And that’s not it - there are documentaries and featurettes about Van Peebles, along with archival interviews from throughout his career, and three early short films. All four films were restored and approved by Melvin Van Peebles, and the gorgeously packaged box set also includes new conversations with Mario and film critic Elvis Mitchell, producers, and scholars. In fact, this set only includes four works by the senior Van Peebles (along with the wonderful Baadassss! by his son Mario Van Peebles), but they’re all so essential to the history of American filmmaking: The Story of a Three Day Pass, Watermelon Man, Don’t Play Us Cheap, and his most famous film, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song. Few people in the history of independent film have made the kind of impact that Van Peebles did with a relatively small number of films. We lost the godfather of Black Cinema earlier this year, around the same time that Criterion was finally giving him the physical-media pedestal that his career deserved all along. Some of the restorations here were a little controversial, but they are undeniably Wong’s vision, and this is a set that even his most casual fans have to own. Gorgeously packaged, this must-own for cinephiles also includes new behind-the-scenes materials, making-of documentaries, archival interviews, and even short films from Wong, including an extended version of The Hand that had never been available Stateside before. Wong’s films regularly feel like they are in conversation with each other, as the filmmaker revisits themes (and sometimes even characters) from one to another, making them a perfect filmography for a box set. The 4K restorations include Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, As Tears Go By, and Days of Being Wild. For the first time ever, Criterion has assembled the most essential films in the career of one of the best filmmakers of the modern era, Wong Kar-wai - including three films that had never been on Blu-ray before and new, director-approved transfers of all seven films.