BFI (British Film Institute)

[Dr Amicus]

Fair point - but when I pre-ordered I didn't know they were thin-paks... Still - it makes storage easier (and, trust me, for Mrs Amicus that's a BIG issue at the moment!)

[foliagecop]

Join the club, doc. That's the 'married to women with DVD storage issues' club.

[Imagine]

Doulos has one page insert and sleeve notes by Kemp. I can't believe some of you were shocked to discover the sets were sans booklets-- did you all think they were gonna shove 'em into their own thinpaks or something?

Not shocked just very disappointed. Like Dr Amicus I didn't know they were slimline packs when I pre-ordered. I thought they were supposed to be special 75th Anniversary sets - DVDTimes stated the sets were "Housed in deluxe, limited edition packaging".

[domino harvey]

Amazon.co.uk now has many of the BFI titles on sale, ranging from £7-11 before VAT

[zone_resident]

DVD Times on Manufactured Landscapes

[cgray]

Where's the BFI packaging & cover art forum around here? (alright, i kid)

I received the BFI 75 set from Amazon. The box was pretty beat up, but I flattened it and it's looking alright. The paper covering the box also flaked off pretty immediately. As the box itself is pretty boring, I wondered if this paper part is supposed to be glued to the box. Anybody that received it have an opinion?

[Dr Amicus]

I received the BFI 75 set from Amazon. The box was pretty beat up, but I flattened it and it's looking alright. The paper covering the box also flaked off pretty immediately. As the box itself is pretty boring, I wondered if this paper part is supposed to be glued to the box. Anybody that received it have an opinion?

My thoughts exactly. The Movie-mail set is the same - and I would assume so is the Play set.

It seems to be held on by some strange combination of origami and weird mystical juju - frankly I've never seen anything quite like it.

[tojoed]

Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep and My Brother's Wedding comimg on 20th Octoner 2008.

[colinr0380]

DVD Beaver on Manufactured Landscapes.

[Imagine]

Doulos has one page insert and sleeve notes by Kemp. I can't believe some of you were shocked to discover the sets were sans booklets-- did you all think they were gonna shove 'em into their own thinpaks or something?

Not shocked just very disappointed. Like Dr Amicus I didn't know they were slimline packs when I pre-ordered. I thought they were supposed to be special 75th Anniversary sets - DVDTimes stated the sets were "Housed in deluxe, limited edition packaging".

I contacted the BFI through their website regarding the missing booklets and they very kindly sent me a full set =D>

[What A Disgrace]

Some new announcements, all coming December 15.

Sehnsucht

Partner

Anchoress

[MichaelB]

Coincidentally, I watched Anchoress the other day, for the first time since it came out in 1993, and I think people will find it a bit of a revelation - imagine a black-and-white British-Belgian version of Borowczyk's Blanche (an acknowledged influence), and you'll get the general idea.

[foggy eyes]

Longing at last! I didn't get a chance to see this when it toured, and was wondering why a DVD didn't follow the theatrical release. Now how about Kelemen's Fate? (Extremely unlikely, I know.)

[MichaelB]

BFI DVD Christmas promotion
Save 25% on selected best-selling DVD box-sets in December

Throughout December, a selection of the BFI’s beautifully-designed, deluxe DVD box-sets will be on sale with a generous 25% off their usual price, in a nationwide promotion that will include high street and online retailers and the BFI Filmstore on London’s South Bank.

Among the sets on offer are the critically acclaimed Land of Promise: The British Documentary Movement 1930-1950 released earlier this year; Free Cinema, the first and the definitive collection of ground-breaking films from the late 50’s/early 60s British New Wave period and Jan Švankmajer: The Complete Short Films, the world’s first complete edition of the Czech director’s incredible shorts. The following sets are included in the promotion:

Land of Promise: The British Documentary Movement 1930-1950
This 4-disc set contains 13 hours of re-mastered footage, in a deluxe presentation box with a 96-page bound book, featuring 40 films preserved in the BFI National Archive. This landmark BFI collection is the first major retrospective of the British documentary film movement during its period of greatest influence.
RRP: £34.99 Promotion price: £26.25

Free Cinema
This definitive collection – 16 films in a 3-disc set – includes a number of fascinating shorts made on a shoestring budget and with a 16mm Bolex camera by first-time directors such as Karl Reisz and Tony Richardson. The third disc features an exclusive documentary with interviews, film extracts, previously unseen stills, and rarely seen films made in the spirit of the Free Cinema movement.
RRP: £29.99 Promotion price: £22.49

Jan Švankmajer: The Complete Short Films
Featuring all 26 entries in the official filmography, this is the world’s first complete DVD edition of the short films by the legendary Czech Surrealist filmmaker-animator. With nearly eight hours of material, compiled on three discs and packaged in a deluxe digipack with a 56-page illustrated booklet, this DVD is a truly must-have item for any Švankmajer fan.
RRP: £29.99 Promotion price: £22.49

Quay Brothers: The Short Films 1979-2003
This two-disc set, in deluxe packaging, collects 13 of the Quay Brothers' short films, spanning 24 years, in brand new restored and re-mastered editions (six of them with new Quay commentaries), plus a collection of ‘footnotes’ including interviews, alternative versions, unrealised pilot projects and more. An accompanying illustrated colour booklet features an encyclopaedic guide to the Quays’ universe.
RRP: £24.99 Promotion price: £18.75

Un Chien andalou and L’Âge d’or
There are only a limited number of these box-sets left, so they are sure to become collectors’ items. Luis Buñuel’s legendary Un Chien andalou, with its startling eye-slicing opening sequence, continues to shock. L’Âge d’or is indisputably one of the great collaborations of cinema history, uniting the genius of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí in the making of a Surrealist masterpiece. Special features include film commentaries and a documentary on Buñuel.
RRP: £29.99 Promotion price: £22.49

