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Orion Classics
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Foundation date 1 january 1983
Orion Classics was the division of Orion Pictures, headed by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom, that acquired independent and foreign films for North American distribution, in addition to producing some arthouse films of its own. It was launched in 1983 when Barker, Bernard and Donna Gigliotti moved from UA Classics, a United Artists specialty division.
Among its most notable films were Babette's Feast, Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train and Richard Linklater's Slacker.
In late 1991, when Orion Pictures was in serious financial trouble, Barker, Bernard, and Bloom left Orion Classics, taking the rights to the highly anticipated Merchant Ivory Productions adaptation of Howards End with them; at the invite of former Orion president Mike Medavoy, who was now relocated at TriStar Pictures, the three set up Sony Pictures Classics, with Howards End as the company's first release.
In the mid-1990s, Metromedia acquired Orion, and merged the classics division into the Samuel Goldwyn Company. Both Orion and SGC were sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1997, with the latter's function of producing and/or distributing independent films being assumed by MGM's United Artists division.
Best films
Filmography of Orion Classics (28 films)
Distribution
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Wings of Desire (1987)
, 2h8Directed by Wim Wenders
Origin German
Genres Drama, Fantastic, Fantasy, Romance
Themes Circus films, Films about religion, Films about angels, Political films, Films about Jews and Judaism
Actors Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk, Nick Cave
Set in contemporary West Berlin (at the time still enclosed by the Berlin Wall), Wings of Desire follows two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, as they roam the city, unseen and unheard by its human inhabitants, observing and listening to the diverse thoughts of Berliners: a pregnant woman in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, a painter struggling to find inspiration, a broken man who thinks his girlfriend no longer loves him. Their raison d'être is, as Cassiel says, to "assemble, testify, preserve" reality. In addition to the story of two angels, the film is also a meditation on Berlin's past, present, and future. Damiel and Cassiel have always existed as angels; they existed in Berlin before it was a city, and before there were even any humans.
Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)
, 1h43Directed by Louis Malle
Origin France
Genres Drama, War
Themes French war films, Films about children, Films about religion, Scoutisme, Political films, Films about Jews and Judaism, Histoire de France, L'Occupation allemande en France, La condition juive en France sous l'Occupation allemande
Actors Raphaël Fejtö, Gaspard Manesse, Philippe Morier-Genoud, François Berléand, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg
During the winter of 1943-44, Julien Quentin, a student at a Carmelite boarding school in occupied France, is returning to school from vacation. He acts tough to the students at the school, but he is actually a pampered mother's boy who still wets his bed. Saddened to be returning to the tedium of boarding school, Julien's classes seem uneventful until Père Jean, the headmaster, introduces three new pupils. One of them, Jean Bonnet, is the same age as Julien. Like the other students, Julien at first despises Bonnet, a socially awkward boy with a talent for arithmetic and playing the piano.
End of the Line (1987)
, 1h43Directed by Jay Russell
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama, Action
Themes Transport films, Films about the labor movement, Rail transport films
Actors Wilford Brimley, Kevin Bacon, Mary Steenburgen, Levon Helm, Holly Hunter, Michael Beach
Jugeant peu rentable certaines lignes de chemins de fer, une compagnie de transports ferroviaire décide d'en fermer. Cette fermeture marque la condamnation d'employés au chômage. Mais deux employés, refusant de se soumettre, décident de voler une locomotive afin de se rendre au siège de leur entreprise.
Babette's Feast (1987)
, 1h42Directed by Gabriel Axel
Origin Danemark
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romance
Themes Cooking films
Actors Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, Jarl Kulle, Bodil Kjer, Bibi Andersson, Ghita Nørby
The elderly and pious Protestant sisters Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) and Philippa (Bodil Kjer) live in a small village on the remote western coast of Jutland in 19th-century Denmark. Their father was a pastor who founded his own Pietistic conventicle. With their father now dead and the austere sect drawing no new converts, the aging sisters preside over a dwindling congregation of white-haired believers.
Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987)
, 1h42Directed by Éric Rohmer
Origin France
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes La banlieue française
Actors Emmanuelle Chaulet, Sophie Renoir, Anne-Laure Meury, François-Éric Gendron, Éric Viellard
Blanche is freshly installed in Cergy-Pontoise, a trendy new town near Paris. She has a new apartment, a new job with no one over and no one under her. She meets Léa at lunch one day, and soon she meets an acquaintance of Léa, Alexandre, who she approaches somewhat awkwardly. The movie then follows the time-honored plot of exchange of relationships, as Blanche and Lea switch boyfriends.The name L'ami de mon amie would then literally mean the friend (male) of my friend (female) or perhaps the boyfriend of my girlfriend, ami meaning friend, boyfriend in this case, and amie being the female of the word ami with the same general and intended meanings.
