Video News Briefs

Beginning with Ken Burns's 1990 public television series The Civil War, General Motors (GM) has been a major sponsor of the famed documentary filmmaker's work. That relationship is about to end: Burns's 12-hour The National Parks, to air on PBS in September, will be the last of his documentaries to be supported by the financially struggling automaker. It will not, however, be the last we'll hear of Burns, whose production company, Florentine Films, is reported to be lining up other backers.

On April 7, Universal Studios Home Entertainment launched its "Universal Backlot Series" of digitally remastered "historic cinematic gems" with a 75th-anniversary-edition DVD of Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 film Cleopatra (b/w. 112 min. $19.98), nominated for five Academy Awards and starring Claudette Colbert, Warren William, and Henry Wilcoxon. The DVD comes with three collectible poster/photo card reproductions as well as all-new bonus material including actor/director profiles, a segment titled "Forbidden Film: The Production Code Era," and feature commentary with filmmaker F.X. Feeney. More info at www.nbcuniversalstore.com.

WGBH, the single largest producer of PBS prime-time and online programming, released its first Blu-ray title last month, the 2008 NOVA series entry Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension (color. 56 min. $29.95), whose features include scene selections, English subtitles, and described video for the visually impaired. More info at shop.wgbh.org.

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films announced its nominations for the 35th Annual Saturn Awards for the categories of film, television, and DVD. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Night leads the pack with 11 nods. See the complete list of nominees at www.saturnawards.org/nominations.html. Winners will be announced on June 25.