8. Artificial Eye
Artificial Eye was founded all the way back in 1976 by a German man named Andi Engel who was a keen cineaste, along with his wife Pamela Balfry. The label is synonymous with the World cinema scene. Some of the films they distribute are pretentious boring drivel (such as that terrible film L'Ennui), some go right above my head and some are pretty decent - titles I own include von Trier's Antichrist and the harrowing classic war drama Come and See. As of 2006, Artificial Eye is part of Curzon World, a group of companies in the film world which own cinemas and other distribution companies. Artificial Eye release approximately 30 DVD titles and 20 theatrical titles every year. Recent DVD releases include Thérèse Desqueyroux, Shun Li and the Poet and The Sweet Hereafter. Some notable Artificial Eye releases over the years that jumped out at me include: Au Hazard Balthasar, Babette's Feast, Funny Games, Lancelot du Lac, and Melancholia. So Artificial Eye is really responsible for promoting and maintaining the world of art house cinema out there.