31st July 2018 Brent Reid 13891 Views

Beware of Pirates! How to Avoid Bootleg Blu-rays and DVDs, Part 2

Pirate Companies and Distribution

There are seemingly endless numbers of pirate labels, all hiding in plain sight
Pointing the finger at ones hardest to spot: those based in the Western world
Worst offenders even infiltrating TV, cinemas and film festivals with their stolen goods
Illegal online uploads are rife, but even legitimate streaming platforms are infested

This article is part of a series; if you’ve landed directly on this page I strongly recommend you start from Part 1.

US, European and Antipodean pirate labels
Pirate TV and cinema distribution
Digital piracy
Related articles

US, European and Antipodean pirate labels

This list can never be exhaustive: many of the distributor, label and sub-label names listed on sleeves are meaningless. They’re seemingly conjured out of thin air and are swapped around at random. On the rare occasions that pirates are successfully sued they simply declare themselves bankrupt, dissolve the company and start up again under a different name. Though those below are among the worst offenders and crop up regularly, the best way to avoid counterfeits altogether is to follow this checklist. In common with most “public domain” labels selling a mixture of copyrighted and actual PD material, some pirates muddy the waters by also selling what, to all intents and purposes, appears to be officially licensed product. Make no mistake though: the vast majority of labels on this list are 100% thieves. Even with the very few ‘better’ ones, approach with extreme caution, as I guarantee a significant percentage of their inventory is still ripped off. Again, this is more common with older titles, as it’s easier to palm them off as PD without anyone paying due diligence.

Australia

Avenue One aka RBC Entertainment
Bounty Films – founded by Tony Romeo, ex-of Force; more on both
Force Entertainment
rareandcollectibledvds – shady sideline of BPS Video Services
Siren Visual

Brazil

ClassicLine
Continental Multimedia

France

Aventi
Bach Films
Collection Ciné-Club – affiliated with FSF
Ermitage Cinema – also trade as HK Editions; see Italy listing
Films sans Frontières (FSF) – owned by über pirate Galeshka Moravioff; lots more here
Harmonia Mundi – affiliated with FSF
RDM Video (RDMV) aka RDM Edition and Inconnu
Votre marque

Germany

Great Movies – release under a host of names, including Best Entertainment, Crest Movies, daredo, Delta Music & Entert., div, Edel Germany, Indigo, Soulfood, White Pearl Movies, WME Home-Entertainment and many others. They also pirate Alfred Hitchcock’s films extensively.

Italy

A&R Productions
Artist First Digital – affiliated with Quadrifoglio
CG (Cecchi Gori) Entertainment/CG Home Video – distributors affiliated with Ermitage, Sinister Film and others
Cinema International Media – affiliated with Llamentol
Cineteca
Cult Media
CVC
Dania Film
DNA aka Millennium Storm
DVD Storm
Eagle Pictures Spa
Enjoy Movies – affiliated with Punto Zero Film
Ermitage Cinema – based in both Milan and Paris; also trade as Dcult and Dynit
Explosion Video
Golem Video
Griffe
Mosaico Media
Mya Communication – closed down and currently trading as One 7 Movies, with all releases in both Italy and US; run by Salvatore Alongi and Marcello Rossi who left their former otherwise legitimate company, NoShame/No Shame Films, in 2007 after emptying its coffers and getting it in legal trouble for using unlicensed transfers[1]; more info
Passworld
Penny Video – DVDs often omit original audio
Pulp Video
Punto Zero Film
Quadrifoglio – also trade as Digital Studio, Cine Storm and Stormovie
Sinister Film – run by Nicola Compagnini; no relation to Sinister Cinema (US), a so-called ‘public domain’ label who also sell bootlegs
Studio 4K – 40-odd BDs from 2013–2015; defunct
Terminal Video Italia – distributors affiliated with many pirate labels

Spain

Absolute Distribution aka L’Atelier 13, Bang Bang Movies, Carousel Films, Side Street, War & West Movies, etc. Affiliated with Paycom.
Art House Media/Paycom Multimedia – Llamentol
Centipede Films
CincoDías
Cinecom
Creative Films
Crin Ediciones – affiliated with Manga Films, Resen and Suevia
Feel Films – affiliated with Resen and Suevia
IDA Films
LaCasaDelCineParaTodos
Layons Multimedia
Llamentol – affiliated with Mapetac: both have almost-neighbouring registered addresses in Vilassar de Mar and de Dalt, Barcelona
Manga Films
Mapetac – affiliated with Resen; sub-labels: Bestseller Entertainment, BƐTa, BioMovies, CineClub Channel, Cinema International Media, CineStudio, ClassicMedia, dhx, 5 TeleCinco, premium cine/vídeo, RHI Entertainment and Track Media
Memory Screen
Mon Inter Comerz – affiliated with Llamentol
Nacadih Video
New Line Films – not to be confused with New Line Home Video/Entertainment
No Limits Films
Paycom Multimedia – affiliated with Llamentol
Producciones JRB – affiliated with Layons Multimedia
Regasa Clau Promocions S.L./SL
Regasa Films

