS, JOHN MCNAUGHTON, STEVEN A. JONES, STUART GORDON and HASKELL WEXLER are among the Hollywood directors who are interviewed. Chicago's best independent filmmakers are also featured: TOM PALAZZOLO, LORETTA SMITH, JERRY BLUMENTHAL, GORDON QUINN, LOUIS ANTONELLI, KATY MAGUIRE, ROSS MARKS, JIM SIKORA, MICHAEL DAWSON, AYANNA U'DONGO, ZEINABU DAVIS, CHRIS LIGON and HEATHER MCADAMS. Along the riverbank, local film critics RAY PRIDE, DANN GIRE, GENE SISKEl and ROGER EBERT are interviewed as well as Chicago Film Office Director RICHARD MOSKAL and the Honorable RICHARD M. DALEY, Mayor of Chicago.
The film was produced and directed by D.P. CARLSON who has been in the Chicago film and video scene since 1990. His independent film work includes I WAS THERE WHEN THE BLUES WAS RED HOT, HOMELESS '99, SAILORMAN, and JOHNNY DODGEBALL. HOMELESS '99, which is an award-winning documentary about a panhandler, premiered at Dockers Classically Independent Film Festival in 1999. Later that year, Carlson received the Panavision-sponsored Founder's Award given to the Most Promising Midwest Filmmaker. In 2000 he made the 35mm narrative short SAILORMAN starring Chicago acting veterans Mike Nussbaum and Ron Dean. The film premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival. His newest film in post-production is a comedic, pseudo sports documentary called JOHNNY DODGEBALL.
For Immediate Release
December 2, 2008
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NEW YORK TIMES MOVIES / DVD AND HOME VIDEO | December 2, 2008
Critic's Choice: New DVDs: Douglas Fairbanks
By DAVE KEHR
With his boundless energy and incandescent smile, Fairbanks counts among the earliest major performers to emerge in feature-length film.In 1940 the fledgling Film Library of the Museum of Modern Art published the first two volumes in what was meant to be a series of monographs on film history: a study of the director D. W. Griffith, written by the library’s founding curator, Iris Barry, and an appreciation of the actor Douglas Fairbanks, written by the British journalist Alistair Cooke.
It’s no coincidence that MoMA chose to begin its version of film history with these two figures: if Griffith was the first modern filmmaker, then Fairbanks was a plausible candidate as the first modern movie star. With his boundless energy and incandescent smile, Fairbanks counts among the earliest major performers to emerge, not from the one- and two-reel films that had been the norm in the nickelodeon days, but from the feature-length film as it began to develop around 1912.
From the vantage point of the 21st century, we may find it hard to identify with nickelodeon stars like Dustin Farnum and Francis X. Bushman. Their personalities seem remote and restricted, their gestures too broad and too big, the emotions they express too heavy and pious, still smothered in Victorian values. But in Fairbanks we recognize a contemporary: a bright, open-faced young man who moves quickly and naturally, who lives in a world of speed and mass communication that is recognizably our own, who aspires not to the tragic martyrdom of the Victorians but to immediate pleasures and ordinary happiness.
This is the performer whose development is traced in “Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer,” an extraordinary, well-produced set of 10 features and one short film that arrives on Tuesday from Flicker Alley. These aren’t the more familiar costume epics from Fairbanks’s later career — several of which have been issued in fine editions by Kino International — but rather the modern-day comedies that first established his screen personality.
In “His Picture in the Papers,” the earliest (1916) film in this collection, Fairbanks plays Pete Prindle, the mildly rebellious son of a Kellogg-like health-food magnate. Pete hopes to get some publicity for his father’s appallingly bland product line by performing a stunt — any stunt — that will get the family name mentioned in the New York press.
The film still has the frantic pace and slapstick humor of a two-reel comedy, but Fairbanks is already taking advantage of the extended feature format (in this edition, the movie runs 62 minutes) to develop his personality in asides that have no direct bearing on the plot. When he goes to visit his fiancée, he’s so eager to get to her second-story apartment that he climbs right up the front of her building, an early manifestation of a careerlong aversion to taking the stairs.
For Fairbanks, a dedicated amateur gymnast, such moments of physical exuberance came naturally. On “His Picture” he was teamed for the first time with the director John Emerson and the screenwriter Anita Loos (the future author of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”), and their collaboration extended through eight more films, three of which are included here: “The Mystery of the Leaping Fish,” a bizarre short with Fairbanks as a drug-addled detective named Coke Ennyday; the western comedy “Wild and Woolly”; and the Ruritanian adventure “Reaching for the Moon.”
