BFI (British Film Institute)

[MichaelB]

Just a quick note to say that the films originally due for release next Monday (the 22nd) have had their official release dates moved by a week to the 29th to allow for repressing stock following the Sony DADC fire.

However, some retailers, including Amazon, HMV and MovieMail, already had stock in, so it's highly likely that they'll ship as if the release date was still the 22nd - the BFI certainly isn't going to discourage them from doing so.

Off the top of my head, the affected titles are Before the Revolution, Molly Dineen Volume 2: The Ark and the two latest Adelphi titles, Fun at St Fanny's and You Lucky People!.

[MichaelB]

The BFI unveils its new state-of-the-art nitrate storage facility.

"The very oldest film is footage of the 1895 Derby. That's as old as British film, almost any film, gets," expains Robin Baker, head curator of the BFI National Archive. "We'll have original negatives of films such as Olivier's Henry V, Brighton Rock and Alfred Hitchcock's nine surviving silent films - fantastically rare material."

What the Master Film Store will do, says Mr Baker, is "add hundreds of years onto the life expectancy of those films. If we leave them as they are, they're just going to deteriorate more and more. What we will be doing is instantly halting any further degradation. Our ambition is not one of commerce, but of preservation. We want to look after the films and make them as accessible to the public as we can."

[knives]

I thought Round Hay Garden Scene was British?

[MichaelB]

I thought Round Hay Garden Scene was British?

Well, you can quibble till the cows come home about the date of the first authentic British moving images - William Friese-Greene's experiments were even older than that. But it's generally recognised that the modern film industry in a form that we'd recognise today dates from 1895, with the first projected images screened to the public in early 1896 (a few weeks after the Lumiere screenings in Paris).

[Matt]

The BFI unveils its new state-of-the-art nitrate storage facility.

Congratulations to all involved and connected with it. It's a thing of beauty.

[MichaelB]

The Independent looks at the new building from an architectural standpoint, and concurs:

Can a matrix of ice-cold concrete bunkers with 1.2-ton steel blast-doors be beautiful? At the British Film Institute's new Master Film Store near Gaydon in Warwickshire, the answer is yes. This engrossing architecture manages to evoke not only Donald Judd's gnomic concrete sculptures at Marfa in Texas, but ushers us into the pages of W G Sebald's novel Rings of Saturn, and his descriptions of the surreal bomb-testing landscape of Orford Ness in Suffolk.

Incidentally, it's probably worth mentioning that Patrick Keiller was commissioned to record its construction - and it's hard to think of anyone better qualified. Not least because he trained as an architect before becoming a film-essayist.

[MichaelB]

The BFI's latest "You Ask The Questions" feature allows you to quiz Ken Loach.

[ellipsis7]

The British Film Institute's new Master Film Store - very Cold War Modern... I like it...

[MichaelB]

The BFI's latest "You Ask The Questions" feature allows you to quiz Ken Loach.

Ken Loach replies.

[Forrest Taft]

The Repo Man announcement from MoC has whetted my appetite for more Alex Cox, and I'm wondering if the BFI double features are the definitive releases of these particular titles. Has anyone here seen them?

[MichaelB]

The Repo Man announcement from MoC has whetted my appetite for more Alex Cox, and I'm wondering if the BFI double features are the definitive releases of these particular titles. Has anyone here seen them?

Beaver and The Digital Fix on Straight To Hell/Death and the Compass.

Beaver and The Digital Fix on Three Businessmen/Highway Patrolman.

[Forrest Taft]

Thanks for those links, don't know why I didn't think to check those sites myself. I guess Duel Format upgrades for these are not in the pipeline, so I should probably just go ahead and get these (as well as the recently released Straigt to Hell Returns).

[nolanoe]

Considering that THE DEVILS was shown in a fully uncut version a few weeks ago, can we assume that BFI is working on a proper DVD of this?? I have heard various rumors as of why this was never properly released, and with so many films FINALLY making their way to home cinema, one can hope.

[MichaelB]

Considering that THE DEVILS was shown in a fully uncut version a few weeks ago, can we assume that BFI is working on a proper DVD of this?? I have heard various rumors as of why this was never properly released, and with so many films FINALLY making their way to home cinema, one can hope.

Believe me, the BFI would jump at the chance to do it - but it ain't gonna happen without a major change of policy at Warners.

Unlike Fox, United Artists, MGM or Universal, who have been happy to do business with the BFI, MoC and other independent labels, Warner Home Video don't sub-license their titles - which is why there are no Warner titles on Criterion either.

[Bürgermeister]

With the London riots and all the consequences of that, will The Innocents be getting the dual format treatment now?

