In case movies like The Neon Demon didn’t make it clear enough, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives) has a taste for unusual cinema. He’s pals with esoteric icon Alejandro Jodorowsky and supports genre cinema. Now, Refn will head up a new free quarterly curated digital platform that will be dedicated to restored movies and other “cultural ephemera,” which includes essays, music, video, photography, and more. The website byNWR.com launches in February.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “the first volume will highlight exploitation works from the American South and will be guest edited by Russ Meyer biographer and journalist Jimmy McDonough, who previously collaborated with Refn on the movie poster book The Act of Seeing.” The rare 1965 film The Nest of the Cuckoo Birds, described by Refn as “a John Waters movie without John Waters,” will be available. The film was shot in Miami and follows a detective on the trail of some moonshiners. Joseph P. Mawra’s sleazy 1967 film Shanty Tramp and a feature about Texas sexploitation director Dale Berry (Hot-Blooded Woman) will also be available.
Volume two focuses on forgotten works of American independent cinema and is curated by British film magazine Little White Lies. Movies include Curtis Harrington’s 1963 film Night Tide, starring Dennis Hopper (and almost Peter Lorre). Refn describes the film as “one of the major counter-cultural movies that started the Hollywood New Wave before it became chic.” Spring Night, Summer Night, an Appalachian love story set in rural Ohio, joins the rest of the slate.
So basically if you’re an indie nerd, genre nut, or art weirdo like us, this is probably your new happy place.