Working with Emerson and Loos, Fairbanks (who contributed substantially to his own scripts, often under the pseudonym Elton Thomas) elaborated the character audiences came to call “Doug”: an energetic striver, of middle- or upper-middle-class origins, whose romantic notions and passionate enthusiasms (for the cowboy life in “Wild and Woolly,” or a fantasy of royal origins in “Reaching”) are first presented as comic but ultimately allow him to save the day.
This pattern reaches one of its high points in “A Modern Musketeer,” a 1917 feature that was one of 11 films Fairbanks made with Allan Dwan, the great master of early film form. Long available only in an incomplete print, the movie was restored in 2006 with footage found by the Danish Film Institute and makes its first appearance on DVD with this set.
In it Fairbanks plays a Kansas go-getter whose obsession with Alexandre Dumas drives him to ever more preposterous acts of romantic gallantry. In the end he is able to unleash his inner swashbuckler when, during a visit to the Grand Canyon, he is called on to rescue a young woman (Marjorie Daw) from the clutches of an outlaw gang.
Dwan’s early command of match-cut editing — the apparently seamless presentation of action across a series of shots — is shown off to tremendous advantage here: Fairbanks seems to cut through space like an arrow in flight, a pure line of strength and beauty.
“A Modern Musketeer” begins with a winking prologue in which Fairbanks presents himself in full costume as D’Artagnan, tugging at his false mustache and adjusting his wig to assure his audience that Doug could indeed be found somewhere beneath the shrubbery. Fairbanks was testing the waters for what would be the next development in his career, the transition to period adventure films that began with “The Mark of Zorro” in 1920.
With “Zorro,” Fairbanks inverted his successful formula. No longer was he an ordinary individual who dreamed of being a hero, but a hero (Zorro, the masked scourge of corrupt officials in Colonial California) who disguised himself as an average guy (Don Diego, the foppish son of a landowner). The reversal, of course, only made the fantasy seem more potent: “Zorro” began a line of superheroes with secret identities that remains very much (perhaps too much) with us today.
The Flicker Alley set offers “Zorro” in a glisteningly sharp print made from a source close to the camera negative, and the other titles in the box have been mastered with consummate care, even when the source material is not perfect. The movies are presented with period-accurate color tinting and accompanied by appropriate scores performed by some of the leading figures in silent-film music, including Philip Carli, Robert Israel and Rodney Sauer, the leader of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
A 32-page booklet offers an essay by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta, the authors of “Douglas Fairbanks,” a new pictorial biography that the University of California Press is releasing next week. This one’s a keeper. (Flicker Alley, $89.99, not rated.)
For Immediate Release
November 21, 2008
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The Flicker Alley restoration of F.W. Murnau's Phantom, wins this year's Willy Haas Award at the 2008 CineFest - International Festival of German Film Heritage in Hamburg, Germany.
The Willy Haas Award is an award for an important international print and DVD publication – not older than two years – on German cinema, chosen from five previously nominated titles.
Willy Haas was an author, film critic and screenwriter who was born in Prague and died in Hamburg.
The award is presented by an international and independent jury, which consists of at least five members. Jury membership is limited to three years maximum, and every year at least one seat is newly appointed. The winner of the Willy Haas-prize automatically joins the jury for next year.
Watch the TRAILER for CineFest 2008.
For Immediate Release
September 16, 2008
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Now Available fom Flicker Alley & Emphasis Entertainment Group -- J’ACCUSE - A FILM BY ABEL GANCEAn anti-war classic from the director of NAPOLEON (1927) and La Roue (1923).
J’Accuse (1919) is a story set against the backdrop of World War I that is considered one of the most technically advanced films of the era and the first major pacifist film. Gance, who had served briefly in the military during World War I, decided to return to active service in 1919 in order to film real battle scenes to include in the project. However, the film had been reedited and shortened for peacetime reissue in 1922, and has not been available since in its original form.
Lobster Films Studios, Paris, working in collaboration with Netherlands Filmmuseum have culled materials from the Lobster Collection, the Czech archive in Prague, the Cinematheque Francaise, and the Netherlands Filmmuseum to make the best possible and most complete edition of the original 1919 edit of the film.
