Hacker Cinema
Kim's Video
2023 · Film · documentary · 89 min
Directed by David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Since 1987, and for almost three decades, New York cinephiles had access to a vast treasure trove of rare films thanks to Kim's Video, a small empire run by Yongman Kim, an enigmatic character who amassed more than fifty thousand VHS tapes.
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3 comments on Hacker News
> The €1 house project seems to have been the brainchild of Vittorio Sgarbi, the Italian art critic and TV personality turned mayor of the small, rapidly depopulating town of Salemi, Sicily.
Not coincidentally, that's the same guy and same town that acquired the massive film collection from legendary NYC chain Kim's Video [1], ostensibly to create a cultural hub in Salemi, but instead they let the collection rot.
There's a documentary about it [2], but it's a bit insufferable at times, and you can basically get the gist from some articles [3].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim%27s_Video_and_Music
[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24132144/
[3] https://news.artnet.com/art-world/kims-video-documentary-2462581
Reminds me of the documentary Kim's video https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24132144/ recommended!
"Here in Brazil I remember Blockbuster having a fairly limited number of options, mostly the new releases."
This was exactly what Blockbuster was like in New York.
They focused on mainstream, mostly blockbuster movies (hence the name, maybe).
For a really good selection, you had to go to independent video rental stores, like Kim's Video in Manhattan, which had way, way, waaaay more movies available than any Blockbuster store I've ever been in could dream of. There were some other independent video rental stores scattered across NYC and Long Island with similarly good selections.
Also, Blockbuster movies were often cut or censored, so you had to go to an independent video rental store to find uncut films. I've heard some people dispute that Blockbuster ever carried such films, but I'm far from the only one who remembers this happening. Search around on the web, and you'll see others reporting the same thing.