Gina

Note: this is a brand new limited edition catalog slipcover of a Blu-ray originally released in 2023.

This special limited edition variant slipcover (designed by Tony Stella) is limited to 1,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. The original limited edition slipcover (designed by Sean Phillips) was limited to 2,000 units and is sold out.

From arthouse to Canuxploitation, Canadian International Pictures (CIP) is devoted to resurrecting vital, distinctive, and overlooked triumphs of Canadian cinema. This label is focused on the country’s original cinematic boom years – spanning the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s – occasionally venturing past that period (and the country’s borders) to highlight the films of Canada’s most inspired actors and filmmakers. Vinegar Syndrome’s sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing CIP's brand new line of home video releases!

A film both human and brutal

After being sent to rural Quebec to perform at a seedy motel, exotic dancer Gina (The Silent Partner’s Céline Lomez) establishes a friendship with a group of visiting documentary filmmakers and becomes aware of a lecherous Ski-Doo gang hiding out on an abandoned ship. Keenly aware of one another’s presence, Gina and the gang develop an antagonistic relationship that eventually leads to a horrific assault. But what these ski-masked snow deviants don’t realize is that Gina works for some of Montreal’s most dangerous criminals, and they’re on their way to enact an ugly revenge.

Three decades before winning the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for The Barbarian Invasions, Denys Arcand started his fiction filmmaking career with an informal trilogy (Dirty Money, Réjeanne Padovani, and Gina) that remains the high-water mark for Canadian crime cinema. Improbably fusing labor politics with an explosive exploitation narrative, Gina has a conviction and assurance that resists easy categorization. Part frigid hangout movie, part vicious revenge saga, this is a one-of-a-kind powerhouse that builds to a gruesome climax and the greatest snowmobile chase in movie history.

directed by: Denys Arcand
starring: Céline Lomez, Gabriel Arcand, Paule Baillargeon, Dorothée Berryman, Jocelyn Bérubé, Claude Blanchard, Frédérique Collin, Louise Cuerrier, Donald Lautrec, Roger Lebel, Jean-Pierre Saulnier, Serge Thériault
1975 / 95 min / 1.85:1 / French DTS-HD MA 1.0

Additional info:

• Region Free Blu-ray
• Scanned in 2K from a 35mm print by Éléphant - mémoire du cinéma québécois
• Audio commentary featuring author/film historian Kier-La Janisse and writer/film programmer Justine Smith
• The Exploitation of Gina (2022, 11 min.) – Video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Directing Gina (2022, 21 min.) – New interview with director Denys Arcand
• New audio interviews with cast members Gabriel Arcand (13 min.), Paule Baillargeon (8 min.), Dorothée Berryman (15 min.), and Marcel Sabourin (13 min.)
• Trailers for Arcand’s Dirty Money (1972), Réjeanne Padovani (1973), and Gina (1975)
• Booklet featuring a new essay by professor/author Jim Leach (The Films of Denys Arcand)
• Reversible cover artwork
• Alternate English language audio track
• English SDH subtitles