For Immediate Release
July 15, 2008
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Now Available fom Flicker Alley & Emphasis Entertainment Group-- PERILS OF THE NEW LANDPERILS OF THE NEW LAND, a new double feature collection of Traffic In Souls (1913) and The Italian (1915), both riveting and important social dramas of the American silent screen. From the earliest years of feature-length film, when movies were dedicated more to advocacy and reform than to escapist entertainment, both films depict new immigrants to America and hazards that await them. Both films are honored with inclusion in The National Film Registry, which selects up to twenty-five “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films” each year. In addition to the features, this two-DVD set, produced by David Shepard from the Blackhawk Films library, presents three short theme-related bonus films from the pioneer Edison company: Police Force, New York City (1910), The Call of the City (1912), and McQuade of the Traffic Squad (1915).
According to legend, Traffic In Souls was filmed surreptitiously at Universal Pictures with the offending producer (Jack Cohn) and director (George Loane Tucker) prepared to buy the picture in case the company wouldn’t release it. Exploiting a recent exposé of prostitution rings, this “white slavery” story proved a huge financial success.Traffic In Souls is a very accomplished work for its time, and makes excellent use of New York City locations.
The Italian, produced for Paramount Pictures by Thomas H. Ince and directed by Reginald Barker, stars George Beban, who was renowned for his ethnic characterizations. It is the story of Beppo, a gondolier who comes to America and settles in lower Manhattan. There he operates a shoeshine business, eventually saving enough money to import his fiancée. Crime and poverty soon impact their lives – and there is no artificial, happy ending. .
For Immediate Release
July 4, 2008
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The Cinema Lumière2 have been presented the 5th edition prize winners of the Il Cinema Ritrovato -DVD Awards awarded by the jury so composed: Peter von Bagh (Artistic Director of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival), Hervé Dumont (Cinématheque Suisse), Mark McElhatten (independent Film and Video Curator and Film Archivist), Paolo Mereghetti (cinema critic) and Alexander Horwath (Video Curator and cinema critic).
The DVDs winner selected about more than seventy titles, of the most prestigious international publishing houses, conciliate at one's best the cinema history and the new technologies and bend the dvd support to the requirement of the documentation and restoration of the films that are been produced before the Seventies.
For Immediate Release
April 4, 2008
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Chicago -- Emphasis Entertainment Group & Specialty DVD Supplier Flicker Alley Announces First United States Release of Abel Gance’s La Roue (The Wheel)A new restoration of almost 4 ½ hours, the most complete version of this monumental French film since 1923, La Roue makes its home video premiere on May 6th.
EEG & Flicker Alley, LLC, a specialty supplier of fine silent films and classic cinema programming, in association with Film Preservation Associates, today announced that the company will release La Roue (The Wheel) by Abel Gance (Napoleon, J’Accuse). Of the film, Jean Cocteau wrote: “There is cinema before and after La Roue as there is painting before and after Picasso.” The home video release follows the film’s North American premiere on Turner Classic Movies by ten days. This marks the first occasion that this essential film has received distribution in the United States, and is the first home video edition to be released anywhere in the world.
Three years in production, and for its time unprecedented in length and complexity of emotion, La Roue pushed the frontiers of film art beyond all previous efforts. It became a source book of cinematic invention that reverberated in countless other classic films over the decades. It was hailed by artists and intellectuals, who recognized it as a stunning advance in modern art. German director G. W. Pabst, an ardent admirer of La Roue, was encouraged by Gance’s example to undertake his own remarkable explorations of human psychology in such silent films as Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl. Said Akira Kurosawa, “the first film that really impressed me was La Roue.”
For Immediate Release
April 1, 2008
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Chicago -- Emphasis Entertainment Group signs output agreement with Slumlord ProductionsEmphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) has entered an output agreement with independent filmmaker Courtney Fathom Sell and his Slumlord Productions company. The first release slated for Summer of 2008, will be Sell’s Award Winning and Critically Acclaimed Documentary "No Place Like Home". The DVD will include many special features, including behind the scenes and filmmaker's extras.
"No Place Like Home" is an honest portrayal of "Defend New Orleans" Creator Jac Currie’s life after Hurricane Katrina. Shot entirely on a handheld hi-8 video camera, the film depicts Defend New Orleans’ transition to a valid social aid project and features some of the earliest footage of post-Katrina Mississippi, as well as interviews with individuals who survived Katrina in New Orleans. The film won "Best Picture" at the 2006 Blue November Film Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was recently promoted by Ellen Degeneres on her National Television Show.