Regia Films – given to making empty threats against those who question their legality
Resen (Research Entertainment) – the dirty dogfather of Spanish pirates and linked to just about everybody else
Restaura Films – one-man band run by Jorge Massa Saboya, an expat Spaniard currently residing in the US and attempting to establish Spanish and US distribution for his pirated transfers. Though most are copyrighted, a few of the titles in his “catalogue” are indeed PD, but they’re all stolen from others’ restored BDs.
SatanMedia – Llamentol
Seleccion Classicos de Oro
Sotelysa aka Sogemedia
Suevia Films – affiliated with Feel and Resen; unrelated to the 1940–1983 Spanish film studio of the same name
Tribanda Pictures – affiliated with JRB
Vértice Cine
Yowu Entertainment

Giallo Goblin
ZDDvisualmedia aka ZDDVM

AFA Entertainment – run by Adeeb Barsoum, who specialises in releasing DVDs of cropped and stretched 4:3 aspect ratio films to fill 16:9 AR widescreen TVs
Alfred’s Place – run by Al Chafin, who has sold DVD-Rs of everything by Hitchcock and other copyrighted works for years
Artiflix
Bruce’s Bijou
Catcom Home Video
Cheezy Flicks – subjected to numerous lawsuits for copyright theft, eg they made a fortune for bootlegging just one title, then claimed to be bankrupt – but are still thieving!
Cinema de Bizarre
Cult Action
Desert Island Films – DVD-R and digital rip-offs
Digiview Entertainment – supposedly PD label who were sued for piracy and bit the dust
dvdcoming – TV show sets, done cheap and nasty
EarthStation1 aka Mediaoutlet – run by shameless self-promoter J. C. Kaelin, who specialises in ripping off copyrighted TV and radio material, often pirating official releases
Echelon Studios – US-based DVD-R and digital pirates especially active on Amazon Video in the UK and Germany
Harpodeon – run by W. Dustin Alligood, who sells pirated prints from Blackhawk Films and others, then claims copyright in them! Yes, they can be licensed for public exhibition for a fat fee. He’s rude with it, too. Lesser spiritual kin of Alex Staykov, below.
Hollywood’s Attic – run by Woody Wise, a self-confessed, convicted veteran pirate; acquired by Nostalgia Family Video in 2004
International Historic Films, Inc.
Loving the Classics
Miracle Pictures
ModCinema – see comments
Movie Buffs Forever
Mya Communication, One 7 Movies – see Italy listing
Nostalgia Family Video – run by convicted pirate Jeremy Brunner
Nostalgia Merchant aka My Video Classics, My Radio Classics and “daviddownhome” on eBay – no relation to the original, legit Nostalgia Merchant (1978–1993), though industrious owner David Robinson has stolen the latter’s name, logo[2] and good reputation. Sadly distributed by otherwise legit MOD DVD manufacturers Allied Vaughn.
OnesMedia
Passport Video – David Shepard: “The owner of Passport is a sociopath named Dante J. Pugliese.’’
PR Studios
Reel Vault
RetroFilm Vault
RetroFlix
Silent Hall of Fame – aka Alex Staykov, a liar and scam artist who sells very expensive plain DVD-R rips of legit releases and YouTube uploads via his site for $25-30 “donations”. Banned from many online silent film communities where he tries to peddle his wares; see here, here, here, here, here and here. Also sells on Amazon as “Classic Silent Film Gems” ($28-38), eBay as “yorkmba99” ($28-33 + $14.25-37.50 postage!) and posts pirated vids on his own YouTube channel. On Twitter as @SilentFilmGems. See comments below.
Starry Night Video
Televista – formerly known as Substance, New Star, Morningstar and Jef Films; all run by Jeffrey H. Aikman (obviously self-penned IMDb entry), whose speciality is transferring copyrighted VHS tapes to DVD. Not to be confused with Televisa.
Thomas Film Classics
Trash Palace
Vermont Movie Store
VHS Preservation Society – same M.O. as Televista
Video Dimensions
Vina Distributor/Distribution
Vintage Film Buff
Wham! USA
Zeus DVDs – formerly known as Jubilee DVDs, Queensbury DVDs and Xerxes DVDs

In Spain, Research Entertainment are foremost among the most prolific bootleggers – to the extent that “Resen” is Spanish slang for a pirate or bootleg.

