Criterion Releases THE ESSENTIAL JACQUES DEMY, Including Four Movie Musicals

Internationally celebrated auteur Jacques Demy is set to be feted with a retrospective box set from hallowed film preservation and home video label Criterion Collection later this year titled THE ESSENTIAL JACQUES DEMY, according to the official website.

Of note, four movie musicals will be included in the six-film set, including Demy's celebrated THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, among others.

The official description of THE ESSENTIAL JACQUES DEMY box set is as follows: "French director Jacques Demy didn't just make movies-he created an entire cinematic world. Demy launched his glorious feature filmmaking career in the sixties, a decade of astonishing invention in his national cinema. He stood out from the crowd of his fellow New Wavers, however, by filtering his self-conscious formalism through deeply emotional storytelling. Fate and coincidence, doomed love, and storybook romance surface throughout his films, many of which are further united by the intersecting lives of characters who either appear or are referenced across titles. Demy's films-which range from musical to melodrama to fantasia-are triumphs of visual and sound design, camera work, and music, and they are galvanized by the great stars of French cinema at their centers, including Anouk Aimée, Catherine Deneuve, and Jeanne Moreau. The works collected here, made from the sixties to the eighties, touch the heart and mind in equal measure."

THE ESSENTIAL JACQUES DEMY is set to be released today, July 22.

More information on THE ESSENTIAL JACQUES DEMY is available at the official site here.