Filmmaker Ken Russell, who passed away over the weekend in England, was an “art film” director who also made (relative) box office hits, an bad boy whose works still stand up long after their shock value has faded away.

A couple of his most important films (Lair of the White Worm, The Rainbow) were executive-produced by SIFF cofounder Dan Ireland at the long defunct Vestron Pictures company. Too bad so many of the Russell Vestron product has never been on DVD. Perhaps this tragedy will spur Lionsgate, which now owns their rights, to get a move on.

Many other Russell works were made for, and are now controlled by, the Hollywood major studios. Those firms have also been slow on getting these modern classics onto disc.