[domino harvey]

Unlike Fox, United Artists, MGM or Universal, who have been happy to do business with the BFI, MoC and other independent labels, Warner Home Video don't sub-license their titles - which is why there are no Warner titles on Criterion either.

Though you're mostly right, this isn't strictly the case-- Warners licenses a quartet of titles to a UK distributor called "Digital Classics" a few years ago, including an NTSC (!) version of Green Mansions, and then of course there's all the RKO titles out on Odeon!

[MichaelB]

I don't think Warner controls the UK rights to the RKO library - Citizen Kane was released by Universal over here.

As for the Digital Classics quartet, were any of those 100% Warner productions? Green Mansions was made by MGM, and I'm pretty sure Petulia and Lisztomania weren't made wholly by Warners.

[Bürgermeister]

Any idea why Amazon aren't selling the new Dual Format release of Red Desert, Saturday Night Sunday Morning, Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner? everywhere seems to be selling them (1-3 week shipping) but on Amazon not listed at all. Strange...

[Jonathan S]

I don't think Warner controls the UK rights to the RKO library - Citizen Kane was released by Universal over here.
As for the Digital Classics quartet, were any of those 100% Warner productions? Green Mansions was made by MGM, and I'm pretty sure Petulia and Lisztomania weren't made wholly by Warners.

You're certainly right about Warner not controlling UK rights to RKO films (unless they later changed ownership, like Cukor's Little Women) but Green Mansions, being a 1959 MGM film, surely would belong to them worldwide? (They've released it in the Warner Archive in the US.) I'm less sure about the later two, but they appear to have had Warner logos when they were issued on VHS in the UK.

Another exception might be the 1925 Warner silents (Clash of the Wolves, Lady Windermere's Fan) in the Treasures from American Film Archives series, unless they allowed their copyrights to lapse. But that may of course be a special case as the archives do after all preserve the films!

[MichaelB]

Announcement about dual-format reissues:

Sixteen BFI catalogue titles be to reissued in Dual Format Editions this autumn
Includes Saturday Night and Sunday Morning & The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Over the next three months, the BFI will release sixteen titles from its DVD and Blu-ray catalogues in new Dual Format Editions (which contain the DVD and Blu-ray versions in one box), beginning with the 1960s timeless British classics Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (released 17 October).

This new range of Dual Format Edition titles also includes the first nine Flipside films (details announced previously), Michelangelo Antonioni’s stunning Red Desert, Kenneth Anger’s legendary experimental shorts, the Magick Lantern Cycle and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s colourful and highly erotic ‘Trilogy of Life’ films The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights. All the original special features from the original releases will be included, and extensive booklets are contained in each edition. The separate DVD and Blu-ray editions are now deleted.

The release schedule for the remainder of 2011 is as follows (links are to the individual Criterion Forum threads):

17 October
• Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1962) RRP £19.99
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1960) RRP £19.99

24 October
• Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964) RRP £19.99
• BFI Flipside titles 001-009 (Various, 1964-1970) RRP £19.99 each

7 November
• Magick Lantern Cycle (Kenneth Anger, 1947-1981) RRP £22.99 (3-disc set)

5 December
• The Decameron (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1970) RRP £19.99
• The Canterbury Tales (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1972) RRP £19.99
• Arabian Nights (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1974) RRP £19.99

Sam Dunn, Head of BFI Video Publishing, comments:
‘We now have a schedule in place to reissue a raft of titles as Dual Format Editions with more to follow next year. Our proven commitment to High Definition continues, with many of our titles making their very first appearance on any home entertainment format. We are also committed to providing excellent value to consumers, offering new High Definition transfers from original negatives, as well as a range of quality additional features and indispensable booklets.’

[Bürgermeister]

Any word on wether The Innocents will be getting the same treatment?

[ellipsis7]

I'm putting my money on Renoir's THE RIVER reemerging in dual format hopefully sometime soon...

[MichaelB]

I'm putting my money on Renoir's THE RIVER reemerging in dual format hopefully sometime soon...

I think the current priority is to reissue titles that have already been given separate DVD and Blu-ray releases which have gone OOP. The BFI hasn't put The River out on Blu-ray at all yet.

[ellipsis7]

I'm putting my money on Renoir's THE RIVER reemerging in dual format hopefully sometime soon...

I think the current priority is to reissue titles that have already been given separate DVD and Blu-ray releases which have gone OOP. The BFI hasn't put The River out on Blu-ray at all yet.

Yes, I do realise that... My reasoning lay in the fact that THE RIVER is a relatively recent BFI partnered major restoration, and thus might be ripe for a HD bump up to BR... Just a thought, although understand the current priority is to combo separate formats of same title...

[naersjoen]

Any idea why Amazon aren't selling the new Dual Format release of Red Desert, Saturday Night Sunday Morning, Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner?

These have been added now.