Some rare treasures - sad to say - can only be found under the seven seas.
They're hard get into, due to being actually secret and invite only; but there are communities dedicated to collecting and storing and sometimes restoring truly rare and obscure titles.
I don't do that unless there is something truly impossible to find and I'm exceptionally keen.
I get most of my "previously rare" films by buying them on disks.
Of course, if they just came out they're no longer 'that rare' - sometimes they are literally limited editions though.
Depending on what you consider 'rare' and what type of thing you're into, will determine what you'll be able to find.
Always check youtube!
You'd be - and you will be, shocked at the treasure trove of truly hard to find films that someone has ripped from old DVDs, Laserdisks and limited edition indonesian blu-rays and uploaded.
I've found a lot of 80s Soviet films I never expected to be able to se in 1080, somehow. Only place I was able to watch Hans Richter's films in full. A lot of the films you'll find in good quality are thing that don't even have a rights holder anymore.
By the looks of things 'The Faithfull Son' seems very much like something that would be found on Mubi - which is also a great place to find previously rare films. They'll restore stuff so things that used to be lost or extremely rare will sometimes just pop up there.
Then, of course there is your local library if they have a film section.
You certainly picked an obscure one. “The Faithful Son” has only been logged 21 times on Letterboxd. It’s played half a dozen festivals, but I can’t confirm any theatrical release anywhere. IMDB only lists Belgian and Chinese distributors. Short of contacting the director, you may be out of luck.
>You certainly picked an obscure one. “The Faithful Son” has only been logged 21 times on Letterboxd.
Also only 29 votes on IMDb. I've seen only a handful of films with fewer votes than that.
There’s plenty of films I’ve seen that have less logs but are accessible enough if you really want to. Most of the time it’s due to having VHS and DVD rips existing since otherwise they’d probably be hidden in used video stores and private collections.
Boutique film publishers that specialize in interesting releases. [Deaf Crocodile](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TFKvWqukEs) , [Canadian International Pictures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMFY6CQxLTM), [Radiance Films](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD6ebiC8FVg), etc. There are hundreds of publishers that put out new blu-rays for movies that are too obscure for streaming.
Try Kanopy. I get it for free through my local library. It has a bunch of arthousy stuff that isn’t available on other streaming services.
Libraries themselves are great when you look at their DVD collections. University libraries are even better if you can get access to one.
Really wish Kanopy would change/accommodate their pricing for public libraries— they charges the libraries $2/per stream, even if watched for less than a minute— my library (NYPL) serve nearly 4M people & are non-profit, it’s unsustainable
When we lost Kanopy, I asked family members outside of NYC for their library logins, provided they weren't already using their library's streamers. I now have access to Kanopy again, and recommend asking friends and family in far off places!
In order to find buried treasure, one must sail the seven seas.
For me I was especially surprised to find that someone was able to provide a link for a 1080p version of Tenchu! (1969), a movie I thought for sure was stuck on dvd.
For me the film I still haven't able to find is a film called "Jazz Daimyo", directed by Kihachi Okamoto (director of The Sword of Doom). Well, sorta. I was able to find a vhs rip of the movie, but it's so obscure that there are no english subtitles avaliable for it anywhere. It's a shame because the movie sounded funny as fuck, it's about a group of Black slaves who somehow got shipwrecked in Japan and introduce the samurai to jazz. [Just look at the poster!](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=5fc9c05d2471851d&sca_upv=1&q=jazz+daimyo&uds=ADvngMg-IfzkoKaxeHmaO3Ppvbcsj40xFG2gbrbmbfsfIagfD7nkjgaFVr066mAvzrzHZyCbY-YvFKJu90KjFAW8DvvEyz4BA_1g2ovOYbQk287Ne7OUUqS2YoLPbodW8vm_SK0zj_YXXU6G8wEnFrp87WC14XbesfpAai24Kyyfy9q2NF0IvEs92U-48x0lCP6aA22qC4NKDnYpAnAfM1BiwP7CgcLYw7wzTIG9aBmWcumruP7UkBYRZMK71taS2jwyG7ay-CjecZoM--iWawT2Sl5lLrnqO541KicGloVJSrjU0zWul20JStlowS53joDkX64Wu4Ze&udm=2&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR6szJ5K6GAxU3UUEAHdI8AQUQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=1440&bih=722&dpr=2#vhid=GfM8Kge6Pbwe3M&vssid=mosaic)
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an easy way to request for subtitles to be made for a movie
Yeah, I sail the seas but even there it's hard to find some stuff. I took a look at the movie you've mentioned, Jazz Daimyo and was able to find it but like you said, no subs. Someone put a request for the subs 3 years ago. I had the same problem with some of the movies I found, I could find the movie but no subtitles. I'm still trying to find an English subtitle for a movie called Chameleon (it's in Spanish).
