121 Born of Fire

[MichaelB]

BORN OF FIRE
(Jamil Dehlavi, 1987)
Release date: 24 September 2018
Limited Blu-ray Edition (World Blu-ray premiere) - preorder here

Following the mysterious death of his beloved father, classical musician Paul Bergson (Peter Firth, Equus, Tess, TV’s Spooks) is haunted by visions and nightmares. With his lover (Suzan Crowley, The Devil Inside), he travels to remote Turkey on a quest to find The Master Musician, only to encounter a creature of unimaginable evil.

Steeped in mysticism and music, and mixing the avant-garde with supernatural fantasy, stunning visuals and a terrific score by Colin Towns, Born of Fire is a bold and poetic horror film from one of international cinema’s great maverick talents.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Qâf - The Sacred Mountain (1985, 27 mins): Jamil Dehlavi’s acclaimed art-documentary, shot during the production of Born of Fire and featuring a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh, chronicles a volcanic eruption in exquisite and hypnotic detail
• Playing with Fire (2018, 18 mins): new and exclusive interview in which director Jamil Dehlavi discusses the making of Born of Fire and Qâf
• The Silent One Speaks (2018, 35 mins): new and exclusive interview in which iconic actor Nabil Shaban recalls his experience of working on the film
• Interview with Peter Firth (2009, 13 mins): the celebrated actor reflects on his time working with Dehlavi and his fellow actors
• In Another World (2018, 17 mins): new and exclusive interview with composer Colin Towns
• US trailer
• Stills and posters gallery
• Location photography: a gallery of images from actor Nabil Shaban’s personal collection
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with new essays by Dr Ali Nobil Ahmad, writer Raficq Abdulla, and actor Nabil Shaban, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• World premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited Edition of 3,000 copies

#PHILTD121
BBFC cert: 15
REGION FREE
EAN: 5037899071779

[jlnight]

Am I right in thinking this never had a theatrical release in the UK? All I can find are three screenings on Channel 4, as part of their Film on Four strands. Even Qaf had a screening in 1987. Any chance of Blood of Hussain or Towers of Silence?

[MichaelB]

I believe a restoration of The Blood of Hussain is imminent, but not from Indicator.

[domino harvey]

Never even heard of this, but the trailer would be right at home on one of those trailer collection discs

[joshua]

Nice! Mondo Macabro put this out on dvd. I missed picking it up before the after-market prices started getting unreasonable. I'd say if you like Skolimowski's The Shout, this might be up your alley. For me they seem to be cut from similar cloth in terms of theme and general atmosphere.

[Adam X]

Wonderful film this. The newsletter also mentions that they’re releasing Dehlavi’s Immaculate Conception later this year.

[MichaelB]

As teased above, the BFI has now confirmed that Dehlavi's earlier films The Blood of Hussain and Towers of Silence will be getting a double-bill release in October.

Immaculate Conception is still very much on the cards from Indicator, but early 2019 is looking more likely now. What with Eureka's recent Jinnah, this means that all of Dehlavi's pre-2000 features will be out on Blu-ray in a few months' time.

[MichaelB]

Full and final specs:

[MichaelB]

Mondo Digital.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Very pleased to say my copy just arrived at work. And I'm surprised to see this comes with a (quite good) reversible cover. Will this be common to many future Indicator releases?

[KJones77]

Very pleased to say my copy just arrived at work. And I'm surprised to see this comes with a (quite good) reversible cover. Will this be common to many future Indicator releases?

Footsteps in the Fog had one as well. Not sure about other recent releases, but this seems to be a new thing.

[MichaelB]

Every Indicator limited edition has a reversible sleeve, although sometimes the reverse is the same artwork minus BBFC logos.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Every Indicator limited edition has a reversible sleeve, although sometimes the reverse is the same artwork minus BBFC logos.

Minus those BBFC logos is a big reason why I've loved Indicator art by the way! Which is why I was surprised and intrigued by the art on this one. I have Footsteps but didn't open it yet so thanks for that heads up, KJones77. But back to Born of Fire: I'd never heard of this film before and given the subject matter was very interested in what it might be. So thanks to Indicator releasing this one. I'm a big fan of films like The Shout and Picnic at Hanging Rock - my Kate Bush avatar probably shouldn't be a huge surprise there - so this will be on the top of my October kevyip for sure.

[Landjorden]

The pumpkin eater has different art on the reverse and didn't The Stone Killer Use the same art but another color?

[MichaelB]

The rule is that if there are two decent pieces of original artwork that can adapt well to the dimensions of a Blu-ray sleeve (not always a given), then that's what Indicator will go with. But with quite a few films, especially recent ones, there's only one core design, in which case the other side of the sleeve contains the same thing but without intrusive BBFC logos.

The Harryhausen, Hammer and William Castle boxes all feature different artwork on the reverse, because we were pretty spoilt for choice with those.

[MichaelB]

Beaver.

[MichaelB]

Full specs for the BFI's The Blood of Hussain/Towers of Silence double-bill release have just been announced.