BFI (British Film Institute)

[andyli]

Literally minutes away from placing the order when I saw this. Thank goodness.

[beamish14]

Really hope A Couch in New York and Almayer’s Folly are included in this deal

[spectre]

It is pretty amazing news, but waiting until 2025 is going to be hard (particularly if the upcoming Capricci set is English-friendly and similarly comprehensive)!

By the way is anyone reading this as “twenty features and also some short films” (in which case this would have to be close to every major work in her filmography) or that the short films are among those twenty titles?

[nicolas]

Oh my goodness, this is the best news in a while. Thanks for sharing, Finch. I was about to buy the French BD of Jeanne Dielman.
The cap comparisons between the inevitable BFI set and the Criterion should be epic.

[therewillbeblus]

Already bought the Criterion but this is stellar news. If there's more stuff like Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the 60s in Brussels in her canon, I may become a more secure convert

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Really hope A Couch in New York and Almayer’s Folly are included in this deal

I don't know about Almayer's Folly, but A Couch in New York is with Canal.

I suspect the films involved are those that have been restored by Cinematek:

-The shorts for INSAS
-Saute ma ville
-L'enfant aimé
-La chambre
-Hotel Monterey
-Hanging Out Yonkers
-Le 15/8
-Je tu il elle
-Jeanne Dielman
-News from Home
-Les rendez-vous d'Anna
-Toute une nuit
-J'ai faim, j'ai froid
-La paresse
-Golden Eighties
-Histoires d'Amérique
-D'est
-Sud
-La captive
-Demain on déménage
-No Home Movie

[Finch]

Coming in the summer:
The Music Lovers (1970) (June 17)
Heavenly Pursuits (1986) (June 17)
Die Monster Die (1965) (July 22)
Remembrance (1982) (July 15)

[TechnicolorAcid]

Coming in the summer:
The Music Lovers (1970) (June 17)

Yes! This was easily my second most wanted Russell Blu-Ray, just based off it’s cinematography alone (especially in the 1812 Overture sequence) and I’m especially excited given how well the BFI have treated Russell’s other films that they’ve released.

[crimlaw]

More Russell films would be great. Maybe there’s a blu ray of The Devils coming soon?

[beamish14]

Coming in the summer:
The Music Lovers (1970) (June 17)

Yes! This was easily my second most wanted Russell Blu-Ray, just based off it’s cinematography alone (especially in the 1812 Overture sequence) and I’m especially excited given how well the BFI have treated Russell’s other films that they’ve released.

I saw it theatrically some years back, and it truly has one of the best sound designs ever. Right up there with Fire Walk with Me

[Peacock]

Count me in as another ecstatic customer with the Music Lovers announcement! Bravo.

[spectre]

Really hope A Couch in New York and Almayer’s Folly are included in this deal

I don't know about Almayer's Folly, but A Couch in New York is with Canal.

I suspect the films involved are those that have been restored by Cinematek:

-The shorts for INSAS
-Saute ma ville
-L'enfant aimé
-La chambre
-Hotel Monterey
-Hanging Out Yonkers
-Le 15/8
-Je tu il elle
-Jeanne Dielman
-News from Home
-Les rendez-vous d'Anna
-Toute une nuit
-J'ai faim, j'ai froid
-La paresse
-Golden Eighties
-Histoires d'Amérique
-D'est
-Sud
-La captive
-Demain on déménage
-No Home Movie

That seems to check out numbers-wise at least, thanks!

Mixed feelings if these are the titles – would be very happy to finally get Toute une nuit and Golden Eighties on disc, as well as some of the others I don’t have like D’est and Histoires d’Amérique, but it’d be disappointing to miss out on Portrait, The Eighties, Nuit et jour, Letters Home, A Couch in New York and some of the great shorts like Le déménagement, L’homme à la valise and Family Business if they’re not included.

Also, literally half of those films are on the Criterion set already – so for those like me who already have it, it might make more sense to wait for a Chantal Akerman Masterpieces Part 2 (if there’s any indication that such a set is in the works).

[Michael Kerpan]

Query -- What is the best place for US residents to order BFI Blu Rays from these days?

[beamish14]

Query -- What is the best place for US residents to order BFI Blu Rays from these days?

I tend to get them from Rarewaves via eBay

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I went thru Orbit in NC this year as the pre-order prices were favorable. My copy of Chocolat shipped yesterday!

[Matt]

Definitely Orbit for me. Diabolik is sometimes $1 less, but they seem not to carry BFI releases consistently.

