Nouchka van Brakel Trilogy (3 Disc Set)

Cult Epics presents the Nouchka van Brakel Trilogy; three subversive and controversial films dealing with strong female characters and their struggle with sexual identity in society.The Debut (Het Debuut) tells the delicate story of the impossible love between a teenage schoolgirl (played by Marina de Graaf) and a middle-aged married man (Gerard Cox). Arthouse LGBT favorite A Woman like Eve (Een Vrouw als Eva) is a drama about a wife (Moniek van de Ven) who leaves her husband (Peter Faber) for another woman (Maria Schneider), with the consequences of losing her children. The Cool Lakes of Death (Van de Koelen Meren des Doods) - one of the masterpieces of Dutch cinema - is a melodrama that tells the tragic story of a wealthy woman (Rene Soutendijk) whose repressed sexual desires lead to a life of mental illness, drug addiction, and prostitution on the streets of Paris during the 1880s. Both A Woman as Eve and The Cool Lakes of Death were the Dutch entries for 'Best Foreign Language Film' at the Academy Awards.

Bonus Materials

• New HD Transfers and Restoration
• Original LPCM 2.0 Mono track
• New DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track
• Interview with Nouchka van Brakel (2020) HD
• Vintage Polygoon Journal Newsreels, HD
• Original Theatrical Trailers
• Poster & Photo galleries
• First pressing of Blu-ray includes 16-Page illustrated Nouchka van Brakel Trilogy booklet with liner notes by Nouchka van Brakel and Theo van de Sande

Press Quotes

The Nouchka van Brakel Trilogy is a welcome collection that gives the American cinephile a sense of discovery. The relative obscurity of van Brakel's works gives these decades-old films a sort of newness. Indeed, there's a genuineness in the films that seems foreign, even exotic, in our streaming age.

     —Andrew Montiveo, Brights Lights Film

This showcase of the important Dutch female filmmaker Nouchka van Brakel is a necessary and important representation in the ever-vital world of physical media.

     —Jim Tudor, Zeke Film

These new Cult Epics discs, along with the upcoming Nouchka van Brakel Trilogy, are landmark home video releases restoring the great works from one of cinema's most distinctive voices. I cannot recommend them higher.

     —Jeremy Richey, Moon in the Gutter

I am in awe of Nouchka Van Brackel's command of the craft and devotion to the exploration of love and sexuality... reaching truths rarely achieved in cinema. Discovering Nouchka's films was a joyous moment for this cinephile.

     —Sean Baker, Filmmaker