Note Australia is also plagued by more than its share of piracy and back in their bad old beginnings, the UK’s now-esteemed Eureka label was partial to partnering with antipodean thieves in regularly ripping off other small labels. Even mainstream British newspapers have got in on the act.

Incidentally, it’s generally much safer to buy UK-originated releases with near-impunity: While there are numerous ‘smaller’ volume DVD-R-only sellers everywhere, especially all over eBay, I’m unaware of any large scale pirating or bootlegging operations based in this country. With a few notable exceptions, the situation is quite similar in Germany; that makes two of the five biggest film markets in the EU. Most strange when you consider that the other three, France, Italy and Spain, are absolutely rife with them. Most EU nations are assiduous about enforcing copyright laws and at some point I’d like to investigate the exact reason for the disparity. If anyone can shed any light on this, please get in touch.

[1] When initially researching this article I was informed NoShame had bootlegs on their books. NoShame founder/owner Michele De Angelis has since clarified matters and the entry has been amended accordingly.

Pirate TV and cinema distribution

The really organised companies and individuals affect legitimate businesses more profoundly than you could ever imagine. As well as the de facto discs in many countries, they illegally distribute TV and theatrical releases, and litter unwitting but otherwise legal VOD (video on demand) sites. And all from stolen prints and copies. Feel Films, La Casa Del Cine, Llamentol and Films sans Frontières in particular are old hands at this. The owner of the latter company, Galeshka Moravioff, even set up his own chain of cinemas to help facilitate his industrial scale piracy. These too were run using his usual underhanded tactics of threats and intimidation but eventually closed down anyway, as you can read here, here and here. He and his ilk often even have the nerve to use legal means to suppress legitimate distribution. For instance, they’ll get their lawyers to fire off a quick warning to TV stations intending to broadcast certain films, claiming that they, the thieves, actually own the rights and not the official distributors. It usually has the intended effect of causing the TV stations to back away from broadcasting any disputed material completely, until the ‘competing’ distributors settle their differences. Thankfully, these frivolous claims seldom actually go anywhere, but kosher companies are again financially wounded, both by being unable to earn money on their own properties and by wasting huge sums on legal fees. Of course, they’re competing on a very uneven playing field: those who have spent a lifetime lying and stealing to get what they want are far more practised in the art of deception than decent, hard-working folk trying to earn an honest living.

Moravioff’s deviousness knows no bounds; I have to hand it to the guy: he’s devised more ways of monetising his theft than anyone I’ve come across. For instance, he’s in the habit of fraudulently licensing “his” stolen transfers to uninformed, legitimate home video labels like IVC in Japan, Zima in Mexico and others. In 2012, he took it several steps further by scamming YouTube out of €123,000. This is certainly worthy of more investigation, as it seems he did it by lying about having the rights to various films that were uploaded to the site without his “permission”. I bet YouTube/Google would love to get their own back!

Douglas Fairbanks in The Black Pirate (1926)

Digital piracy

Though the focus here is on piracy of physical media, as those formats continue to cede popularity to online platforms, digital pirates are increasingly becoming the norm. Amazon Video and other ostensibly legit streaming and download sites are also infested with illegal uploads from many of the companies listed above. Another unscrupulous individual to come to light, in March 2017, is Guido Baechler, founder and director of the obscure Lucerne International/Independent Film Festival (he can’t seem to make his mind up). For years, in a manner closely mirroring Maravioff’s, this odious parasite has been openly selling digital copies of films that have screened at his festival. In a perverse move, he’s misappropriated copyright laws to steal from the very rights holders they were designed to protect. To really add insult to injury, he’s even been crediting himself as a producer on many of said films. Read this exposé:

The Digital Black Market: How a Festival Used Copyright Laws to Sell the Films It Screened

In the interest of fairness, you can read his lengthy rebuttal (archived copy) of the IndieWire article’s claims, but his arguments are as leaky as a sieve. For some reason, Baechler subsequently removed said rebuttal; perhaps in time even he came to realise his actions were utterly indefensible. The world is full of liars and thieves and ’twas ever thus, but the likes of Maravioff and Baechler have elevated their loathsome activities to a brazen art form.

February 2018 update: Baechler’s scam festival now seems to have died a complete death – bloody good riddance.