For Immediate Release
February 1, 2008
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Chicago -- Specialty DVD Supplier Flicker Alley Announces Unprecedented and Definitive, 5-Disc Set “Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema"
Distributed by Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc.Flicker Alley, LLC, a specialty supplier of fine silent films and classic cinema programming, in association with Film Preservation Associates, today announced that the company will release “Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913)” on DVD March 11, 2008. Film historian Georges Sadoul called Melies “the father of narrative cinema, and the first man in the world to decide consciously that he wanted to make films.” His seminal fantasy and science fiction films still retain the power to entertain and delight more than 100 years later. This collection marks the first occasion that this key filmmaker has received a major home video retrospective anywhere in the world.
The 5-disc DVD set, which will carry a suggested retail price of $89.95, includes Méliès’s first film, Partie de Cartes and his last, Voyage de la Famille Bourrichon, and brackets more than 170 others. Included are the celebrated and famous journey films, among them A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage, The Kingdom of Fairies, The Merry Frolics of Satan, The Palace of the Arabian Nights, and The Conquest of the Pole. Fifteen films are reproduced from partial or complete hand-colored original prints, thirteen are presented with the original English narrations written by Méliès. The duration of these films ranges from less than half a minute (The Misfortunes of an Explorer, 1900), to more than half an hour (Conquest of the North Pole, 1912). Also included is a filmed tribute, Le Grand Méliès (1953) by Georges Franju in its original English version, and a substantial booklet containing essays by filmmaker Norman McLaren and historian John Frazer. <more>
For Immediate Release
January 22, 2008
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Chicago -- A Seven Hour Anthology of Nitrate-Era Rarities Culled from the Lobster Films and Blackhawk Films Collections Make Their Home Video Premiere January 22 via Flicker Alley/EEG.“SAVED FROM THE FLAMES” is a unique and wonderful collection of 54 rare and restored short films from the inflammable years of cinema, when movies were made on nitrate film and thus highly vulnerable to fire and decay. This remarkable anthology is organized in eight thematic groups over three DVD programs and presents fascinating nitrate-era treasures from the vaults of Lobster Films in Paris and from the Blackhawk Films Collection—films which were literally rescued from imminent destruction over the past fifty years.
Flicker Alley’s “SAVED FROM THE FLAMES” DVD set is the North American home video premiere of Lobster Films and Blackhawk Films materials previously exhibited as part of the semi-annual live presentation of Serge Bromberg’s Retour le Flamme in Paris--as well as many materials which have rarely been shown before. The DVD edition also includes an illustrated booklet with annotations by film preservationists and historians David Shepard and Serge Bromberg.
Additional digital video and audio restoration work on the “SAVED FROM THE FLAMES” DVD was carried out by Elektrofilm Digital Studios, which is at the forefront of Hollywood's digital revolution and specialize in high-end DVD authoring and post production. “SAVED FROM THE FLAMES” carries a suggested retail price of $49.99. <more>
For Immediate Release
December 1, 2007
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Chicago -- Emphasis Entertainment signs distribution agreement with Proteus EntertainmentProteus Entertainment, Inc. is a Chicago-based recording company dedicated to the manufacture, distribution and marketing of unique recordings crossing the genres of Classical, Jazz and World Music.
Proteus has developed a reputation for working with their recording artists in creating the ultimate music CD. Over the years they have organized a strong roster of experienced professionals needed to create high quality music and art production. Their current list of artists includes Goran Ivanovic - Fareed Haque - St. Charles Singers - Michelle Areyzaga - Jamie Shaak - Harvey Wainapel & Paulo Bellinati.
Emphasis Entertainment Group proudly welcomes Proteus Entertainment to our group of distributed lines.
Proteus: "A Greek sea god capable of assuming different forms"
For more info visit: http://www.proteusentertainment.com
For Immediate Release
March 16, 2007
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Chicago -- Four Films by Tom Palazzolo wins two Telly Awards!The 2007 Telly Awards gave top honors to Emphasis Entertainment's DVD release "Four Films by Tom Palazzolo". Awarded the Silver level in the Entertainment and Editing categories, the debut DVD release from Chicago filmmaker Tom Palazzolo features four short films from his vast library of work, with bonus features that include director's filmography and biography, and a newly created live-action/animated short based on the "curse" of the Chicago "Cups".
About the Telly Awards:
Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world. The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition and receives over 13,000 entries annually from all 50 states and many foreign countries.
For Immediate Release
February 12, 2007
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Los Angeles -- The 2007 DIY Music Festival has named San Francisco's Cathy Richardson Band and its "Delusions of Grandeur" as the 2007 DIY Album of the Year.