A Great Wall (1986)
, 1h37Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Actors Kelvin Han Yee
When a Silicon Valley Chinese American executive goes back to his homeland of China for the first time in 30 years, he and his family encounter many culture clashes between the lives that they lead in the United States and the lives of their relatives in China. The finale of the movie includes an exciting table tennis match involving the Chinese-American son played by Kelvin Han Yee.
Ran (1985)
, 2h42Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Action, Historical
Themes Films about families, Seafaring films, Sports films, Théâtre, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films, Political films, Films based on plays, Films based on works by William Shakespeare, Films about royalty
Actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Mieko Harada, Hisashi Igawa, Kenji Kodama
Hidetora Ichimonji, a powerful warlord, experiences a dream reminding him that he's showing his age and decides to divide his kingdom among his three sons: Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. Taro, the eldest, will receive the prestigious First Castle and become leader of the Ichimonji clan, while Jiro and Saburo will be given the Second and Third Castles. Hidetora will retain the title of Great Lord and Jiro and Saburo are to support Taro.
, 1h28Directed by Wayne Wang
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Victor Wong, Cora Miao, Joan Chen, Amy Hill
A Chinese immigrant widow faces the New Year with apprehension after it was foretold that it would be the year she would die. All of the things she wants to do before she dies come into focus, including seeing her daughter married and visiting China one last time to pay her respects.
Restless Natives (1985)
, 1h30Directed by Michael Hoffman
Genres Comedy, Crime
Actors Ned Beatty, Robert Urquhart, Bernard Hill, Mel Smith, Nanette Newman, Bryan Forbes
Old Enough (1984)
, 1h31Directed by Marisa Silver
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Rainbow Harvest, Sarah Boyd, Danny Aiello, Alyssa Milano, Neill Barry, Roxanne Hart
In New York City, Karen (Rainbow Harvest) is a streetwise teen from a lower-middle-class family, who pursues a friendship with 11-year-old Lonnie (Sarah Boyd). Lonnie is from a wealthy, upper-class family who live in the area. After making friends, they expose each other to the very different lifestyles they live. In the process they learn lessons each culture has to offer. The situation becomes complicated when Karen's brother Johnny (Neill Barry) shows interest in Lonnie and Lonnie begins to develop a crush on him. Soon, a sensual new neighbor (Roxanne Hart) moves into Karen's family's apartment building and Johnny becomes slightly infatuated with her. Circumstances arise that will test Karen and Lonnie's friendship.
The Bay Boy (1984)
, 1h47Directed by Daniel Petrie
Origin Canada
Genres Drama
Actors Kiefer Sutherland, Liv Ullmann, Peter Donat, Alan Scarfe, Mathieu Carrière, Chris Wiggins
Donald Campbell (Kiefer Sutherland) is a sensitive teenage boy coming of age in a dark and uncertain time for both his community and life. His mother (Liv Ullman) wants him to continue his education after high school and become a priest, but Donald is more interested in girls than prayerbooks. After an unsuccessful attempt by a visiting priest to molest him, followed by his first sexual experience with a local girl, Donald politely informs his mother (without revealing why) that he is not going to be a priest.
Another Country (1984)
, 1h30Directed by Marek Kanievska
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama, Musical theatre, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, Théâtre, LGBT-related films, Films based on plays, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Cary Elwes, Robert Addie, Rupert Wainwright, Anna Massey
The setting is a 1930s Eton-esque public school, where Guy Bennett (Rupert Everett) and Tommy Judd (Colin Firth) are friends because they are both outsiders in their own ways. Bennett is openly gay. Judd is a Marxist.
Strangers Kiss (1983)
, 1h35Directed by Matthew Chapman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy
Actors Peter Coyote, Victoria Tennant, Dan Shor, Linda Kerridge, Richard Romanus, Andrew Divoff
To help his actress girlfriend regain her confidence a Hollywood bigshot bankrolls a small film being made by a first-time producer and director duo. Despite the hand-to-mouth way it is made the film turns out well, as does the off-set relationship between the actress and her unknown male lead.