Part 2: Pirate Companies and Distribution

Brent Reid

I started Brenton Film because I love film – quelle surprise! The silent era, 1930s and 1940s especially get my literary juices flowing, so you’ll see a lot about those. For more, see the About page.

Category Articles

22 Comments

ereimjh
May 19, 00:53 Reply

Thank you, Brent. I'm afraid I've been a little too indiscriminate in my DVD buying habits. Over the past five years I've amassed quite a collection, and most of it's from legit, licensed companies, but I've got a few from companies that are on this list, too. Most recently I bought a couple of titles off of Amazon (who definitely need to be more proactive in rooting this stuff out) from Reel Vault. Henceforth, I'll be avoiding them and the other companies on this list. Live and learn, as they say. I'm keeping this article bookmarked. Cheers.
- Brent Reid
  July 02, 08:06 Reply
  
  You're very welcome. I'm afraid Amazon aren't proactive in the slightest and don't look like changing their ways anytime soon. My findings and list aren't definitive but are at least regularly updated. I just wanted to inform and provoke discussion on the subject as no one seemed to have really done so in this manner before.
David
September 21, 23:02 Reply

Hi, Brent. Thanks for your great work singling out the pirates to avoid. I do have a question. Is Alex Staykov's SILENT HALL OF FAME which you describe above the same as the website (silent-hall-of-fameDOTorg) which purports to accept donations so that neglected silent stars can get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? This website gives away and, I guess, sells DVDs from the so-called Silent Gems Collection. Are these the same as Staykov's Classic Silent Film Gems pirated DVDs? David (Tucson, AZ, USA)
- Brent Reid
  September 22, 10:03 Reply
  
  You're welcome, David. Yes, they're all one and the same scammer. A correction though: he doesn't give anything away, but some of his cheap DVD-Rs of other peoples' material can be had in return for a "donation". His honeytrap website has been running for over six years now but unsurprisingly, none of his much touted memorial stars have yet appeared, so where's all the money going? As if we didn't know.
David
September 22, 18:17 Reply

Thanks, Brent, for your prompt reply. I passed on the link to this page to a poster on Nitrateville who'd just described watching a Silent Hall of Fame video on YouTube. I noticed to my surprise that the recent, somewhat disappointing, rather self-serving film on Alice Guy (BE NATURAL...) by Pamela Green included a surprising end credit to the man behind Jef Films. Somewhat of a shocker to see that. I prefer the quieter 1995 documentary on Alice Guy, THE LOST GARDEN. On another note, is there some sort of site map or navigational aid to Brentonfilm.com? I never can easily find recent updates. When I go to your front page, I only find "updates" from 2015 and 2016. If you'd prefer to reply to me on my personal email, please do. As always, thanks for your great work.
- Brent Reid
  September 24, 13:22 Reply
  
  It's particularly disappointing when industry figures themselves lend credibility to pirates, but she's not alone. Other thieves on the above list have featured in well meaning documentaries and the like; you'd think modern filmmakers would be too respectful of others' copyrights to involve them. As for your second point, I've emailed you!
Libby
September 22, 18:39 Reply

The really odd thing about Staykov and his SilentGems/Hall of Fame rip-offs of DVD-r copies is that he's still on Ebay with a 100% rating. As if no one has ever complained about getting a copy when he advertises his product as "new." Basically he steals other people's work and removes the copyrighted music track. He replaces this with generic pap. He pulls the same thing on Amazon. I can't believe Ebay and Amazon have not received complaints or notices of copyright infringement. Yet he's still there.
- Brent Reid
  September 24, 13:45 Reply
  
  It's a real head-scratcher, Libby, but there are seemingly no end of gullible folk with deep pockets. As Einstein supposedly said, "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Ricky
September 27, 19:02 Reply

I thought Reel Vault was legit. I’ve purchased a few prints from them and they were really good. Hoppity goes to town is beautiful. It’s a shame
- Brent Reid
  September 28, 15:04 Reply
  
  Hi Ricky, As I say in Part 1, there's no real dividing line between most "public domain" labels and outright pirates. I've included on this list those with all or a majority of copyrighted inventory, but in truth many, many more also qualify, though to a lesser degree. Reel Vault sell copyrighted material as wantonly as anyone. For instance, Hoppity/Mr. Bug Goes to Town is owned by Viacom via their acquisition of Paramount, who in turn took over the Fleischer Studios, makers of the cartoon, in 1941.
Ricky
September 28, 21:22 Reply

