Janus Films has acquired North American rights to Douglas Keeve’s “Unzipped,” a groundbreaking documentary that follows Isaac Mizrahi as he launches a new fashion collection in 1994. The company will re-release the film in theaters this year. A 4K restoration of “Unzipped” will open in New York on Sept. 25 before expanding nationwide.
Released to critical acclaim in 1995, “Unzipped” not only highlights the boisterous, charismatic Mizrahi as he set out to put his imprint on haute couture, it also features a who’s who of models like Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss and Linda Evangelista, as well as celebrities like Eartha Kitt, FayeDunaway and Richard Gere. The film presents a fly-on-the-wall portrait of Mizrahi’s creative process.
“’Unzipped’ is a perfect encapsulation, a freezing in time forever, of the middle 1990s in the fashion business, a very happy time in my life” Mizrahi said in a statement.
In a separate statement, Keeve said, “Having ‘Unzipped’ join the Janus Films library is a wonderful milestone. They are, after all, the gold standard of cinema. I’m thrilled ‘Unzipped’ will find a new generation of fans while giving long time devotees an excuse to watch it for the umpteenth time and quote their favorite fashion legends from memory. As they’d say, ‘Fussy Finished!’”
The deal for “Unzipped” was negotiated between Janus Films and Cinetic Library Sales.
Founded in 1956, Janus Films was the first theatrical distribution company dedicated to bringinginternational art-house films to U.S. audiences. It has distributed films by David Lynch, Wong KarWai, Jim Jarmusch, and Lucrecia Martel, as well as classics by Agnès Varda, MichelangeloAntonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, and Chantal Akerman.
Recent 4K re-releases include Mary Harron’s “I Shot Andy Warhol,” Edward Yang’s “Yi Yi,” and Wim Wenders’ “Paris, Texas.” Janus also releases new theatrical films such as “Drive My Car,” as well as David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds,” Ira Sachs’ “Peter Hujar’s Day” and Jia Zhangke’s “Caught By the Tides.”