Now that a new fiscal year has commenced just this month for numerous academic institutions, GME is sending this gentle reminder about our extensive DVD offerings that we distribute uniquely to the North American university market.

During the past decade, Gartenberg Media Enterprises (GME) has been actively engaged in seeking out and representing high quality DVD & Blu-ray publications from film archives and boutique publishers around the world, representing films and videos that encompass important works from the breadth and depth of the history of the moving image. These premiere publications are made available by GME exclusively for institutional purchase by the university market in North America. We currently offer more than 150 publications that are noted here. These works range from pioneers of the silent narrative cinema to cutting edge filmmakers of the contemporary avant-garde.

GME is pleased to release the two most recent digital editions of moving image works by notable Austrian experimental filmmakers Peter Tscherkassky (EXQUISITE ECSTASIES) and Dietmar Brehm (PRAXIS SELECTION).  Both these DVDs have been published through the INDEX DVD label, which aims to represent a comprehensive history of Austrian film, video, and media art. 

We are particularly pleased to release two DVDs -- THE LAST CHANCE (1945) and SWISS TOUR(1949) --that GME has co-published with Praesens-Film AG, a Swiss production company founded in 1924 that is still active today. According to film scholar Yvonne Zimmerman, “The flagship Swiss movies produced by Praesens were made primarily by foreigners, immigrants and émigrés. Praesens founder Lazar Wechsler was of Polish origin who came to Switzerland from Austria in 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I and established Praesens-Film AG in 1924.