Hi Brent I really appreciate your posts and hope it grows. It's a great place for us film collectors to connect. I've also been taken by Staykov and his Silent Hall of SHAME. I bought copies of "Huckleberry Finn" 1920 and the ultra rare "A Burglar by Proxy" 1919. Both were taken from other source material and not restorations by Staykov. In fact, "Proxy" has a masked watermark, and when I contacted Staykov about this, he promptly told me he didn't know what I was talking about. He dupes collectors into believing that we are making "donations" when purchasing his prints which is utter rubbish. I haven't purchased any other DVDs from him as I will not willingly support a Bootlegger.
- Brent Reid
  September 29, 16:32 Reply
  
  Thanks, Ricky, and you're welcome. What I'd really like is for Staykov himself to comment here or contact me, to offer a shred of evidence refuting these assertions. But he won't because he can't.
Ricky
October 10, 17:27 Reply

Here in the States we have the notorious Alpha Video who dupes their DVD-R garbage from legit sources. Quality of these releases varies greatly based on the source they pirated it from. Their copy of The Most Dangerous Game is sourced from Kino as is The Stranger. They also have copies of Hypnotized 1932 and The Missing Corpse 1945 sourced from another bootlegger named Vintage Film Buff who used 16mm prints transferred to Betacam. I noticed that Amazon UK is selling many of Alpha’s copies so beware.
- Brent Reid
  October 19, 09:20 Reply
  
  As I said in Part 1, Ricky, there really is no qualitative difference between labels who only issue bootlegs and those who mostly issue them. Alpha are pretty indiscriminate and certainly down there with the worst of the latter. By the way, it's Criterion's transfer of The Most Dangerous Game that's the source for most budget DVDs, but plenty of Kino's releases have been ripped off too.
Wv
October 28, 02:07 Reply

Is ModCinema legit?
- Brent Reid
  October 29, 11:09 Reply
  
  Well, I was all set to do some serious digging and asking around copyright holders, etc, but it wasn't necessary: they're obviously bootleggers. They don't own and haven't licensed a single thing on their site. Everything on it – films and TV and programmes from the 1960s onwards – is clearly copyrighted. Their notice claiming its public domain status due to "The Berne Act" is an utter lie and no more than an internet urban legend. They also do the old bootlegging trick of illustrating sale items with high quality publicity photos, to give the impression that's what their DVD-Rs look like. Totally false, of course: they're all just crappy VHS recordings of old TV broadcasts, downloaded from pirate sites or ripped from YouTube. Don't pay their extortionate prices (as of 2019, $17 + $5-9 postage per DVD-R); if you want to see something that badly, just get it for free from the same places they do. Added to the list.
James A.
February 01, 21:35 Reply

Is trip3.142 Media/Tripdiscs (on eBay) legit? It seems like they're bootleggers.
- Brent Reid
  February 01, 22:36 Reply
  
  Yup: bootleggers and pirates all the way. A cursory glance at their inventory throws up almost uniformly copyrighted product, much of it belonging to major studios. Despite their hollow claims, they haven't licensed a single thing. Of the tiny minority of works for sale that are genuinely public domain, such as their earliest silents, they've clearly been ripped-off from other, much better quality releases. Avoid.
Tabd
February 04, 18:01 Reply

Is CG Home video/ entertainment really a bootleg label in Italia ? For exemple their Battle of Algiers Blu Ray release, is it legit ?
- Brent Reid
  February 05, 10:51 Reply
  
  CG are a tricky one to categorise. As I've said, a few labels appear to issue both licensed and pirated product. Then others, like CG, seem to issue licensed material themselves, but also distribute unequivocal bootlegs. Either way, they're actively participating in the illicit trade and part of the problem. The Battle of Algiers BD and various DVDs from CG/Surf Film look kosher.
Fred
April 28, 20:39 Reply

Was led to this very good string by a thread about the heroic work done by Pamula Pierce Barcelou to protect her family copyright on The Legend of Boggy Creek. Good work from you too going head to head with the ridiculous perpetrator of the takeover attempt from France some time ago. I will say, though, as a completist collector (one of the entitled few, I guess), if I cannot obtain an obscure old film with no chance of release, I’m going off-market. I see no comparison with someone stealing others‘ legit release masters to someone with the only source of an obscure Don Siegel or Richard Brooks film from the early 50s long forgotten by an ambivalent studio. A personal rule, however: if said film ever surfaces from the original source, I always buy.
- Brent Reid
  May 01, 18:56 Reply
  
  Glad you like it, Fred. Individual collectors have been privately trading copies of rare films for years, but there's a big difference between that and mass-producing and selling copies – especially ones ripped from legit releases.