One of the things that Slarek was mourning in his 2008 roundup was the collapsed of UK film and DVD distributor Tartan, highlighting a collection of great titles that have slipped from availability. There was speculative talk about whether the interest being shown in the back catalogue by other distributors was going to result in some of them being re-released. Step up Artificial Eye, who have just announced the acquisition of a number key titles of Tartan's back catalogue, which will be released on DVD in the coming months.

To celebrate Michael Haneke's eagerly awaited new film, The White Ribbon, Artificial Eye has added to its already impressive Haneke catalogue with Funny Games, Benny's Video, The Seventh Continent and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. All four will be released on UK DVD in May this year. There can be few not aware of the reputation and story of Funny Games, a deliberately punishing tale in which a holidaying middle class family are terrorised by two young home invaders, and you can follow the highlighted links for full reviews of the Tartan releases of the other three films.

Also lifted from Tartan's back catalogue and facing a Spring DVD release is Nicolas Philibert's documentary Être et Avoir, an enchanting study of daily life in a one-room schoolroom in rural France and their dedicated teacher. Joining it in the summer will be Philibert's follow-up film Retour en Normandie, in which Philibert returns to a region in which he once worked on a film about a local Homicide as an assistant to the director and tries to locate the actors who appeared in it.

Made in 1976, Christine Lipinska's unique and original Je suis Pierre Rivière is based on documents compiled by leading French philosopher Michel Foucault, and charts the gruesome events which took place in a Normandy village in 1835, when a young man, Pierre Rivière, murdered his mother, sister and brother before fleeing to the countryside. The film will be released on DVD in the summer.

Also coming this summer are three films by filmmaker Anges Varda. Cléo From 5 to 7 (1962) is a chronicle of the minutes of one woman's life, a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina. In the1985 Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond), Sandrine Bonnaire won the Best Actress César for her portrayal of the defiant young drifter Mona in a sparse and poetic drama. The 1991 Jacquot de Nantes, Varda's tribute to her husband, Jacques Demy, is an engrossing and moving evocation of his childhood featuring wonderful performances by a cast of unknowns that are interspersed with home footage of Demy and clips from his films.

Arriving on DVD at a date to be confirmed are a series of seven films under the collective banner Early Masterpieces by Ingmar Bergman. The 1955 Dreams (Kvinnodröm) is a dark comedy revolving around two women in the fashion business, one photographer and one model... and around them husbands, fiancées, lovers, business partners. The 1953 The Naked Night (Sawdust and Tinsel, Gycklarnas afton) is considered amongst connoisseurs as one of Bergman's gems this early, expressionistic masterpiece centres around a small, run down circus troupe, touring the south of Sweden at the turn of the century. The 1947 A Ship Bound For India (Skepp till India land) was inspired by the cinema of Marcel Carné, a story of four disparate souls whose lives are bound up in the fate of an old salvage boat explores the inner turmoil experienced by the protagonists. The 1958 So Close to Life (Nära livet) is an award-winning drama that follows the destinies of three different women and their struggles to overcome physical and psychological obstacles. The 1946 It Rains on Our Love (Det regnar på vår kärlek) was Bergman's second feature, an artistically mature drama about a young couple, each scarred by an unhappy past, who meet by coincidence at a railway station, and fall in love. Also getting a release are two documentaries on the director, The Women and Bergman and The Men and Bergman. Bergman is perhaps above all known as an outstanding director of actors, and often stressed how important and inspiring they were to his work. This fascinating pair of documentaries features contributions from the actors and actresses with whom he worked, creating a fascinating insight portrait of Bergman the director and the man.

Artificial Eye have also acquired the following films for theatrical release this summer.

The Beaches of Agnes
Regarded as the grandmother of the French New Wave, Agnes Varda has made some of the most nuanced, original and thought-provoking films of the past fifty years. In what she says will be her last film, Varda turns her camera on herself, returning to the beaches which have played such a significant part in her life and creates a remarkable self portrait. Placing herself amongst extracts from her films, images and interviews recalling her past, she has fashioned a humorous and illuminating account of her creative work, her life with Jacques Demy, her feminism and her family life.

Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto)
The directorial debut of one of Italy's most celebrated screenwriters, Gianni di Gregorio (co-screen writer of Gomorrah), Mid-August Lunch is a charming and delightful tale of a middle-aged man who escapes debt by agreeing to look after the elderly relatives of several colleagues over the Italian holiday weekend in August.  Subtle performances and beautiful direction result in a touching drama that captures the trials of age with humour and respect against the languid backdrop of Italy in Summer.

I Am Going to Explode (Voy a explotar)
Charged with infectious youthful energy, Voy a Explotar focuses on the romantic escapades of Roman, the 15-year-old son of a respected yet corrupt Guanajuato politician, and Maru, an introverted middle-class teenager. Gerardo Naranjo's genuine and tender treatment of the teenager's emotions and insecurities serves as the perfect accompaniment to the chaos of Roman and Maru's love story.

Getting a theatrical release in the autumn:

BirdWatchers (La terra degli uomini rossi)
Director of Garage Olimpo and Figli/Hijos, Marco Bechis, writes and directs this vivid, cinematic depiction of the plight of the Guarani Indians of Brazil. Their land and their future are diminishing as the fazenderos mercilessly increase their plantations and exploit the wealth that tourism, the Birdwatchers, brings. Told through the eyes of a young shaman apprentice and the daughter of a fazendero, a real conflict between their people seems inevitable and their future becomes ever more uncertain.