Andi Engel and Pamela Balfry founded Artificial Eye in London in 1976 to distribute foreign-language and arthouse films in cinemas and on video. Its DVD and Blu-ray catalogue covered directors such as Tarkovsky, Béla Tarr, Haneke and the Dardennes. The company joined Curzon in 2006 and the brand went dormant around 2014 to 2016, when it became Curzon Film, before Curzon relaunched it as a world-cinema label in 2024.
Artificial Eye
Best 4K release by tier:
- Excellent2
- Disappointing1
How we pick the best Artificial Eye releases
5 in 4K
Best video release on UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Best English-Friendly:
UK Artificial Eye 4K Blu-ray
Upcoming Release:
Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027
Best Video:
France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray
Video Notes:
France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)
Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.
Best English-Friendly:
Artificial Eye Blu-ray
Best Video:
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Best English-Friendly:
Artificial Eye Blu-ray?
Best Video:
Video Notes:
DNR-affected, low-res original 2K DI upscaled but strong compression and Atmos
15 in HD
Best video release on Blu-ray or HD streaming · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Best English-Friendly:
Theatrical Cut: UK Artificial Eye Blu-ray
2023 "Director's" Cut: Unreleased
Passion According to Andrei Cut: MosFilm Youtube Stream
Best Video:
Theatrical Cut: Netherlands Lumière Blu-ray has best encoding
2023 "Director's" Cut: Unreleased
Passion According to Andrei Cut: MosFilm Youtube Stream
Video Notes:
Theatrical Cut: UK Artificial Eye Blu-ray > Criterion
Passion According to Andrei Cut: MosFilm Youtube Stream > Criterion Blu-ray
Passion According to Andrei Cut: MosFilm Youtube Stream > Criterion Blu-ray
Best Audio:
Theatrical Cut: 2011/2018 RU Blu-ray
Passion According to Andrei Cut: ??
Director: Béla Tarr
Best Video & English-Friendly:
Artificial Eye Blu-ray
Video Notes:
Cinema Guild Blu-ray is a good alternative (more extras).
UK > US, not sure France. UK (Artificial Eye/Curzon) has higher bitrate than US (Cinema Guild) but has boosted gamma (see here: https://slow.pics/c/L9U9r8Es).
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Best English-Friendly:
2010 US Kino Lorber or 2012 UK Artificial Eye
Video Notes:
2017 JP Kadokawa Blu-ray has the best encoding out of all the older discs.
Kino Lorber and Artificial Eye Blu-ray use the same master, between the two the PQ on Kino's release is slightly better, but the difference is negligible. However, Artificial Eye also includes the 2.0 stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 mix, while Kino only includes 5.1 mix.
The 4K restoration (Criterion, 4K etc) are cropped to 2.35:1, have revisionistic colour grading and other changes.
Caps: old master, old master vs 4K restoration
Wong Kar-Wai on the framing:
With Fallen Angels, I have changed the format to cinemascope, because it was originally what I had intended to release the film in. When we were cutting the film, we accidentally turned the Steenbeck on anamorphic instead of standard. I felt that the film looked much more interesting because it enhanced the distance of the characters on top of the extreme wide angle that we shot on. Back then, it was impossible to shoot a film in standard and release it in anamorphic. With this restoration, we have successfully fulfilled this wish.
Director: Roy Andersson
Director: Ruben Östlund
1 with a weaker 4K
Best 4K release rated Disappointing or Worse Than BD · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Best English-Friendly:
2010 US Kino Lorber or 2012 UK Artificial Eye
Video Notes:
2017 JP Kadokawa Blu-ray has the best encoding out of all the older discs.
Kino Lorber and Artificial Eye Blu-ray use the same master, between the two the PQ on Kino's release is slightly better, but the difference is negligible. However, Artificial Eye also includes the 2.0 stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 mix, while Kino only includes 5.1 mix.
The 4K restoration (Criterion, 4K etc) are cropped to 2.35:1, have revisionistic colour grading and other changes.
Caps: old master, old master vs 4K restoration
Wong Kar-Wai on the framing:
With Fallen Angels, I have changed the format to cinemascope, because it was originally what I had intended to release the film in. When we were cutting the film, we accidentally turned the Steenbeck on anamorphic instead of standard. I felt that the film looked much more interesting because it enhanced the distance of the characters on top of the extreme wide angle that we shot on. Back then, it was impossible to shoot a film in standard and release it in anamorphic. With this restoration, we have successfully fulfilled this wish.
4 for audio only
The best audio is Artificial Eye's; the video and English-friendly picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Satyajit Ray
Best Audio:
2003 Artificial Eye DVD
Best English-Friendly:
Best Video:
Criterion Apu Trilogy 4K Blu-ray
Director: Satyajit Ray
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Know a film where the Artificial Eye release is the one to buy? Suggest it