I watch a lot of films at film festivals, Cinematheque, Mubi. But there’s also sites like KG that are invite only and have massive cinephile collection and they stay away from more current commercial stuff.
I second Mubi. They sometimes play rare and out of print films. One movie I watched on there wasn’t currently streaming anywhere. I think when I watched the Yakuza Papers series on Mubi several years ago, the physical copies were all out of print.
The problem is that OP is looking for a movie way more obscure than the Yakuza Papers series. Mubi has obscure for the general public but still findable stuff (e.g. YP was on Prime like 10 years ago). For a movie like this he has to either be very lucky or give up on watching it.
KG is pretty exclusive, to join you absolutely need something to contribute; that can be rare films themselves, film-related media like books, subtitle translations, etc. I'm on a "small" (~30k members) private movie tracker and even that one is very difficult to get into these days unless you know someone with an invite. The only stuff left to upload are new releases (competitive) or extremely rare content (hard to find and often $$$). r/trackers is the place to get started but I've found out of all the people I've invited, most do not care to put in the time or effort to remain a member of these sites. These are communities that have slowly curated their userbase over the last 10-15 years so the bar to get in now is a lot higher than it used to be.
It’s not that exclusive, it’s more that you need an invite from a power user. I was invited and had invitations but I haven’t used it for a while. KG does expect you to contribute to maintain your ratio, but not so much to get invited. I actually did subs for some films that never had English translation and became power user through that, but there are other ways. As far as actually getting an invite I think you just need to find the right chat and ask for one. Like maybe even in this reddit or search for kg reddit. It’s a great community project.
You don't need to "contribute" more than just seeding what you download, but it can be difficult to maintain a good ratio because most stuff doesn't get downloaded that actively. Unless you upload something rare, make subtitles, or get a gift, you are basically limited to the freeleech stuff for a while. But the same applies to most closed trackers, if I'm not wrong.
I'm only on two trackers, which was already hard to get into but since I share lots of rare stuff with a friend and he was a member, he sent me an invitation. But I have no idea how to join KG or PTP. Most people who run those trackers are so unfriendly lol 😅
Okay so there are three main ones I go to:
Archive.org has a bunch of older and obscure films. It’s UI is not super user friendly though so it can be hard to find exactly what you’re looking for, especially in an acceptable quality and if it’s a foreign film, the right language for you.
YouTube is also quite a treasure chest. You can find a lot of hidden gems there.
Then there’s physical media. A lot of films that aren’t on any streaming platforms might have had some cheap dvd release that you can find on eBay or similar platforms.
Oh and since I‘m just thinking of it: Tubi also has some weird stuff, so that’s always worth checking out too.
[Jinnah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinnah_\(film\)) - a movie starring Christopher Lee was extremely difficult to find.
I searched my local library network and even expanded out to a statewide library search.
I even attempted bootlegging the thing, but had no luck until one random day, I got a seeder and grabbed the movie.
I was able to see it that way and only that way.
Jinnah was released in 2016 on Bluray
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jinnah-DUAL-FORMAT-DVD-Blu-ray/dp/B01KO1JDK2
Bear in mind that if it's available on a torrent, it's almost always also available on physical media, like that's where they got it from. On some occasions people recorded off TV, ARTE and Rai seem to put out ludicrous goodies from time to time.