Richardson, who moved to the Bay area from Chicago late last year, was showcased at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood in a special series tied to the seventh annual DIY Convention, which celebrates independent film, music and books. The showcases were sponsored by Bug Music, CD Baby, JakPrints and the National Assn. of Record Industry Professionals.The 2007 DIY Music Festival selections:
DIY Album of the Year: Cathy Richardson, "Delusions Of Grandeur"
DIY Songwriters of the Year: The Craze, Coby Brown
DIY Song of the Year: John Batdorf, "Home Again"
DIY Producers of the Year: Cathy Richardson and John Ovnik
DIY Album Artwork of the Year: Rachel Sage, "The Blistering Sun"
For Immediate Release
January 3, 2007
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Chicago, IL – Emphasis Entertainment Welcomes Our Path ProductionsEmphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) recently entered into an agreement with independent film production company Our Path Productions. Through the agreement EEG will perform several marketing and distribution functions for Our Path. Watch for the debut DVD release featuring several short films directed by Edmond Coisson in the coming months. For a sneak preview select here.
For Immediate Release
December 22, 2006
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Chicago, IL – Phantom Named to New York Times "10 Best"From Film to Fetish Object: The Year’s Noteworthy DVDs By Dave Kehr of the New York Times names "Phantom" as one of the years Ten Best releases for 2006!
For Immediate Release
September 25, 2006
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Chicago, IL – Emphasis Entertainment Sponsors Children's Benefit
Emphasis Entertainment Group (EEG) and Graphicats Design proudly partisipated in the first Friends of Jamaica USA, "Reggae on the Rock" benefit that helps support education, social and medical services.
For more information go to: friendsofjamaicausa.orgFor Immediate Release
November 12, 2005
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Chicago, IL – Emphasis Kids receives 8th award in 8 yearsThe Parents’ Choice Foundation has announced that the 2005 Emphasis Kids release “Brighter Than Fireflies” by Amy Lowe has received the Silver Honor in children’s audio. It is the 8th award granted to Emphasis Kids in its 8-year history.
Founded in 1998 as solely owned organization with a goal to bring quality children’s entertainment and educational programming to market, Emphasis Kids is currently distributed by Big Daddy Music Distribution in New York, and is available through numerous retail and institutional wholesalers throughout the country.
The current list of audio award winners includes:
Brighter Than Fireflies - 2005 Parents’ Choice Silver Honor
Math Music - 2005 Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement
Fire In Boomtown – 2004 Parents’ Choice 25 Best of 25 Years
Friends – 2001 Parents Choice Silver Honor
Adventures of Lana Ladybug in Europe – 2000 Parents’ Choice Recommendation
Fire In Boomtown – 1999 Parents’ Choice Gold Award
Fire in Boomtown – 1999 Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement
I Like Gum – 1998 Parents’ Choice Silver HonorAdditional titles receiving standout praise:
Andean Fantasy – 2001 Parents’ Choice Noteworthy Review
Blue Sky City – 1999 Booklist Editors’ ChoiceAll titles can be found or special ordered at music and bookstores, or on the Internet wherever music is sold.
For Immediate Release
June 10, 2005
------------------------------------------------------------Chicago, IL - Math Music 1 wins AEP 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award.
Emphasis Kids' Math Music 1 was named as a Distinguished Achievement Award winner on Wednesday, June 8 during the The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) annual awards gala at The Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC.
The AEP Awards recognize the creative effort of the writers, designers, photographers, and editors whose behind-the-scenes work has culminated in high-quality educational materials deemed worthy of renown by a panel of teachers, administrators, and industry peers.
About AEP
AEP, a national, nonprofit organization, represents, supports and promotes the publishers of supplemental educational resources, key tools for reading and learning at school and at home. Its membership includes the giants of the supplemental education industry, and spans the gamut from magazines to television channels, books to interactive computer software and CDs. For more information and a complete list of winners go to www.edpress.orgFor Immediate Release
April 22, 2005
------------------------------------------------------------Chicago, IL - Math Music 1 named as finalist for AEP 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award.
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) has announced today that the new Emphasis Kids Enhanced CD release of Amy Lowe's "Math Music 1" has been selected as a one of the finalist for the 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award in the Instructional Materials category. The annual awards gala will be held on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington D.C. when winners will be announced.
