The shady world of The Criterion Collection

These are shady, secretive organizations I'm privy to: the CIA, the NSA, the Stonemasons, the Illuminati, whomever the excessively boring group of religious nuts Tom Hanks chases after in those shitty Dan Brown movies, and, quite surprisingly, The Criterion Collection.

I've been digging around looking for the back end information about my absolutely favorite filmic production company as of late (well, actually on and off, for well, years) and so far I've discovered this information:

1. Aside from their beautifully simplistic, surprisingly cheery website dedicated to all things wonderfully Criterion, almost nothing exists online about this company. Years back I sought out the contact information so I could inquire about employment at the company, and I literally ran in to dead end after dead end. Cyber-brick walls that allowed me no forward progression in my search. I went through their parent company (the equally shady Janus Films) and again nothing. For whatever reason the company has no interest in a public persona.

2. This was furthered by the fact that I've found almost no interviews, no write-ups, no nothing in print or interweb form regarding this renowned production company. They're the ghosts of the DVD/HD world, a group of a shadowy film nerds operating from the darkness. The one interview I did stumble across with Peter Decker, the one time president of Criterion was from years ago, discussing their first few films and their time as Laser Disc kings and Queens. This is an interview from over ten years ago though, and it's the most recent piece of media I can find. Beyond strange.

3. I went to the all-knowing Wikipedia to find more information and found this:
Due to the company's private nature, very little publicly accessible information regarding the business or its relationships with other entities is available. Nevertheless, what information can be gathered from media sources reveals that the Criterion Collection shares a close business relationship with Janus Films.

And that's pretty much it. Yes, there's a brief outline of their business plan, of who started it, but aside from that, it's just a list of their release and links to their various sundry relations.

It's baffling, it's fascinating, it makes me love these filmic sum'bitches even more.

Friday: Lord knows.