More Peter Watkins in R1?

Discuss North American DVDs and Blu-rays or other DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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Awesome Welles
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:02 am
Location: London

#26 Post by Awesome Welles » Thu May 22, 2008 6:53 am

I wonder if we can expect Privilege to have a release in the UK now... Nick? What's the score here, are Universal still holding out for UK rights?

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Grand Wazoo
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:23 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#27 Post by Grand Wazoo » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:15 pm

Does anyone know what happened to the Evening Land dvd release? It was supposed to come out in 2010, and there was a screening in Manhattan last May that was a digital projection of the new dvd transfer. The trail seems to run cold after that event.

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Grand Wazoo
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:23 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#28 Post by Grand Wazoo » Sun Dec 22, 2013 1:32 pm

So I visited Peter Watkins' rarely updated website and it seems The Journey dvd project has not only been completed, but is available to purchase from Amazon.fr!!

How did this one pass us by? According his site it's NTSC and Region 0 in English with optional French subs so this is basically the definitive worldwide version. It looks like my dream of finally seeing this is a possibility. The site claims it is also available in North America through Oliver Groom's Project X, but I cannot find any proof of this.
Last edited by Grand Wazoo on Sun Dec 22, 2013 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

shaky
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2013 2:52 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#29 Post by shaky » Sun Dec 22, 2013 2:20 pm

Amazing news about THE JOURNEY. Also, has anyone actually had a chance to compare the OOP First Run edition of LA COMMUNE with the one from France? I suppose it makes no real difference as the FR is hard to find, but I'm certainly curious as to which one is better in terms of picture of quality.

Edit: Actually, it seems quite easy to get used copy of the First Run.

onedimension
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:35 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#30 Post by onedimension » Sun Dec 22, 2013 11:22 pm

Am I the only one who thinks Watkins at his best is CRITERION worthy?

shaky
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2013 2:52 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#31 Post by shaky » Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:55 am

Would anyone here recommend either the US or the French edition of LA COMMUNE? From the dvdbeaver screencaps, the French dvd looks horrendous with big enormous yellow subtitles. I just don't know if it's at all worth the purchase. And the US is non-anamorphic with forced subs, and terrible NTSC-PAL interlacing. Perhaps I should hold on for something better to eventually come along. Then again, this masterpiece isn't screaming to be re-released by anyone, it seems.

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Aunt Peg
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:30 am

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#32 Post by Aunt Peg » Tue Feb 18, 2014 5:00 am

If it's any consolation I suspect that the film is meant to look 'video' like given it's from the perspective of a television crew.

According to IMDB the negative format was 16 mm and the cinematographic process was Betacam SP (master format) and/or Spherical (source format).

The printed film format was video.

I purchased the American edition when it was first released and thought the quality was fine. The non-anamorphic wasn't an issue at the time as my TV was 4x3.

A quick check of the disc on my widescreen TV confirms that it cannot be blown up without loosing some of the subtitles.

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htshell
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:15 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#33 Post by htshell » Tue Feb 18, 2014 2:00 pm

It screens theatrically on DVD most often, I believe. That's how I saw it.

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warren oates
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:16 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#34 Post by warren oates » Tue Feb 18, 2014 2:29 pm

Grand Wazoo wrote:So I visited Peter Watkins' rarely updated website and it seems The Journey dvd project has not only been completed, but is available to purchase from Amazon.fr!!

How did this one pass us by? According his site it's NTSC and Region 0 in English with optional French subs so this is basically the definitive worldwide version. It looks like my dream of finally seeing this is a possibility. The site claims it is also available in North America through Oliver Groom's Project X, but I cannot find any proof of this.
Anybody get this new release of The Journey yet and have a look at it? The import version is now being offered through reliable third party sellers at Amazon.com U.S.

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warren oates
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:16 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#35 Post by warren oates » Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:31 pm

warren oates wrote:
Grand Wazoo wrote:So I visited Peter Watkins' rarely updated website and it seems The Journey dvd project has not only been completed, but is available to purchase from Amazon.fr!!

How did this one pass us by? According his site it's NTSC and Region 0 in English with optional French subs so this is basically the definitive worldwide version. It looks like my dream of finally seeing this is a possibility. The site claims it is also available in North America through Oliver Groom's Project X, but I cannot find any proof of this.
Anybody get this new release of The Journey yet and have a look at it? The import version is now being offered through reliable third party sellers at Amazon.com U.S.
And I answered my own question. Got the French set today, which is indeed Region 0 NTSC. There are Project X logos on it. I can't imagine the eventual North American release will be different in any way, except for having English copy on the exterior. The video certainly looks better than those Facets tapes. All of the segments have audio in English or French, selectable in a menu and subtitles in both languages that you can toggle between. Watkins himself explains in voiceover over black at the start of the first episode that all other languages spoken in the film will be translated into English (or French) depending on which audio track you've selected.

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criterionsnob
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:23 am
Location: Canada

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#36 Post by criterionsnob » Mon Apr 28, 2014 4:27 pm

Peter Watkins' Evening Land (1977) is the film of the day on Mubi.

(Update: The Project X logo appears at the beginning of the Mubi stream, but at about the 15 minute mark, there is a graphic over the image stating: "DVD for screening purposes only. Property of Project X Distribution. Not for sale or rental.")

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#37 Post by zedz » Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:30 pm

Just popping in to confirm that the French disc of Evening Land, despite having no indication whatsoever of this on the packaging or the Amazon listing, does indeed carry English subs.

It's a good film, a bit more conventionally docudramatic than its cousins Punishment Park and The Gladiators, in that the events it depicts are absolutely ordinary for the time (which is part of the point of the film - in the mid 70s Watkins didn't have to invent sci-fi scenarios in order to explore democratic despotism). This puts it in the same neighbourhood as Ken Loach's The Rank and File and Michel Brault's Les Ordres, with the Brault film as the masterpiece of the bunch.

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Grand Wazoo
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:23 pm

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#38 Post by Grand Wazoo » Fri Aug 31, 2018 1:46 pm

This seems the closest thing to a dedicated Peter Watkins thread so I'll post it here. Close-Up in London is holding a retrospective of Watkins' better known films from Sept. 5 - 28. The big coup here is that Watkins will be giving an intro for the La Commune screening on Sept. 23rd. Given that he doesn't give interviews anymore this is huge, though I wonder if it will be in-person or over Skype. Any of our members in London should drop everything and go see these if they can.

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: More Peter Watkins in R1?

#39 Post by Big Ben » Fri Aug 31, 2018 2:27 pm

I imagine it'll have pre-approved things (Questions for instance.) as well. He's big on that.

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