Black Zero

[Nw_jahrles]

http://www.blackzero.ca/

New Blu-Ray label specializing in Canadian experimental cinema. The editions contain 2K and 4K restorations and appear to have commentaries, video essays and other extras. Webstore officially opens on January 30th with their opening titles.

Palace of Pleasure (John Hofsess, 1967, 38 minutes)

A long-neglected classic of Canadian experimental cinema, a triumph of erotic art, a film about which Gene Youngblood once wrote, “See it and you'll see a window on the future: a Joyce-Burroughs assemblage of bold, poetic surreal visions of physical love in every conceivable form.”

In 1967, John Hofsess released The Palace of Pleasure, a dual-screen therapeutic exploration of the erotic imagination. Intended as a trilogy, only the first two sequences were completed.

The first part, Redpath 25, is a fantasy meeting between a young woman and her dream lover; the second part, Black Zero, is a macabre, ritual vision of sexual freedom and domestic life that haunts the mind long after the screen has darkened.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Newly restored 4K digital master from the film’s surviving elements, in a 1080p presentation approved by director John Hofsess
Commentary by film preservationist Stephen Broomer
The Columbus of Sex: a speculative reconstruction, an exploration of Hofsess’s lost feature film
The Looking Cure: the therapeutic aesthetics of John Hofsess, a video essay by Broomer
Resurrection of the Body, a speculative sequel to Hofsess’s film
Liner notes by Hofsess and Broomer


Everything Everywhere Again Alive (Keith Lock, 1975, 72 minutes)

Everything Everywhere Again Alive is a landmark work of Canadian underground cinema, a film diary with mystic and symbolic overtones. In the early 1970s, Toronto filmmaker Keith Lock moved to Buck Lake, near Orillia, Ontario, where members of the Toronto art scene were undertaking an experiment in communal living. Lock filmed the achievements and daily rituals of his fellow communards, his camera bearing witness as a community assembled and dispersed. The resulting film uses poetic strategies, including logograms and other graphic disruptions, to extend its themes of renewal and rebirth, and to mark the encounter between reason and imagination, the concrete and the abstract.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Newly restored 2K digital master from the film’s original elements, in a 1080p presentation, approved by director Keith Lock
Audio commentary featuring Lock
Return to Buck Lake, a new documentary featuring Lock and Buck Lake founder Tom Brouillette
Going, a short film by Keith Lock documenting the journey from Toronto to Buck Lake
A Circle in the Wilderness, a new interview with Lock
Changing Seasons: The Canadian Pastoral in Keith Lock’s Everything Everywhere Again Alive, a video essay by Stephen Broomer
Liner notes by Buck Lake member and filmmaker Anna Gronau


Strange Codes (Arthur Lipsett, 1975, 23 minutes)

Arthur Lipsett’s Strange Codes is the legendary found footage filmmaker’s first and only independent film made after his departure from the National Film Board of Canada. In a rented house in Toronto, Lipsett stages a series of mysterious rituals, appearing onscreen in the guise of various characters, among them, an archeologist, a soldier, a scientist, a magician, and the Monkey King of the Peking opera. Dense with enigmatic gestures and private allusions, Strange Codes operates, in Lipsett’s words, ‘at the midway point between the primitive, ritualized world and the world of logic and science.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Newly restored 5K digital master from the film’s surviving elements
Liner notes and commentary by media artist and writer Brett Kashmere
38 minutes of out-takes
Strange Codes: A Breakdown, a shot analysis of the film by film preservationist Stephen Broomer
Readings from the Instruction Box: Arthur Lipsett on the Secret Museum, a visit with Arthur Lipsett, who reflects on the natural collage of the universe.



Here’s a link to an interview the founder did with The Important Cinema Club podcast if you want to find out more.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/65uBvr ... RAZqsiWtbg

[What A Disgrace]

The supplements on these releases sound absolutely astounding; approaching ground breaking. Apparently Strange Codes: A Breakdown is an 84 minute piece!

[What A Disgrace]

The site is finally up. I just placed my order, $97 shipped to the USA for all three titles.

[zedz]

The site is finally up. I just placed my order, $97 shipped to the USA for all three titles.

Thanks! Done!

(When I checked out that link before, I assumed it was some radically avant garde website that I was just too dim to figure out.)

[What A Disgrace]

These are not pre-orders, by the way. I expressed my enthusiasm for the release slate on Facebook, and got a reply thanking me and saying my order (specifically mine!) would start shipping out tomorrow.

[Glowingwabbit]

These are not pre-orders, by the way. I expressed my enthusiasm for the release slate on Facebook, and got a reply thanking me and saying my order (specifically mine!) would start shipping out tomorrow.

Yeah to my surprise I was told the same on Twitter. Sounds like they have 250 copies made of each ready to go. But they are limited to 1000 overall. Really excited to check these out

[blackzero]

Thanks all! Stephen here from Black Zero - I just wanted to clarify that these aren't pre-orders. Indeed, there is a 1000 cap to each edition and we launched with 250 copies of each title, hand-assembled and ready to go. All orders placed to date have been packed and are already in the mail or heading out tomorrow (Monday). Thanks so much for your support!

[What A Disgrace]

I received my discs today, all well packaged in a nice shiny black shipping box. At first glance, the discs have good visual quality and well produced supplements, and the liner notes substantial. They even have spine numbers, so prepare your shelves accordingly. They are also BD-R discs, so, well, prepare your shelves accordingly. It isn't a dealbreaker for me in the slightest.

