The Eclipse Series

[parasitekr]

Does anyone know if Kobayashi's visual style in these early films is similar to his later work like Harakiri?

[MifuneFan]

Eclipse Is Back!

By Imogen Sara Smith
AUG 6, 2025

If you’re like me, you loved Criterion’s Eclipse line because it brought you rare gems you’d been searching for and introduced you to films you didn’t know—including some by your favorite filmmakers. Criterion is relaunching Eclipse this November, as a Blu-ray line, and I’m thrilled to announce that I will be the series editor. We’re going to be upgrading some of the most popular titles as well as producing brand-new sets, and we’ll be kicking off the series relaunch with a new release of Abbas Kiarostami’s early films. This deep dive into the prolific and wide-ranging first two decades of the director’s career will include playful shorts made for children, probing feature-length documentaries on education, and exquisite narrative masterpieces about adolescent longing and disappointment.

In the coming months, you can look forward to Eclipse sets of the six extraordinary features directed by Kinuyo Tanaka, Japan’s first successful woman director; and five searingly radical documentaries from the husband-and-wife team of Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi. And we’ll get you singing and dancing with Blu-ray upgrades of Carlos Saura’s electrifying Flamenco Trilogy and Ernst Lubitsch’s joyously risqué pre-Code musicals. Also in the pipeline are sets devoted to the early films of Ruben Östlund and the revolutionary cinema of Sara Gómez.

With the relaunch of the Eclipse line, Criterion reaffirms its commitment to making the full richness of film history accessible with the reliable permanence of physical media. Each release will use the best available materials and feature an essay in which an expert shares historical context and insight about the films.

The standard cinema canon has been shaped—and sometimes misshapen—by what films are available. In a vicious cycle, films that can’t be seen are forgotten, and hence less likely to be restored. Preservation and access, on the other hand, form a virtuous cycle, spurring rediscovery and further efforts to ensure the survival of a fragile medium. Alongside the ever-expanding Criterion Channel, Eclipse is once again fostering this rediscovery, serving as an enduring home for deep cuts and hidden treasures. Follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, and Letterboxd and subscribe to our newsletter to ensure you receive our future Eclipse announcements.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

This is fantastic news. I hope that many of the films for which Criterion has the rights but which for some reason they cannot include in the mainline Criterion Collection will see an Eclipse release of some kind.

Since blu-ray is a more premium format than DVD, and since the blu-ray Eclipse series will also include obscure films from important directors, I have one major wish: I would greatly appreciate if Criterion could include a short (10-15 minute) introduction to the filmmaker and the films included with each set, similar to the introductions they include with their curated series of films on the Criterion Channel. Again, considering blu-ray is a more definitive format compared to DVD, this really seems appropriate.
I am not sure this is part of Criterion's plans as of right now, so folks on this forum and elsewhere who read this should suggest this to Eclipse curator Imogen Sara Smith on X.com and Bluesky (provided she has accounts there). If enough contact her (or Criterion), we might have a chance.