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Central Bazaar



For this remarkable experimental film, the provocative avant-garde legend Stephen Dwoskin gathered together a group of strangers and filmed them as they explored their fantasies over a period of five days: a project that now sounds a little like TV's Big Brother. The ceremonial gowns and make-up here not only evoke the eroticism of European horror movies but also highlight the film's interplay between performance and intimacy.

Jonas Mekas called it 'theatre of life'

Extras
- New high definition transfer created from new film elements
- DVD-9/ Dolby Digital mono audio (320 kbps)
- Laboured Party (20 minutes, 1974): Dwoskin's 'on-set' companion piece to Central Bazaar. An unsuspecting Labour Party canvasser calls at the house and falls under the provocative and playful influence of the feature films participants.
- Fully illustrated booklet including original essays by Will Fowler (BFI curator) and Jonas Mekas (legendary Avant-garde filmmaker), reviews and biography.

I can't wait for this to arrive, too bad they're not doing a bluray release as well.

I also figured they would have the cover art out as well since this is being released in only 1 month.

Edit: never mind.

I can't wait, I always wanted to watch this after seeing the clip in Trying to Kiss the Moon, I'm pretty excited.

Another Dwoskin masterpiece.

Caps won't do any justice to the image(s) in motion here, but I've grabbed a few at random nevertheless:















Amazing transfer, even better than the LUX/Re:voir disc of Dyn amo.

Buy!

This just arrived for me today. I watched a few minutes and I agree about the transfer, it looks very good.

Thanks BFI.

I saw this last night. Superb picture and sound quality. The film was like an RD Laing psychiatry session filmed by Kenneth Anger and was certainly not what I was expecting. I thought I was in for a gritty, grainy Big Brother prototype, but I wasn't disappointed or bored for a moment. It was an amazing, hypnotic experience although I would question the use of one participant, the main focus for the last twenty minutes, who looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

All in all, though, a great release.

PS> Anyone know if this was certified by the BBFC in the Seventies? I'd be amazed if they'd allowed it through uncut.

Beaver.

And apologies for answering RossyG's question nearly a year late, but I suspect this wasn't BBFC-classified in the 1970s, because it wouldn't have gone anywhere near a mainstream cinema - and BBFC classification wasn't (and isn't) compulsory for theatrical releases provided the local licensing authority is amenable.

That certainly makes sense.

Some of the scenes are pretty explicit; the sort of thing the UK censors would have still been cutting in 1999, never mind 1974.

Watched this yesterday and found it quite hypnotic. The encounter-group shenanigans I thought would wear thin very fast, and I must admit they never really engaged me, but the real dynamic force of the film was the colour - and I have to agree with the positive comments above: this is a shockingly good SD transfer - and Gavin Bryars' music. There's such a strong mood and aesthetic established by the look and sound of the film that the content itself becomes almost ambient. I have to say this is likely to become one of my favourite film scores, and it's a very substantial work by Bryars, since for the majority of the film it's music / soundscape exclusively, with the actual soundtrack of the scenes we're watching removed.