January 6, 2026 Alex Leptos

Label Of The Month: Essential SECOND RUN Blu-rays Every World Cinema Collector Should Own

Second Run stands as a benchmark for UK boutique Blu-ray publishing, specialising in world cinema- particularly Eastern European classics. These films are politically and culturally charged, and often overlooked by mainstream distributors. This selection highlights six essential titles from the label’s catalogue, spanning Czech New Wave landmarks, bold genre experiments, and modern international cinema! See why it's our Collector's Label of the Month!

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

Directed by Jaromil Jireš and based on the 1935 novel of the same name by Vítězslav Nezval, 1970’s Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a surrealist tale from the Czech New-Wave. A woman lives inside a dream joined by priests, vampires, and men and women alike. Tied together with a genuinely haunting score, the film blends fairy-tale imagery with dream logic- floating between innocence and eroticism.

Second Run’s Special Edition Blu-ray is a new HD transfer from original Czech archive materials, two audio commentaries, a filmed introduction, an interview with lead actress Jaroslava Schallerová, three early short films by director Jaromil Jireš, and a 24-page booklet rich with essays and insight.

A Blonde in Love (1965)

A Blonde in Love is another defining work of the Czech New-Wave, offering portrait of youth, loneliness, and misplaced romantic expectation in mid-1960s Czechoslovakia. Directed by Miloš Forman, the film is set in a provincial factory town and follows a young woman’s tentative search for love. Forman’s uses non-professional actors to aid his naturalistic style and give the film a real sense of authenticity- observing life’s experiences with a blend of humour, empathy, and social critique.

Second Run’s Blu-ray puts on disc a new restoration that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, alongside an archival interview with Miloš Forman, audio commentary and a book of writings on the film by film historian Michael Brooke.

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966)

Switching gears slightly into the more light-hearted, Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is a wildly inventive Czech comedy by director Václav Vorlíček that fuses science fiction, slapstick, and comic-strip fantasy. The film centres on a couple who use a machine to bring things from dreams into the real world. They accidently cause Jessie- a character from a pulp comic- to materialise here, leading to a barrage of visual gags and absurd situations including word bubbles and sound effects straight from Jessie’s home pages. Playful and satirical, the film reflects the creative freedom of 1960s Czechoslovak cinema while anticipating later genre hybrids with its bold visual ideas and humour.

The Blu-ray release features a high-definition restoration from materials supplied by the Czech National Film Archive, audio commentary, the director’s early short film Directive, a newly produced video essay on Czech genre cinema, as well as a 24-page booklet packed with critical writing.

Interrogation (1982)

This Polish political drama directed by Ryszard Bugajski depicts the Stalinist terror of the early 1950s. Based on a true story, the film was originally banned under martial law in Poland. It was smuggled out by the director at great personal risk and survived as an underground VHS hit. Officially released for the first time in 1990, Interrogation follows a cabaret singer arrested without charge and subjected to relentless psychological and physical pressure, charting her struggle to retain dignity in an inhumane system.

Its Blu-ray release is accompanied by an extensive interview with Bugajski discussing its production and censorship history, and a booklet containing essays and the transcript of the official 1982 commission hearing that led to the film’s banning- making this not only a cool collector’s item but genuine film history.

Neon Bull (2015)

Neon Bull is a visually striking Brazilian drama directed by Gabriel Mascaro. Set within the world of the vaquejada- a traditional rodeo circuit in northeastern Brazil. the film follows rough-and-tough rangler whose true passion is fashion design. Quietly subverting expectations of masculinity and labour, Mascaro’s film finds beauty in everyday routines while exploring identity, desire, and unexpected aspirations.

This edition features a new high-definition transfer, an extended making-of documentary, a filmed director interview and a booklet of writings on the film.

Morgiana (1972)

Directed by Juraj Herz, Morgiana is a darkly stylised Gothic melodrama of obsession, decay, and psychological cruelty. It’s a take on 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as well as Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat. Based on a short story by Aleksandr Grin (known as the 'Russian Poe'), Morgiana is set in 19th-century Prague and follows twin sisters (both played by Iva Janžurová) locked in the worst of sibling rivalries defined by jealousy and manipulation that culminates in a bitter murder plot. Shot in striking colour schemes that visually separate the sisters’ inner worlds, Morgiana blends period drama with horror elements, standing as one of Herz’s most visually audacious and emotionally perverse works outside of his better-known The Cremator.

This restoration includes an audio commentary exploring the film’s themes and place within Herz’s career, and a booklet featuring new writing on the film’s production and legacy. This is a must-have edition for collectors of European Gothic and Czech cinema.

These releases illustrate why Second Run remains a vital force in physical media, offering Blu-rays that function as both premium home-viewing experiences and carefully assembled film-history documents. These editions reward collectors with restorations, context, and curation that few labels can match- making them ideal centrepieces for any serious Blu-ray library.

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