About AEP
AEP, a national, nonprofit organization, represents, supports and promotes the publishers of supplemental educational resources, key tools for reading and learning at school and at home. Its membership includes the giants of the supplemental education industry, and spans the gamut from magazines to television channels, books to interactive computer software and CDs. For more information and a complete list of finalist go to www.edpress.org
For Immediate Release
November 1, 2004
------------------------------------------------------------Chicago, IL - Fire In Boomtown named on Best 25 of 25 Years list by Parents' Choice.
Established in 1978, Parents' Choice Foundation is the nation's oldest not-for-profit evaluator of children's books, videos, toys, audio's, computer software, television, and magazines. The Foundation's mission is to provide parents with information to participate wisely in their children's learning. (see Parents' Choice for more info)
Emphasis Kids' Fire In Boomtown a 1999 Parents' Choice Gold Award winner, has now been included on the Parents' Choice "Best 25 of 25 Years" list.
For Immediate Release
May 1, 2004
------------------------------------------------------------Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment Group inks distribution deal with Flicker Alley.
Flicker Alley, based in Los Angeles, CA, was born out of a strong belief in film preservation and a personal passion for bringing film history to new audiences through quality, boutique-style releases for distribution on DVD and broadcast. The Garden of Eden Deluxe DVD Edition is the first release for the company, with JUDEX (1917) being the second release. In the planning stages is an upcoming edition of F.W. Murnau's Phantom (1922).
For Immediate Release
October 1, 2003
------------------------------------------------------------Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment Group inks distribution deal with The Sirens Records.
Emphasis Entertainment Group Inc. is pleased and honored to announce a distribution relationship with one of the countries premiere blues label, The Sirens Records. Located in Chicago, deep in it's blues tradition, The Siren Records mission is to keep the Chicago blues, boogie woogie, jazz, and gospel piano traditions alive and well. They have produced a series of compact discs by legendary pianists such as Erwin Helfer, Pinetop Perkins, Detroit Junior, Barrelhouse Chuck, and Reverend Dwayne R. Mason. The Sirens also pays tribute to the master pianists of previous eras including Sunnyland Slim, Blind John Davis, Willie Mabon, Speckled Red, Billie Pierce, and more. Please read what Nat Hentoff wrote about The Sirens in the Wall Street Journal.
For Immediate Release
September 1, 2003
------------------------------------------------------------Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment to release new album by Swizzle Tree September 16th.
Coming on the heals of appearances on WGN-TV and the 2003 Lollapalooza Tour will be the September EEG release of Swizzle Tree's new album "Play On". Kicking the release off with a CD release party at the House of Blues in Chicago on September 9th with performances by Swizzle Tree and Lucky Boys Confusion, followed by an in-store release date of Tuesday September 16th, the band will then go on an extensive tour in support of the new album.
Oh My God new release "Interrogations and Confessions" set for Oct 7th on Novo/Lightyear, distributed by WEA.
Kill Hannah new release"For Never & Ever" set for Oct 14th on Atlantic Records, distributed by WEA.
Lucky Boys Confusion second release "Commitment" set for Oct 21st on Elektra Records, distributed by WEA.
Rachel Yamagata formerly of Bumpus, self-titled debut release set for Oct 7th from Private Music, distributed by BMG.
Plain White T's "Stop" album has been picked up by IMUS/Fearless Records and set for an Oct 21st release by BMG.
For Immediate Release
September 1, 2003
------------------------------------------------------------Chicago, IL - Urban Twang = the BEST of 190 North
ABC's 190 NORTH dubbed Urban Twang as one of the best feature musical acts to appear on their show. UT joined the ranks of other "BEST of" artists Jon Langford, Poi Dog Pondering, Nicholas Tremulis, and Big Fish Little Fish artist Alice Peacock.
For Immediate Release
June 20, 2003
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Chicago, IL - Emphasis Entertainment Group has announced Telly Award winning video, Restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Heurtley House adds an Axiem Silver Award to growing list of video's achievements.
America’s most-acclaimed architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, launched a revolution in design with the construction of the Huertley House in 1902. Wright, who claimed that, “music and architecture blossom on the same branch”, had inaugurated an organic method of design that was to transform architectural tastes worldwide. Yet, after 95 years the Heurtley House was in dire need of major renovation when the new owners took possession in 1997. This video documents expert craftsmen unveiling the original face of the masterpiece that changed the history of architecture. The story told is a combination of hands on restoration, a history lesson, and tutorial on Prairie School Architecture.
"A fine effort, this program will be of special interest to regional and architectural libraries" - Library Journal, June 1, 2003
"A solid video not only for architecture students, but for general audiences with an interest in the arts as well, this is recommended" - Video Librarian, July-August 2003
