Etiquette Pictures / Vinegar Syndrome Announce Partnership w/ Xenon Pictures
 
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Etiquette Pictures / Vinegar Syndrome Announce Partnership with Xenon Pictures.

3/31/2015 - For Immediate Release:

Vinegar Syndrome and Etiquette Pictures, in partnership with Xenon Pictures, are proud to announce that they will be bringing three of the most culturally significant and controversial films of the 1970s to Blu-ray for the very first time.

Melvin Van Peebles 1971 underground masterpiece, SWEET SWEETBACKS'S BADASSSS SONG and Ralph Bakshi's visually stunning and controversial 1975 film COONSKIN will be making their US Blu-ray debuts, newly restored from their 35mm negatives. Both films will be released through Etiquette Pictures, the sister company of acclaimed genre film distributors, Vinegar Syndrome. Rudy Ray Moore's seminal blaxploitation classic, DOLEMITE (1975) will also be making its Blu-ray debut from Vinegar Syndrome, newly restored from rare 35mm vault materials. In addition to SWEETBACK, Etiquette Pictures will be releasing two other early works from Van Peebles, his 1967 debut feature, STORY OF A THREE DAY PASS and his 1973 musical, DON'T PLAY US CHEAP. All releases will be done in partnership with Xenon Pictures, which has established itself as the leader in releasing independent and avant-garde African American cinema of the 1970s.  

Etiquette Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome co-founder Joe Rubin said of the upcoming releases: "It's an honor to have the opportunity to preserve these incredible films from three of the most unique and uncompromising American auteurs of the past half century. Few of their contemporaries left a greater mark on the underground and independent film scene of the time than Van Peebles, Bakshi, and Moore."

Stephen Houden, Chief Operating Officer at Xenon is also looking forward to the releases, saying “We're very happy to have joined forces with Etiquette Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome. They share our love for the work of these visionary filmmakers and high regard for preserving these incredible and important films.”

SWEETBACK and COONSKIN are scheduled for Blu-ray and DVD release by Etiquette Pictures in late 2015, with DOLEMITE (VS), THREE DAY PASS (EP), and DON'T PLAY US CHEAP (EP) following in early 2016. Additional collaborations between Xenon, Etiquette Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome are planned for 2016. 

Vinegar Syndrome was founded in 2012 by film archivists Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson to preserve and release genre films, independent features and drive-in classics. In just over two years, VS has restored and released over 100 feature films on Blu-ray and DVD and has won international praise for their restorations of lost and forgotten works of genre cinema. In 2015, Rubin and Emerson formed a sister label to Vinegar Syndrome, Etiquette Pictures, to preserve and distribute significant and forgotten arthouse, experimental and underground cinema. Etiquette's first release will be James B. Harris' SOME CALL IT LOVING (1973) followed by Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson's THE AMERICAN DREAMER (1971).  - contact: joe@vinsyn.com for more information.  

Founded in 1986, Xenon Pictures, Inc. is recognized in the U.S. home entertainment marketplace for creating the first significant labels focused on the Black audience market. In developing the label, Xenon forged relationships with some of the most revolutionary independent film pioneers: Melvin Van Peebles, Rudy Ray Moore, Jamaa Fanaka, Ralph Bakshi and Perry Henzell to name just a few, and sought out films that are not only commercial, but that were truly groundbreaking and have maintained their appeal for decades. Xenon's most recent film project, "Straight Outta Compton" (the story of the Gangster Rap group NWA) is releasing in August through Universal.