The Idiots is of more recent vintage, though it’s been kicking around the pipeline for several years. Originally picked for distribution by the late October Films, the film’s rights were transferred to USA Films when Barry Diller bought out October and merged it with Polygram, forming a far more commercial entity that suddenly had no interest in distributing a film about middle-class Danes pretending to be mentally retarded as a consciousness-raising exercise. (A sense of the new entity’s market sensitivity can be grasped via the slogan on the video box: "Take a long ride on the short bus.") Adding to that indignity, the film has been released to video only in a censored version, with black bars obscuring body parts during an orgy scene. A spokesman for USA told the New York Times there’s was "no commercial interest" in an uncensored version, which is obviously horseshit; what that means is that megachains like Blockbuster won’t stock unrated films, so everyone else can go screw. It’s outrageous, of course, though truth to tell it doesn’t make much difference to an undercooked film that’s boring even with the naughty bits unveiled. (West Philly’s Video Library has a copy of the unobscured European version if you don’t want to let the Man tell you what to watch.) At the moment, USA seems to be dragging its feet on The Idiots DVD, so hopefully they’ll shelve their censorious instincts by the time it’s released. Maybe they’ll even slap on The Humiliated, the documentary on the film’s creation. Apart from Waves and The Kingdom, von Trier’s often more fascinating than his own movies, so the profile route may be your safest bet.

Lost Film Festival 5.0

After dinner with the family makes you feel like a freak, surround yourself with the comparatively normal crowd for the Lost Film Festival, reprising some old faves with a few new things tossed in. Highlights include a spoken word performance from hyperkinetic NYC tour guide and unlikely celebrity Timothy "Speed" Levitch, Saturday at 8 p.m. Following that is a presentation of Big Tea Party’s Unconventional Coverage: The Message and the Means, the RNC doc which packed the side room at the Painted Bride two weeks ago, and then at 10 p.m., Breaking The Spell: The Anarchists, Eugene and the W.T.O., which collects startling footage from the demonstrations in Seattle. Sunday at 6 p.m., Jeff Krulik will be on hand to show his ever-popular Heavy Metal Parking Lot, while earlier in the day, at 2 p.m., he’ll show other shorts, including the brand-new Harry Potter Parking Lot.