The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky is one of cinema's most controversial and influential filmmakers. When his first full-length film Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival riots broke out in the theater. When his violent and surreal western El Topo was released in 1971 John Lennon championed it's worldwide distribution and the film's underground success turned Alejandro Jodorowsky into a counterculture icon.

Alejandro Jodorowsky's early films have been available on DVD in various bootleg forms for awhile, but thanks to Anchor Bay in the US and Tartan in the UK, Jodorowsky's many fans on both sides of the pond will now be able to enjoy his films in two special DVD collections being released this month.

On May 1st Anchor Bay released their impressive NTSC Region-1 DVD collection The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky which includes newly restored widescreen prints of Fando y Lis (1968), El Topo (1971), The Holy Mountain (1973) and his early short film La Cravate. This 6 disc set also comes with the soundtrack CDs for El Topo and The Holy Mountain, plus lots of other great extras such as original theatrical trailers, commentary tracks, interviews with Jodorowsky, photo galleries and more.

On May 14th Tartan Video will be releasing a similar PAL Region-2 DVD set called The Jodorowsky Collection in the UK, which will give more cinephiles the opportunity to enjoy Jodorowsky's groundbreaking films.

You can watch a trailer for Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo here:

For more information about the newly released NTSC DVD boxset The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky please see Amazon.

- Kimberly Lindbergs