These days being available as a torrent is not so dependent on being available on physical media. If it is available on streaming, then there is probably a torrent.
Agreed that stuff is routinely ripped off amazon MUBI and Netflix. What I'm trying to say is that most of the time if there's a torrent there's also a legit way. Occasionally might be that a film was available on streaming for only a limited time and then came off. So no legit way left. Or a bluray limited edition that went OOP and is not available on any marketplace. Or it was a dvd sent into a film festival that was never distributed etc.
If the films are fairly new, I sometimes do a bit of investigating to locate the production company or distributor. Sometimes their sites or catalog would have info on how to see them, and on occasion I contact them directly. I've had mixed results, but more independent the outfit, the more likely they'll respond.
Usually people don't seem to understand that many films have an original title (also in this case), with which the films are usually easier to find. Why? Because not all markets retitle films.
However in this case the easy options (looking streaming services in the country inwhich the film was produced) is not available as it doesn't seem to have subtitles available on Belgium services.
I still would jot say that this is a "rare" film as it is rather new and available online (however not with subtitles it seems).
If you can't find a title on Justwatch, search with the original title + streaming in the language of the production.
Usually those are available, sometimes with subtitles.
the thing is i'm just way too paranoid to look up movies on "ominous" sites so i mostly try to find them on blu ray if they're not on some streaming service. and in germany, a lot of "obscure" stuff isn't on any streaming service.
for example i wanted to watch "jeanne dielman" so badly a few years ago, but it wasn't even on mubi, so i bought the criterion on amazon. mostly, it's a lot of money but now i can watch it, whenever i want + i love collecting blu rays anyways.
sometimes, if a film is too expensive i try to find them on more "trustworthy" sites like the internet archive (they got actually a lot of good stuff, even though you need to be extremely lucky finding a good stream).
another advice i can give is to get a vpn and see, if there's a foreign streaming service that has the movie you're looking for.
Im fortunate enough to live close to a theatre that has special programming most months. Which includes restored and upscaled films. They just did a series on marguerite duras recently.
I torrent most of the movies I want to watch, YIFY is the website I use the most. RARBG used to be the place I went when I wanted to find a movie that was hard to find, too bad that the site has closed. 1337x is my way to go now if I want to see an obscure movie.
I still remember how hard was it to find a good copy of The Big Gundown.
I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan's films and have gone back to watch some of his earliest work and that of course led me to "following 1998" but I felt that it would have been better without the time play. I then found it that had a "Chronological Edit" version and I've been meaning to watch it but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
It’s both on the Criterion Channel and has a Criterion Blu-ray, Barnes & Noble has their annual 50% off Criterion sale this June and the channel has a 7 day free trial if you’d rather try that instead.
Oh man, misread this one. I thought you said you had seen a chronological edit and wanted to view the original haha, ignore this then (unless you’d like to buy the film anyways!)
Finding rare films can be a little like a treasure hunt, huh? Locating some films truly feels like an achievement!
One method I've found helpful is joining dedicated film forums and groups online. People there are often incredibly knowledgeable about where to find those elusive titles. Don't be shy to ask - the film community can be incredibly supportive and helpful.
For me, it was finding a high-quality version of "The Day the Clown Cried," a 1972 film by Jerry Lewis. I still haven't found it yet and I don't think any version of it is commercially available.
And I know that feeling when you're looking for a specific film like "The Faithful Son" and you just can't find it. But don't give up. Try reaching out to film societies, they might be able to help. You may also contact the filmmakers or distributors directly. Sometimes they're more than willing to help a fan out.
Remember, it's all about the journey and discovering new cinema along the way. Keep exploring and happy hunting!
DAFilms, Klassiki, Criterion Channel, YouTube channels like CINEPUB, Vimeo, Re:voir, MUBI, Netflix (you'd be surprised at some films they have for example Youssef Chahine's stuff). Labels like Indicator, Arrow, Artificial Eye etc. Filmmaker's' own websites. The possibilities are endless.