[ryannichols7]

Orbit also ships basically immediately if they're open. Diabolik can take days to get out in stock items

[rapta]

Word on the street is we're getting Seven Samurai in October (both 4K and Blu-ray), and Watership Down is back on for November (presumably the previously announced 4K Dual Format)...two essential releases in my eyes.

[andyli]

Fantastic news (regarding the latter)!!

[rapta]

BFI turning around a sinking ship once again (remember those existential delays to Eyes Without a Face, Rashomon, The Wages of Fear, Targets).

I'm guessing the legal issues surrounding that release cleared themselves up? From what I remember that BFI release was good to go and was blocked at the last minute, very disappointing at the time. A nice surprise that it's suddenly back on!

[beamish14]

Word on the street is we're getting Seven Samurai in October (both 4K and Blu-ray), and Watership Down is back on for November (presumably the previously announced 4K Dual Format)...two essential releases in my eyes.

What I’d give for them to afford The Plague Dogs the 4K it desperately needs

[mrb404]

New preorders up:

• Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (August 19)

• Michael Powell: Early Works (September 16)

• The Outcasts (Flipside 049) (September 16)

[ryannichols7]

Word on the street is we're getting Seven Samurai in October (both 4K and Blu-ray), and Watership Down is back on for November (presumably the previously announced 4K Dual Format)...two essential releases in my eyes.

very glad they're getting Seven Samurai out quick since Criterion will likely do theirs in November. I don't see CC adding any extras, so as long as BFI have some, it'll be very easy to keep my Criterion bluray (for the excellent existing extras) and go for the BFI 4K. since the BD was barebones, I'm sure we'll get some unique extras, and the 4K quality will probably be the same or better than CC. excited to see

over the moon for them that Watership Down panned out. all that work being scraped just doesn't seem fun at all. hopefully they were able to retain everything previously announced

[MichaelB]

over the moon for them that Watership Down panned out. all that work being scraped just doesn't seem fun at all. hopefully they were able to retain everything previously announced

I assume that the delay to Watership Down involved the feature, not any extras. I've no idea what the ins and outs were, but there's long been a rights kerfuffle over the film between Martin Rosen and Richard Adams (or his estate), so the widespread assumption was that that had bobbed up again.

As for it not being fun to have projects being scrapped at a late stage, tell me about it! Indicator's crammed disc of Ishtar was fully authored and undergoing QC when that particular plug was pulled - although in this case the situation is sadly very unlikely ever to change.

[What A Disgrace]

Special features for Yosemite Sam's favorite movie:

•4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
•Newly recorded audio commentary by film and animation experts Catherine Lester and Sam Summers
•Defining a Style (2005): short featurette about the film’s aesthetic
•A Conversation with the Filmmakers (2005, 17 mins): Archive featurette in which director Martin Rosen and editor Terry Rawlings discuss the production history of the film
•Storyboard comparison (2005, 15 mins): a look at four sequences from the film
•Super 8 version of the film (20 mins)
•Humberstone Super 8 footage (3 mins): Footage shot by Arthur Humberstone, one of the senior animators on Watership Down
•Designing Watership Down (2024, 5 mins): a gallery containing some of the materials related to Watership Down courtesy of The Arthur Humberstone Animation Archive
•Trailers, teasers & TV spots
•Once We Were Four (1942, 9 mins): a bunny quartet face an onslaught of badgers, bombs and birds of prey in this black comedy masquerading as a nature film, directed by Mary Field
•Rabbits or Profits? (1969, 15 mins): public information film providing a potted history of rabbits in the UK
•Bolly in A Space Adventure (1968, 5 mins): a short Halas & Batchelor animation about the adventures of Bolly and his friends on imaginary planets, featuring animation by Tony Guy, animation director on Watership Down
•Make Believe (1948, 17 mins): Anson Dyer tells 'The Tale of Ronnie Rabbit' in this documentary showing the various stages of making a cartoon bunny
•Newly created optional English descriptive subtitles
•Newly created audio description track for the blind and visually impaired
•Double-sided poster featuring the original UK quad and the 2024 rerelease artwork
•A set of four postcards featuring iconic scenes from the film
•Perfect-bound book featuring writing by Jez Stewart, Catherine Lester, Nigel and Clive Humberstone, Angela Morley, Charlie Brigden, Lillian Crawford, Vic Pratt, Tony Dykes and Michael Brooke