PR: Todd Haynes' Poison: 20th Anniversary Edition on DVD Jun 21

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Release Date: June 14, 2011, 12:48 pm
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Inspired by the writings of Jean Genet, Poison deftly interweaves a trio of transgressive tales that build toward a devastating climax: "Hero," shot in a mock tabloid-TV style, tells a bizarre story of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice; "Horror," filmed like a delirious '50s B-movie melodrama, is a gothic tale of a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague; "Homo" explores the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates. A runaway hit which made national headlines when it was attacked by conservative figures including Dick Armey, Ralph Reed and minister Donald Wildmon, Poison is audacious, unforgettable and wildly entertaining.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A LANDMARK INDIE, REMASTERED: ZEITGEIST BOWS Poison: 20th Anniversary Edition ON DVD JUNE 21ST

New York (May 4, 2011) — Two decades after its original groundbreaking release, Zeitgeist Films is proud to present a remastered 20th Anniversary Edition of Todd Haynesʼ Poison. From the Oscar®-nominated director of Far from Heaven, Iʼm Not There and the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce, this controversial masterpiece is the most fervently debated film of the 1990s and an iconic work of New Queer Cinema. Winner of the 1991 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, Haynesʼ first feature (his follow-up to the underground short sensation Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story) is a trailblazing American indie and a thrilling work of immense visual invention.

Following a 2010 theatrical re-release, Zeitgeistʼs new edition of Poison comes to DVD on June 21, 2011.

Inspired by the writings of Jean Genet, Poison deftly interweaves a trio of transgressive tales that build toward a devastating climax: "Hero," shot in a mock tabloid-TV style, tells a bizarre story of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice; "Horror," filmed like a delirious '50s B-movie melodrama, is a gothic tale of a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague; "Homo" explores the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates. A runaway hit which made national headlines when it was attacked by conservative figures including Dick Armey, Ralph Reed and minister Donald Wildmon, Poison is audacious, unforgettable and wildly entertaining.

The disc features a new HD transfer created from original film elements and enhanced for widescreen viewing. Extras include: 20th Anniversary Sundance Q&A with Todd Haynes, producer Christine Vachon and executive producer James Schamus; archival 1999 audio commentary by Haynes, Vachon, and late star/editor James Lyons; original poster concepts and collages by Haynes; rare on-set polaroids by filmmaker Kelly Reichardt (acclaimed director of Meekʼs Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy); Last Address, an elegiac short film by Ira Sachs (award-winning director of Married Life); the original 1991 U.S. theatrical trailer; and English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired (SDH).

Also featuring collectible digipak packaging and 16-page booklet with archival press documents, J. Hobermanʼs original Village Voice review and more, Zeitgeistʼs new edition of Poison is available in the U.S. and Canada only with an SRP of $29.95.

Film/DVD info: 1991 • 85 mins • USA • Color and B&W • In English • 16:9 aspect ratio • Monaural • Not Rated • Cat. No. Z1135 • UPC 795975113533

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR TODD HAYNESʼ "POISON"
"A MILESTONE IN AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FILM and the inciting spark for what came to be known as the New Queer Cinema." —Dennis Lim, The New York Times
"BOLDLY SELF-CONSCIOUS, Poison switches channels among its three stylistically varied but thematically linked tales with cumulative, claustrophobic power." —David Ansen, Newsweek	"HIP, SEXY AND THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINING!" —Ira Sachs, The Village Voice
"BRASH AND HAUNTING!" —Caryn James, The New York Times	"A HOMOEROTIC INTOLERANCE." —Richard Corliss, Time Magazine
"IN BOTH FORM AND SUBJECT, POISON STILL FEELS DEFIANT.... Itʼs good to have Poison back to remind us, all these years later, exactly how far the movies still have to go." —Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe	"STARTLING AND IMPRESSIVE! There are three stories going on in Todd Haynesʼ landmark film Poison and you may want to see it just as many times." —Jan Stuart, Newsday
"INTENSELY SENSUOUS AND DISTURBINGLY VISCERAL.... Poison has an extraordinary cumulative power." —J. Hoberman, The Village Voice	"A FUNNY AND DISTURBING weave of three separate and yet not-so-separate stories.... Whatever sum of money the NEA gave Haynes to make Poison, it was well worth it." —Jami Bernard, New York Post
"A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT!" —Jeff Shannon, Seattle Post-Intelligencer	"AN UNMISTAKABLY RIGOROUS, PROVOCATIVE PIECE OF ART." —Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
"IMAGINATIVE, PROVOCATIVE...." —Dennis Harvey, SF Weekly	"THE FILM PRODUCES POETIC JOLTS and visual-thematic rhymes that somehow unify the disparate strands into a single galvanizing experience." —Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
"HE HAS RESTORED MY FAITH IN YOUTH." —John Waters, director of Hairspray and Pink Flamingos "ONE OF THE RARE AMERICAN FILMMAKERS willing and able to anatomize the secret recesses of our national life." —John Powers, L.A. Weekly	"Every decade or so (if we're lucky), the American cinema is graced by a daringly idiosyncratic avant-garde filmmaker who, along with his radical attitudes and techniques, has the instincts of a popular entertainer.... The new whiz kid on the outlaw-movie block is 30-year-old Todd Haynes." —Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"BEAUTIFUL AND AUDACIOUS!" —David Ehrenstein, The Advocate

Celebrating more than 20 years as one of Americaʼs preeminent independent distributors, New York-based Zeitgeist Films has built an impressively diverse catalogue of foreign, documentary and arthouse titles by such renowned directors as Todd Haynes, Jan Svankmajer, Peter Greenaway, Abbas Kiarostami, Guy Maddin, Kirby Dick, Atom Egoyan, Agnès Varda, François Ozon, Derek Jarman, Yvonne Rainer, Olivier Assayas, Philippe Garrel, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Carlos Saura and the Quay Brothers. Current and upcoming theatrical releases: Bill Cunningham New York, a delicious documentary romp through the world of the eponymous legendary NY Times fashion photog; Queen to Play, a picturesque French dramedy starring Oscar® winner Kevin Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire; and The Tree, an Australian drama starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and directed by Julie Bertuccelli (Since Otar Left). In August 2010, Zeitgeist also became the exclusive home media distributor of KimStim, an eclectic Brooklyn-based arthouse label with a library of 50+ films from directors including Alain Resnais, André Techiné, Seijun Suzuki, Chantal Akerman, François Ozon, Otar Iosseliani, Jafar Panahi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Laurent Cantet and Raul Ruiz. 247 centre street floor 2 nyc ny 10013

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News Editor June 14, 2011, 12:48 pm