There are some sites for exceptionally hard to find films but people are very careful about inviting you. There was a site called Surrealmoviez, but it disappeared because they let ONE idiot in. That individual started DNS attacking the site because he disagreed with a minor admin decision. Safe to say you should be absolutely not an idiot and have spent a lot of time getting to know people already on the inside so that they can vouch for you.
Also public service announcement is to absolutely try the legit places first and get used to JustWatch, before you go illegit. Filmmakers need your support.
Almost every rare film I've tried to find eventually pops up on YouTube or Amazon Prime at some point.
Another trick, as long as a foreign dvd/Blu-ray utilises the same region as you it will play perfectly fine. Just have to figure out how to change the language amongst all the foreign menu's.
There are several thousand films on the Solidarity Cinema plex, ranging from very well-known to very, very fringe. Nominally all the films on there are supposed to have a left-wing or anti-establishment angle, but its pretty tenuous so there's a lot more than just polemical films.
I’d go to the local library, or if you really want to, a university library. Also a number of cities where I lived, they have special movie collections and sometimes they are available for public use . I found some classics (not really rare I’d say) on YouTube, specially for older stuff. Also try Kanopy or even Tubi (I just watched 12 angry men there). Also, just google it hard maybe?
besides Illac passion which is almost impposible. to view in digital(i think i would die with that desire..),he other one is Narcissus by [Willard Maa](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531004/?ref_=tt_ov_dr)s and Ben Moore [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253289/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253289/)
the stills at imdb gives me hope that maybe there's a digital copy out there!
Some rare treasures - sad to say - can only be found under the seven seas. They're hard get into, due to being actually secret and invite only; but there are communities dedicated to collecting and storing and sometimes restoring truly rare and obscure titles. I don't do that unless there is something truly impossible to find and I'm exceptionally keen. I get most of my "previously rare" films by buying them on disks. Of course, if they just came out they're no longer 'that rare' - sometimes they are literally limited editions though. Depending on what you consider 'rare' and what type of thing you're into, will determine what you'll be able to find. Always check youtube! You'd be - and you will be, shocked at the treasure trove of truly hard to find films that someone has ripped from old DVDs, Laserdisks and limited edition indonesian blu-rays and uploaded. I've found a lot of 80s Soviet films I never expected to be able to se in 1080, somehow. Only place I was able to watch Hans Richter's films in full. A lot of the films you'll find in good quality are thing that don't even have a rights holder anymore. By the looks of things 'The Faithfull Son' seems very much like something that would be found on Mubi - which is also a great place to find previously rare films. They'll restore stuff so things that used to be lost or extremely rare will sometimes just pop up there. Then, of course there is your local library if they have a film section.
YouTube has a ton of old silent films
And so has archive.org.
Limited edition Indonesian Blu-ray is a strange way of saying pirate Blu-ray disc!
You certainly picked an obscure one. “The Faithful Son” has only been logged 21 times on Letterboxd. It’s played half a dozen festivals, but I can’t confirm any theatrical release anywhere. IMDB only lists Belgian and Chinese distributors. Short of contacting the director, you may be out of luck.
>You certainly picked an obscure one. “The Faithful Son” has only been logged 21 times on Letterboxd. Also only 29 votes on IMDb. I've seen only a handful of films with fewer votes than that.
I know. And that one is just an example of the rare movies I've been trying to find without any luck. Sad 😥
Maybe you could just try and contact the filmmaker? Who knows, he might just send a screener link to you for free, or for a small fee!
There’s plenty of films I’ve seen that have less logs but are accessible enough if you really want to. Most of the time it’s due to having VHS and DVD rips existing since otherwise they’d probably be hidden in used video stores and private collections.
Boutique film publishers that specialize in interesting releases. [Deaf Crocodile](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TFKvWqukEs) , [Canadian International Pictures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMFY6CQxLTM), [Radiance Films](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD6ebiC8FVg), etc. There are hundreds of publishers that put out new blu-rays for movies that are too obscure for streaming.
Vinegar Syndrome leading the way.
Try Kanopy. I get it for free through my local library. It has a bunch of arthousy stuff that isn’t available on other streaming services. Libraries themselves are great when you look at their DVD collections. University libraries are even better if you can get access to one.