Addressing the Nation: The GPO Film Collection Volume One
Just released in September, this is the first of three double-disc box sets presenting all the key films of the GPO Film Unit on DVD for the first time. This volume contains 15 films from 1933-1935, additional features and an 80-page bound book.
RRP: £24.99 Promotion price: £18.75

Mikio Naruse: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960); Floating Clouds (1955); Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
BFI DVD presents three of Mikio Naruse’s finest films, now regarded as among world cinema’s greatest achievements. Individually sleeved, they are collected together in a presentation box. Extra features include exclusive audio commentaries on scenes from each film by Japanese cinema expert Freda Freiberg and extensive filmed interviews with Freiberg and director Teruo Ishii (Naruse’s assistant).
RRP: £44.99 Promotion price: £33.75

[Adam]

Are those sale prices just on the BFI site?

[neal]

Are those sale prices just on the BFI site?

in a nationwide promotion that will include high street and online retailers and the BFI Filmstore on London’s South Bank.

[Adam]

ah, silly me

[Cash Flagg]

Does anyone have any info on the 11/17 release of Preminger's The Fan ? I couldn't seem to find any mention of it on the BFI's website.

[souvenir]

Does anyone have any info on the 11/17 release of Preminger's The Fan ? I couldn't seem to find any mention of it on the BFI's website.

I think it's been delayed until January. A lot of BFI titles seem to have gotten pushed back. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is now scheduled for March and those three December 15 titles mentioned above have also moved to January.

[tojoed]

Does anyone have any info on the 11/17 release of Preminger's The Fan ? I couldn't seem to find any mention of it on the BFI's website.

According to Moviemail it's being released on 19 January 2009.

[colinr0380]

I took advantage of the Christmas promotion to pick up Land of Promise and the Naruse set. My parcel arrived today and inside was a copy of the Winter 2008/9 leaflet with some interesting titles to be released in the next few months that have not yet been mentioned:

In January Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media will be released. The leaflet says (inc. extras), so it might be a port of the material on the Region 1 Zeitgeist disc (the Foucault/Chomsky and Buckley/Chomsky debates). I'll wait and see if anything extra is included to see if I will re-buy this, but I'm really glad that it is finally getting a UK DVD release.

The Fan is announced with the DVD also "including Fred Paul's original 1916 version".

This is the write up of Anchoress (UK;1994. Director: Chris Newby. B&W 105 mins), the other January title:

Directed by Chris Newby (Madagascar Skin) and starring Pete Postlethwaite and Christopher Eccleston, Anchoress is a visually arresting story of religious conflict set in the Middle Ages. After having a transcendental vision, a young girl becomes an Anchoress (a virgin who is walled up in a chamber in the church) and her enclosure gradually begins to threaten the foundations of the whole community.

In February:

The Joy of Sex Education

UK 1917-1973; Various Directors; B&W/Colour; 334 mins

From the impenetrably euphemistic to the breathtakingly explicit, this intriguing anthology takes us through 60 years of sex education in Britain from the 1910s to the 1970s. All 'unmentionable matters' pertaining to sex are dealt with, from the WW1 warning to soldiers about the dangers of cavorting with loose women in London's West End, Whatsoever a Man Soweth (1917), to puberty pep-talks for girls on how to avoid pregnancy in Don't Be Like Brenda (1973).

The Gigolos

UK 2006; Director: Richard Bracewell; Colour; 95 mins

A highly original and understated comedy set in London's male escort scene. The smooth and charming Sacha is a favourite among the wealthy but lonely over-50s (his 'regulars' played by Susanna York, Anna Massey, Siận Phillips and Angela Pleasence). When an injury puts Sacha out of action, his younger live-in valet and manager Trevor stands in, with consequences that shake up their close and dependent partnership.

GAZWRX: The Films of Jeff Keen

UK 1960-2000; Colour; around 9 hours

Jeff Keen began making films at the age of 37 when his art school film society needed things to show. And so began over forty years of unique, imaginative, irrepresible filmmaking. This release contains over 9 hours of films and videos by the visionary filmmaker from his 60s beatnik movies to the apocalyptic beauty of his multi-layered videos of the 90s - a criminally overdue opportunity to explore the alternative cinematic world of one of Britain's most important experimental filmmakers

And in another section of the leaflet:

BFI on Blu-Ray

After the success of Salo and Red Desert, BFI is proud to present yet more essential Blu-ray titles for 2009. The British New Wave classics Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning get their High Definition premieres in March, along with the extraordinary Bodysong, which features music from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. April sees the releases of Pasolini's Trilogy of Life, a 3-disc collection of the controversial auteur's bawdy adaptations (The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights). These landmark films are presented in brand new High Definition restorations from the original negatives.

[Tommaso]

I take it these Pasos will also come on SD? If so, pretty bad cards for CC if the rumours are true that they will also release them in the foreseeable future. I'm still raving about "Salo" and "Red Desert" (but am admittedly not unhappy with the German edition of the Paso Trilogy, so I can't see me double-dipping, for lack of a BluRay-player). Good news in any case.
Now if the BFI could only give us a brand-new "Il Grido"....

[Narshty]

I take it these Pasos will also come on SD? If so, pretty bad cards for CC if the rumours are true that they will also release them in the foreseeable future.

Serves 'em right for not releasing Blow Out or Hope and Glory instead.

[domino harvey]

Does anyone have any info on the 11/17 release of Preminger's The Fan ? I couldn't seem to find any mention of it on the BFI's website.

According to Moviemail it's being released on 19 January 2009.

It appears to be in stock now. Wow, had no idea it was even on the way til today!

[tojoed]

A poll of the best DVDs of 2008 from the BFI's Sight and Sound.