[swo17]

Palace of Pleasure (John Hofsess, 1967, 38 minutes)

Resurrection of the Body, a speculative sequel to Hofsess’s film

The head of this new label lowkey directing the final film in a trilogy that the director was never able to finish himself has to be one of the most impressive special features ever

[therewillbeblus]

Has anybody watched these yet? Thinking of making the purchase for the experimental list project, but looking for impressions

[What A Disgrace]

I can't say anything particularly meaningful about my experiences with the films, but I was very impressed with the supplements. Strange Codes has the most impressive on-disc analytical supplements I've ever had the pleasure of listening to (the main feature is nearly 4x the length of the actual film), and though the film itself is certainly an interesting piece, I much, much prefer this treatment as opposed to just slapping it onto an Arthur Lipsett collection with no form of context whatsoever - though watching it AFTER seeing the filmmaker's earlier, more celebrated films certainly helps. It's the picture book definition of a film that needs context. Everything Everywhere Alive Again is on the other end of the spectrum; it's a much less impenetrable spectacle, closer to Symbiopsychotaxiplasm than anything, and the supplements are largely centered around the still living filmmakers and Buck Lake itself, rather than analysis. I feel this is the appropriate context. Palace of Pleasure also focuses on analytical supplements, and as with Strange Codes, both the film (my favorite of the bunch) and the extras are worth repeat viewings. These releases are absolutely a new benchmark for how to treat experimental films (even if the discs are BD-R), and I hope the next wave of releases is announced soon.

[swo17]

Agreed on the supplements--you can tell Broomer is passionate about these films

[therewillbeblus]

That's really helpful, thanks!

[What A Disgrace]

Black Zero will be announcing their new slate of releases on October 23, as part of a screening of the film A Man Whose Life Was Full of Woe Has Been Surprised by Joy, by R. Bruce Elder. I would hazard a guess that this film is one of the titles, and may also include Elder's Lamentations a Monument for the Dead World, which they announced as a release many years ago.

[What A Disgrace]

A Man Whose Life Was Full of Woe Has Been Surprised by Joy, by R. Bruce Elder.

Confirmed already on Facebook, not only as the next release but the first in a series of discs dedicated to films by R. Bruce Elder.

[Glowingwabbit]

From Black Zero and Stephen Broomer's twitter:

Announcing our fifth disc - Josephine Massarella: Green Dreams! A comprehensive collection of short films with stirring feminist themes and an ecological conscience, newly restored. Available next week from Black Zero!

This disc is an absolutely epic release. All of Josephine's films are paired with new audio commentaries by an international group of film critics, artists and poets. Supplemental films, extensive liner notes, an interview, video essays... More info coming soon.

Vimeo trailer: https://vimeo.com/876822243

[What A Disgrace]

The next wave of films is revealed, and out now.
A Man Whose Life Was Full of Woe Has Been Surprised By Joy (R. Bruce Elder, 1997)

• Newly restored digital master from the film’s elements, approved by director R. Bruce Elder
• Commentary by R. Bruce Elder and film historian Stephen Broomer
• Whence Comes a Vision, a new interview with R. Bruce Elder
• From Glass into Flesh, a new video essay by Broomer
• Liner notes by intellectual historian Christian Roy


Josephine Massarella: Green Dreams
PROGRAM
One Woman Waiting (1984)
No. 5 Reversal (1989)
Interference (1991)
Green Dream (1994)
Night Stream (1996)
Light Study (2013)
No End (2015)
165708 (2017)

SPECIAL FEATURES
• Newly restored 4K digital masters, approved by the estate of Josephine Massarella
• Individual commentaries on each film by an international selection of film critics, artists, filmmakers, and poets: Madeleine Wall, Irene Bindi, Cristina Álvarez López, Stephen Broomer, Cayley James, Elena Duque, Jacqueline Valencia, and Christine Lucy Latimer.

• Four early films by Josephine Massarella
A Different Perspective
Doctor Knows Best
Stop Buying Grapes
It's a Cold City for Street Artists
• What If, an archival interview with Josephine Massarella
• Josie's Archive, an overview of Massarella's film elements and the restoration process by preservationist Stephen Broomer
• Josephine Massarella: One Woman Walking, a survey of Massarella's films
• Liner notes by Massarella and film critic Ela Bittencourt

Richard Kerr: Field Trips
PROGRAM
The Last Days of Contrition (1988)
Cruel Rhythm (1991)
Field Trip (2021)

SPECIAL FEATURES
• Newly restored 4K digital masters approved by filmmaker Richard Kerr
• A bonus film: Le bombardement le port des perles (2004)
• Driving & Shooting in America, a new interview with Richard Kerr
• Invitation to the Voyage: Richard Kerr's America, a video essay by Bart Testa and Stephen Broomer
• Field Trip Scroll, a documentary portrait of Kerr in his home studio
• Liner notes by film scholar Bart Testa

[What A Disgrace]

It turns out the Richard Kerr trio was announced at the same time as the other two releases, but since I don't pay attention to their Vimeo account I was unaware of that fact. Anyway, this slate seems even BETTER than their explosive initial wave, if a bit less esoteric.

[criterionsnob]

Richard Kerr is a former film professor of mine, so I’ll definitely be picking that one up.

[What A Disgrace]

My order has already shipped.

[swo17]

The new slate is all worth picking up. I especially liked Massarella, who's operating somewhere on the spectrum between Akerman and Rose Lowder, and the short film that Kerr made out of the Pearl Harbor trailer. I liked the Elder film as well, though it has a lot of explicit imagery, if anyone needs a warning about that

[What A Disgrace]

One of their next releases is R. Bruce Elder's Crack, Brutal, Grief from 2000.