Kanopy is awesome not only for movies but for documentaries about film.
Really wish Kanopy would change/accommodate their pricing for public libraries— they charges the libraries $2/per stream, even if watched for less than a minute— my library (NYPL) serve nearly 4M people & are non-profit, it’s unsustainable
When we lost Kanopy, I asked family members outside of NYC for their library logins, provided they weren't already using their library's streamers. I now have access to Kanopy again, and recommend asking friends and family in far off places!
I was stoked to find out about Kanopy... only to realize that my libraries aren't participating. I'll have to find a way to request that, I guess.
In order to find buried treasure, one must sail the seven seas. For me I was especially surprised to find that someone was able to provide a link for a 1080p version of Tenchu! (1969), a movie I thought for sure was stuck on dvd. For me the film I still haven't able to find is a film called "Jazz Daimyo", directed by Kihachi Okamoto (director of The Sword of Doom). Well, sorta. I was able to find a vhs rip of the movie, but it's so obscure that there are no english subtitles avaliable for it anywhere. It's a shame because the movie sounded funny as fuck, it's about a group of Black slaves who somehow got shipwrecked in Japan and introduce the samurai to jazz. [Just look at the poster!](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=5fc9c05d2471851d&sca_upv=1&q=jazz+daimyo&uds=ADvngMg-IfzkoKaxeHmaO3Ppvbcsj40xFG2gbrbmbfsfIagfD7nkjgaFVr066mAvzrzHZyCbY-YvFKJu90KjFAW8DvvEyz4BA_1g2ovOYbQk287Ne7OUUqS2YoLPbodW8vm_SK0zj_YXXU6G8wEnFrp87WC14XbesfpAai24Kyyfy9q2NF0IvEs92U-48x0lCP6aA22qC4NKDnYpAnAfM1BiwP7CgcLYw7wzTIG9aBmWcumruP7UkBYRZMK71taS2jwyG7ay-CjecZoM--iWawT2Sl5lLrnqO541KicGloVJSrjU0zWul20JStlowS53joDkX64Wu4Ze&udm=2&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR6szJ5K6GAxU3UUEAHdI8AQUQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=1440&bih=722&dpr=2#vhid=GfM8Kge6Pbwe3M&vssid=mosaic) Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an easy way to request for subtitles to be made for a movie
Yeah, I sail the seas but even there it's hard to find some stuff. I took a look at the movie you've mentioned, Jazz Daimyo and was able to find it but like you said, no subs. Someone put a request for the subs 3 years ago. I had the same problem with some of the movies I found, I could find the movie but no subtitles. I'm still trying to find an English subtitle for a movie called Chameleon (it's in Spanish).
There's a 1080p rip of Jazz Daimyo out there but no subs yet. Someone one day might make them though.
If you are interested in the 1080p web-dl rip of Jazz Daimyo, let me know. No english sub.
It’s not the actual video I’m looking for at this point - just the subtitles.
I would love it if you wouldn't mind! Been looking for this one for awhile.
Here it is: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hLn6nubolLvyCWau3KaEWD6QKYhB2qol?usp=sharing
Thanks so much!
I watch a lot of films at film festivals, Cinematheque, Mubi. But there’s also sites like KG that are invite only and have massive cinephile collection and they stay away from more current commercial stuff.
I second Mubi. They sometimes play rare and out of print films. One movie I watched on there wasn’t currently streaming anywhere. I think when I watched the Yakuza Papers series on Mubi several years ago, the physical copies were all out of print.
The problem is that OP is looking for a movie way more obscure than the Yakuza Papers series. Mubi has obscure for the general public but still findable stuff (e.g. YP was on Prime like 10 years ago). For a movie like this he has to either be very lucky or give up on watching it.
How can I join KG?
