Today, two pieces of good news for foreign-film aficionados: New Yorker Films acquired "Still Life," Jia Zhang-ke's exquisite meditation on China's massive Three Gorges Dam hydroelectric project that symbolizes the country's complete abandonment of its citizenry for the sake of progress. (I covered the film's Toronto premiere here.) And Dreamachine and Jaman have joined forces to unveil digital distribution of seminal early works from Jia, the Dardenne brothers, Jafar Panahi, Takeshi Kitano, Jacques Rivette, Walter Salles and Tsai Ming-liang.

Jaman acquired digital rights to a total of 42 films from the company formerly known as Celluloid Dreams. Films include the Dardenne's "La Promesse," Salles' "Foreign Land," Jia Zhang-Ke's debut "Pickpocket," two from Tsai Ming-liang ("Rebels of the Neon God," "The River") and Arnaud Desplechin's "La Sentinelle," among others. They are the kinds of movies that make cinephiles salivate, and while you won't be seeing them in a theater near you, Jaman's technical specs are second to none in the online world and the films are currently available for free rental, so I guess we can't really complain. (Titles can be bought for $4.99.) Here's a link to Jaman's current Dreamachine offerings.

Here's a link to a longer story I did on the company for indieWIRE last month.