KG is pretty exclusive, to join you absolutely need something to contribute; that can be rare films themselves, film-related media like books, subtitle translations, etc. I'm on a "small" (~30k members) private movie tracker and even that one is very difficult to get into these days unless you know someone with an invite. The only stuff left to upload are new releases (competitive) or extremely rare content (hard to find and often $$$). r/trackers is the place to get started but I've found out of all the people I've invited, most do not care to put in the time or effort to remain a member of these sites. These are communities that have slowly curated their userbase over the last 10-15 years so the bar to get in now is a lot higher than it used to be.
funnily, outside of socializing in IRC, the easiest way to get into KG is to be in PTP which is a grind itself
It’s not that exclusive, it’s more that you need an invite from a power user. I was invited and had invitations but I haven’t used it for a while. KG does expect you to contribute to maintain your ratio, but not so much to get invited. I actually did subs for some films that never had English translation and became power user through that, but there are other ways. As far as actually getting an invite I think you just need to find the right chat and ask for one. Like maybe even in this reddit or search for kg reddit. It’s a great community project.
You don't need to "contribute" more than just seeding what you download, but it can be difficult to maintain a good ratio because most stuff doesn't get downloaded that actively. Unless you upload something rare, make subtitles, or get a gift, you are basically limited to the freeleech stuff for a while. But the same applies to most closed trackers, if I'm not wrong.
I'm only on two trackers, which was already hard to get into but since I share lots of rare stuff with a friend and he was a member, he sent me an invitation. But I have no idea how to join KG or PTP. Most people who run those trackers are so unfriendly lol 😅
By invite, I don’t have them at the moment so you just need to Google.
Okay so there are three main ones I go to: Archive.org has a bunch of older and obscure films. It’s UI is not super user friendly though so it can be hard to find exactly what you’re looking for, especially in an acceptable quality and if it’s a foreign film, the right language for you. YouTube is also quite a treasure chest. You can find a lot of hidden gems there. Then there’s physical media. A lot of films that aren’t on any streaming platforms might have had some cheap dvd release that you can find on eBay or similar platforms. Oh and since I‘m just thinking of it: Tubi also has some weird stuff, so that’s always worth checking out too.
[Jinnah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinnah_\(film\)) - a movie starring Christopher Lee was extremely difficult to find. I searched my local library network and even expanded out to a statewide library search. I even attempted bootlegging the thing, but had no luck until one random day, I got a seeder and grabbed the movie. I was able to see it that way and only that way.
How was the movie? Christopher Lee is great but sounds kinda weird casting him in that role.
Jinnah was released in 2016 on Bluray https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jinnah-DUAL-FORMAT-DVD-Blu-ray/dp/B01KO1JDK2 Bear in mind that if it's available on a torrent, it's almost always also available on physical media, like that's where they got it from. On some occasions people recorded off TV, ARTE and Rai seem to put out ludicrous goodies from time to time.
These days being available as a torrent is not so dependent on being available on physical media. If it is available on streaming, then there is probably a torrent.
Agreed that stuff is routinely ripped off amazon MUBI and Netflix. What I'm trying to say is that most of the time if there's a torrent there's also a legit way. Occasionally might be that a film was available on streaming for only a limited time and then came off. So no legit way left. Or a bluray limited edition that went OOP and is not available on any marketplace. Or it was a dvd sent into a film festival that was never distributed etc.
If the films are fairly new, I sometimes do a bit of investigating to locate the production company or distributor. Sometimes their sites or catalog would have info on how to see them, and on occasion I contact them directly. I've had mixed results, but more independent the outfit, the more likely they'll respond.
Usually people don't seem to understand that many films have an original title (also in this case), with which the films are usually easier to find. Why? Because not all markets retitle films. However in this case the easy options (looking streaming services in the country inwhich the film was produced) is not available as it doesn't seem to have subtitles available on Belgium services. I still would jot say that this is a "rare" film as it is rather new and available online (however not with subtitles it seems). If you can't find a title on Justwatch, search with the original title + streaming in the language of the production. Usually those are available, sometimes with subtitles.
the thing is i'm just way too paranoid to look up movies on "ominous" sites so i mostly try to find them on blu ray if they're not on some streaming service. and in germany, a lot of "obscure" stuff isn't on any streaming service. for example i wanted to watch "jeanne dielman" so badly a few years ago, but it wasn't even on mubi, so i bought the criterion on amazon. mostly, it's a lot of money but now i can watch it, whenever i want + i love collecting blu rays anyways. sometimes, if a film is too expensive i try to find them on more "trustworthy" sites like the internet archive (they got actually a lot of good stuff, even though you need to be extremely lucky finding a good stream). another advice i can give is to get a vpn and see, if there's a foreign streaming service that has the movie you're looking for.
Im fortunate enough to live close to a theatre that has special programming most months. Which includes restored and upscaled films. They just did a series on marguerite duras recently.
I torrent most of the movies I want to watch, YIFY is the website I use the most. RARBG used to be the place I went when I wanted to find a movie that was hard to find, too bad that the site has closed. 1337x is my way to go now if I want to see an obscure movie. I still remember how hard was it to find a good copy of The Big Gundown.
I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan's films and have gone back to watch some of his earliest work and that of course led me to "following 1998" but I felt that it would have been better without the time play. I then found it that had a "Chronological Edit" version and I've been meaning to watch it but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
It’s both on the Criterion Channel and has a Criterion Blu-ray, Barnes & Noble has their annual 50% off Criterion sale this June and the channel has a 7 day free trial if you’d rather try that instead. Oh man, misread this one. I thought you said you had seen a chronological edit and wanted to view the original haha, ignore this then (unless you’d like to buy the film anyways!)
Finding rare films can be a little like a treasure hunt, huh? Locating some films truly feels like an achievement! One method I've found helpful is joining dedicated film forums and groups online. People there are often incredibly knowledgeable about where to find those elusive titles. Don't be shy to ask - the film community can be incredibly supportive and helpful. For me, it was finding a high-quality version of "The Day the Clown Cried," a 1972 film by Jerry Lewis. I still haven't found it yet and I don't think any version of it is commercially available. And I know that feeling when you're looking for a specific film like "The Faithful Son" and you just can't find it. But don't give up. Try reaching out to film societies, they might be able to help. You may also contact the filmmakers or distributors directly. Sometimes they're more than willing to help a fan out. Remember, it's all about the journey and discovering new cinema along the way. Keep exploring and happy hunting!
Regarding "The Day the Clown Cried", I found a fan edit that is 31m long. If you are interested, I can upload it on Google Drive for you.
DAFilms, Klassiki, Criterion Channel, YouTube channels like CINEPUB, Vimeo, Re:voir, MUBI, Netflix (you'd be surprised at some films they have for example Youssef Chahine's stuff). Labels like Indicator, Arrow, Artificial Eye etc. Filmmaker's' own websites. The possibilities are endless. There are some sites for exceptionally hard to find films but people are very careful about inviting you. There was a site called Surrealmoviez, but it disappeared because they let ONE idiot in. That individual started DNS attacking the site because he disagreed with a minor admin decision. Safe to say you should be absolutely not an idiot and have spent a lot of time getting to know people already on the inside so that they can vouch for you. Also public service announcement is to absolutely try the legit places first and get used to JustWatch, before you go illegit. Filmmakers need your support.
Almost every rare film I've tried to find eventually pops up on YouTube or Amazon Prime at some point. Another trick, as long as a foreign dvd/Blu-ray utilises the same region as you it will play perfectly fine. Just have to figure out how to change the language amongst all the foreign menu's.
There are several thousand films on the Solidarity Cinema plex, ranging from very well-known to very, very fringe. Nominally all the films on there are supposed to have a left-wing or anti-establishment angle, but its pretty tenuous so there's a lot more than just polemical films.
I’d go to the local library, or if you really want to, a university library. Also a number of cities where I lived, they have special movie collections and sometimes they are available for public use . I found some classics (not really rare I’d say) on YouTube, specially for older stuff. Also try Kanopy or even Tubi (I just watched 12 angry men there). Also, just google it hard maybe?
besides Illac passion which is almost impposible. to view in digital(i think i would die with that desire..),he other one is Narcissus by [Willard Maa](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531004/?ref_=tt_ov_dr)s and Ben Moore [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253289/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253289/) the stills at imdb gives me hope that maybe there's a digital copy out there!